The Duty of Doubling in Hamlet
Character Duos, Word Trios, and More Fill the Bard's Epic Tragedy
Oct 24, 2009
There are pairs of characters -- such as the ambassadors Cornelius & Voltemand, and Hamlet's schoolmates Rosencrantz & Guildenstern -- but they are not distinguished from each other enough for there to be any symbolism in the pairings. The most significant uses of duplication upon the dramatis personae are the development of "two-faced" characters and the creation of the hero's multiple antitheses.
"Two-Faced" Characters
Some characters (such as Polonius) have different public and private personalities while others offer at least two possibilities for their "true" natures. Major examples of the latter are:
- The Ghost - Is he really the spirit of dead King Hamlet? Or is he rather an agent of Hell sent to create chaos in Denmark and tempt Prince Hamlet's soul?
- Queen Gertrude - Was she aware of or even complicit in her first husband's murder? Or is she only an innocent who unknowingly fell in love with a fratricidal, regicidal usurper?
Antitheses
To better reveal Hamlet's own personality and actions, Shakespeare constructed characters (and even groups) who are the exact opposite of the protagonist.
- Two Families - The focus of the play is on a pair of family units, each comprised of two males and one female. A member of one family (Hamlet) feigns madness while a member of the other family (Ophelia) actually goes mad. The king allows the son of one family (Laertes) to leave Denmark but implores the son of the other family (Hamlet) to stay at court.
- Vengeant Sons - Hamlet can't carry out his "duty" to kill his father's killer. This is contrasted starkly by two other men. One, Pyrrhus (in Player King's first speech), kills Trojan King Priam, whom he blames for the death of his father, Achilles. In the "real" world, Laertes returns from France ready to avenge Polonius' murder, even if upon the king.
Action Doubles
- Double Actions. The Ghost appears twice in the opening scene. Ophelia is told twice in I.3 -- advised by her brother then commanded by her father -- to stop seeing Hamlet. These are just two examples among the many available.
- Double Events. The Dumb Show (III.2) presents a quick, silent version of the play which follows it, The Murder of Gonzago, also called "Mousetrap." So the play-within-a-play, which is an uneasy double of Hamlet itself, has two names and a wordless duplicate!
- Actions with a Double Purpose. Hamlet may be the longest play in the canon but, with so much to accomplish, characters must at times demonstrate efficiency. For instance, in III.2 Hamlet commends Horatio for his virtues then enlists him to spy on Claudius. Later (III.4) the Ghost interrupts Hamlet's abuse of Gertrude, then he says he's appeared to "whet" Hamlet's "almost blunted purpose."
Language Doubles
Doubling is a principal linguistic characteristic of Hamlet. The easiest character (besides the prince) to target for analysis of this is Polonius, who employs many double phrases. Here are just a few examples from Act II:
- "or then, or then, with such or such"
- "by indirections find directions out"
- "You have me, have you not?"
- "That's good, 'Mobled Queen' is good"
Laertes obviously picked up his father's habit of duplicative phraseology, which he puts to use as soon as he opens his mouth in I.2. He asks for the king's "leave and favor" and later his "gracious leave and pardon" to return to France, the place toward which Laertes' "thoughts and wishes" pull him. (Hendiadys -- literally "one through two" -- is the technical term for Laertes' excessive use of double phrasing.)
King Claudius' speeches in the same scene contain a greater variety of doubles, such as the oxymoron "defeated joy" and the double contrast "With mirth in funeral, and with dirge in marriage." He also highlights the two new awkward family relationships he's created, with:
- "our sometimes sister, now our queen"
- "my cousin Hamlet, and my son"
Later, Hamlet himself encapsulates these relationships -- and his own charge of incest – in the compact doublet "my uncle-father and aunt-mother" (II.2).
But one needn't wait until Act Two for evidence of Hamlet's highly-duplicative way of speaking. His first soliloquy (I.2) includes such powerful pairings as "too too sallied flesh," "things rank and gross in nature," and "weary, stale, flat, and unprofitable" (a double doubled). By the close of this scene, the audience (or reader) is well-attuned to the play's moods and styles of language.
Conclusion
While duplication of "physical" elements -- such as character and action -- is easy to spot, the word and phrase doublings are so numerous that they're just as easily ignored. But, once they're highlighted, they appear to be of the essence of Hamlet's language.
Source:
- Shakespeare's Language, Frank Kermode (2000)
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