Masculinity In Hamlet

The character Orlando is not the only male in Shakespeare has fall victim to adjective pairing. Another such male character happens to be Hamlet, from the play Hamlet. Hamlet is of the age of a college student given when he is first introduced we learn he has to leave college to avenge the killing of his father. The father’s ghost beckons Hamlet to take revenge on his uncle for killing him and condemning him to purgatory. Hamlet’s quest of revenge ultimately consumes him, as well as his mother and eventually leads to his own death. Many of the characters in the play view Hamlet as threatening. They neither know his intentions nor his motives for his action, and so like many other men in Shakespeare’s plays, Hamlet is left to fall under the

ignorance of others. The character Polonius, over all the rest, schemes to ensure Hamlet’s ultimate demise. Polonius, is the father of Ophelia, who is in love with Hamlet. Polonius is one of the first to call Hamlet mad and at times tries to impose his own life experience when interpreting Hamlet’s purpose for returning. Polonius is the catalyst for much of the unnecessary blood shed that occurs. He describes Hamlet as, “Come, go with me.

I will go seek the King. This is the very ecstasy of love, Whose Violent, property fordoes itself and leads the will to desperate undertakings as oft as any passion under heaven that does afflict our natures…” (Hamlet,2.1:102-108). It is plain to see that Polonius is a “snitch”, especially given his statement, “I will go seek the King.” He cannot wait to go tell the King what he thinks of Hamlet. His use of the word “ecstasy,” which is the “…state of being ‘beside oneself,’”(OED), shows that Polonius is believes Hamlet’s love for his daughter has caused him go outside his normal demeanor. His use of the words “violent,” and “desperate undertakings,” in his depiction of how Hamlet become violent and his actions do not behoove him, given that he is a Prince. Tying Hamlet’s apparent madness while pointing out that “passion…does afflict out nature,” calls into question his love for Ophelia. In other words, his rage has changed Hamlet from his natural state into something that is not natural or reminiscent of Hamlet the man all seem to recall. Polonius ultimately takes the information his daughter provided to him about Hamlet, and decided to diagnose Hamlet as dangerous, without the necessity of any real

proof. Everyone becomes convinced that the unthinkable things that Hamlet has done is a direct result of the love he has for Ophelia. No one stops to think that there may be some unrelated cause for Hamlet’s violent actions. Rather, it is simpler and much easier to attribute the sudden change in Hamlet to the resent love he shares with Ophelia. Hence, Polonuis decides that if nothing else the man is crazy, mad even. As the reader will come to see, this adds up to what Shakespeare is trying hit on in many of his play’s, people making an assumption of men and from those assumptions they label men and those labels follow the men forever. Polonuis continues to cause Hamlet to suffer a considerable amount of disrespect. He makes a point of actually calling Hamlet mad, “…mad let us grant him, then; and now remains that we find out the cause of this effect – or rather say ‘the cause of this defect,’ for this effect defective comes by cause. Thus it remains, and the remainder thus” (2.2:101-106). From the start of this quote Polonuis has stamped Hamlet as mad, another way of saying, “insane, crazy; mentally unbalanced or deranged” (OED). Polonuis implies that Hamlet is crazy and uncontrollable. It is ultimately because of this that the King gets the idea to send Hamlet away. But Polonius believes he knows, “the cause of this effect.” However, Polonius has no real clue why Hamlet has acted in this way. Polonius, without basis goes on to call this change in Hamlet a “defect,” as if Hamlet were a machine and not human. Polonius truly believes that there is something wrong with Hamlet because of Hamlet’s supposed love for his daughter, Ophelia. The direct connection Polonius, makes between Hamlet’s mental state and the love for Ophelia is where the “cause,” comes from, the cause of all of Hamlet’s emotions are because of some fantasized love. In ending Polonuis says, “thus it remains, and the remainder thus,” in essence there is no escape for Hamlet from these wrongful misconceptions of himself by others. Again we see Shakespeare presenting the never ending false perception of men. Yet again we have the same bearing father, Polonius trying but failing again to understand Hamlet. Old men seem to like reminiscing about the old days and Polonius is no different. He tries to compare his youth to the problem that he sees Hamlet as, “Still harping on my daughter. Yet he knew me not at first – a said I was a fish-monger. A is far gone, far gone, and truly, in my youth I suffered much extremity for love, very near this…” (2.2:187-190). Polonius uses, “harping” when referring to Hamlet playing with his daughter's heart, as one might play a harp (OED). The use of the “fish-monger,” can be interpreted as a pimp of sorts, essentially Hamlet called Polonius this because he was trying to pimp out his daughter to Hamlet. Polonuis does not seem to understand this and thus repeats that Hamlet is, “far gone.” Reasserting the idea that Hamlet is mad and has lost his way, helps to perpetuate a reputation of “far gone.” Lastly, there is Polonuis attempts at recalling his youthful days and attributing them to Hamlet folly’s by stating “in my youth I suffered…very near this.” Polonuis is not Hamlet though he seems to not care. Hamlet could not be love with his daughter and all assumptions that Polonius attributes to Hamlet are false based entirely on a miss read of the intentions of a fatherless son who only goal is retribution for the death of his father. This shows that Polonuis has yet to look within the individual and has only taken the time to assess Hamlet’s actions. Polonuis is not the only one to call Hamlet mad, his uncle is also guilty of such an act. However, unlike Polonuis, King Claudius knew Hamlets reasons for being the way he was. However, King Claudius’ need to keep his role in Hamlet’s father’s death secrets causes him to call Hamlet dangerous as well. Claudius makes statements like, “Love? His affections do not that way tend…was not like madness. There’s something in his soul o’er which his melancholy sits on brood, and I do doubt the hatch and the disclose will be some danger…”(3.1:163-166). From, “his affection do not that way tend,” it is quite easy to tell that Claudius seems to know something that others do not about Hamlet’s true motives. He seems to know for a fact that Hamlet is not distraught from his affection for Ophelia. Rather, the knowledge that of Claudius’ own treachery is what is causing him to act so differently. However, Claudius’ secret cannot be revealed and so again there must be something innately wrong with Hamlet. Claudius decides to say that, “there’s something in his soul…,” and rightly there is, revenge Hamlet wants to kill his uncle for killing his father. That “something,” is seen by Claudius as anger. Thus he decides that Hamlet is, “danger[ous],” and away he must go. Ultimately, another labeled in placed on Hamlet, in hopes that it will get rid of a problem that they created with their own malicious rumor mongering. This treatment of men by Shakespeare is seen time and time again throughout his plays. All too often, the males characters must succumb to the ignorance of those around them, judging based solely on appearances and false analysis.
This treatment is repeated in Othello as well. In Othello, which is a story about prejudice people ruin a good man's life and eventually leads to his death. As with Hamlet and Orlando, Othello, as the primary male character, is demeaned and referred to as the Moor, because of his skin color. Many of Othello’s fellow characters add insult to insult by continuing to refer to him as the “lusty Moor,” “brave Moor,” “lascivious Moor,” and the “noble Moor”(Othello). Adjective after adjective is added to an already disrespectful modifier. In the play Othello, we see that racial identity being used as the overarching reasoning for describing Othello. No one in the play tried to get to know the man for who he was, he simply became the Moor, who also happened to be a great warrior. The treatment of Othello by Shakespeare is just another example of how people’s unawareness of their hurtful slurs and hateful words can follow a person for a lifetime. From As You Like It, we get characters like Cecelia calling Orlando young, “It is young Orlando, that tripped up the wrestler’s heels and your heart both in an instant”.
(As You, 3.2:192-193). Where we see her forever calling Orlando young even though he has disproven all their notions of said thoughts, by his wrestling skills, love letters on trees, and the protection of his older brother. But none of this matters. No he is forever “young.” Not just in age but in maturity and experience. Then there is Hamlet, where Polonius is relentless in his disapproving statements, “I swear I use no art at all. That he is mad, ’tis true; ’tis true ’tis…”(Hamlet, 2.2: 98-99). For Polonuis there is no other explanation for Hamlet’s actions and so mad is what he has labeled him. Shakespeare in these two plays by drawing on examples of everyday life, created examples for realize how easy it is to make judgments off of pre-convinced notions and first glances. In each play Shakespeare waits until the end of each to reveal that both men were not as others had thought them to be. Orlando was not young in spirit and nor was Hamlet as crazy or danger as they were both believed to be. Unfortunately for Hamlet his fate was death, but Orlando’s was marriage. I have never gone a day in my life where I was not first seen as a Black male, rather than first as myself, more importantly as a person deserves to be judged by something more concrete than the fact that I was born with brown skin. Society much like in Shakespeare’s plays puts labels on men in this country. These labels for some reason or another follow men for their whole life to the grave.