Essay 11/8/11

Language, which it itself is a type of action, plays an important role in many stories and play. In the play Hamlet, we see Hamlet’s use of language majorly differentiate him from epic heroes such as Beowulf. Because of the self-overhearing and dialogues in Hamlet, the audience can clearly recognize what makes Hamlet different. Hamlet seems to be more clever, stronger, and has the ability to recognize what type of person he really is.
After reading and analyzing Hamlet’s “To be, or not to be” soliloquy, the audience can identify Hamlet as being more clever than other epic heroes. Unlike the hero Beowulf, Hamlet weighs the pros and cons of most situations. He thinks critically about what results might come from taking certain actions. “To be or not to be—that is the question.” Just in the first line alone of the soliloquy we see Hamlet’s cleverness as he sees both sides of a situation and figures out what the best thing to do would be, in this case it was whether to commit suicide or not. On the contrary, Beowulf would have gone with his first instinct and just acted.
Hamlet’s use of language also differentiates him in the sense that he is mentally stronger. Throughout the entire play we see Hamlet take many actions all based on an oath he made at the beginning of the play. He swore to avenge his father and he stayed focused and didn’t allow anything or anyone get in the way of his promise. He even murdered his friend Laertes for becoming an obstacle in the way of getting to Claudius.
The biggest use of language found in the play is Hamlet’s self-overhearing. Hamlet overhears himself and in doing so he gains self-knowledge. In his article The Performative Utterance in Hamlet, Bloom considers this, “the royal road to individuation.” Hamlet had the ability to speak out loud in any given opportunity in order to realize himself and who he is. Other epic heroes would not take even a second to try and realize who they were because they would be too determined on “slaying a dragon.”
Hamlet’s use of language greatly differentiates him from epic heroes such as Beowulf. We see him practice self-overhearing and question himself throughout the entire play which is what makes him stand out. Hamlet’s use of language makes him more clever, mentally stronger, and gives him the ability to realize himself.