Hamlet’s enduring intensity 

The infinite monkey theorem supposes that a troop of chimpanzees, given an endless amount of time and the proper office equipment, will eventually produce the complete works of William Shakespeare. Well, according to Australian mathematicians Stephen Woodcock and Jay Falleta, they can’t even pull off Hamlet. Shakespeare’s tragedy, arguably his most famous, is anything but random, not only for the sharp kaleidoscopic world Elsinore, Denmark’s kingdom, but for the distinct responses it sparks in its audiences. Hamlet, the prince, barely enters adulthood before his life ends in confusion and torment and, if we are to believe his philosophical musings, he returns to dust like everyone else. Hamlet, the play, is different to anyone who reads it and this fall, each student in Year 12 will be introduced to the story, characters, and puzzling ideas in a work that is more than four hundred years old. 

The good son? A bad boyfriend? Cold-hearted killer? Hamlet is each of these and more, but amid all of his indecision, he is decidedly certain about the power language plays in his life. When Claudius, the new king and sudden stepfather, demands that he stop moping around the castle in “clouds,” Hamlet slings his metaphor back to him, stating, “I am too much in the sun,” reviving the majesty of the former king, his father, and adorning himself in light. Words matter, and those who can use them better than others have an edge — those who can’t are, comparatively, dull. A few scenes later, the loquacious toady Polonius sees Hamlet with his nose in a book and asks him what he is reading. “Words, words, words” is his reply. 

Our relationship with language is always in motion, and today it speeds along more quickly than it has in many  generations. The decline in casual reading, the brevity of texting, and the advance of artificial intelligence comments on who and where we are in our culture. Hamlet is a challenging read, and to understand it, one must be attentive to the power of language in its full force. Reading the play is a bit like entering a cathedral for the first time, uncertain where to look at first, unable to name the objects of interest, but, soon, with curiosity and some awareness of craft, things begin to take shape. When students are aware of the language’s reach, they become more invested in it. 

Hamlet directly comments on the division between who we are and what we say. When King Claudius, the play’s villain, appears to be riddled and rattled by Hamlet, he states: “These words are not mine.” And Hamlet, always several moves ahead, replies, “No, nor mine now,” reminding the King, and the play’s audience, that language has a life of its own. For Year 12 students, this is a valuable lesson and understanding that how we use it will, to some degree, determine how we live.

–Julian Bauld, English faculty