"More matter, with less art" Part 2

At the conclusion of my previous post, I began to touch upon Gertrude's dislike of the verbose. I find this pet-peeve ironic as her own husband, Claudius, seems to be quite the master of the long-winded speech. Claudius' speech in Act 1, Scene 2, shows just how crafty a speaker he really is when he states:

"Though yet of Hamlet our dear brother’s death
The memory be green, and that it us befitted
To bear our hearts in grief and our whole kingdom
To be contracted in one brow of woe,
Yet so far hath discretion fought with nature
That we with wisest sorrow think on him
Together with remembrance of ourselves.
Therefore our sometime sister, now our queen,
Th' imperial jointress to this warlike state,
Have we—as ’twere with a defeated joy,
With an auspicious and a dropping eye,
With mirth in funeral and with dirge in marriage,
In equal scale weighing delight and dole—
Taken to wife. Nor have we herein barred
Your better wisdoms, which have freely gone
With this affair along. For all, our thanks.
Now follows that you know. Young Fortinbras,
Holding a weak supposal of our worth
Or thinking by our late dear brother’s death
Our state to be disjoint and out of frame,
Colleaguèd with the dream of his advantage,
He hath not failed to pester us with message
Importing the surrender of those lands
Lost by his father, with all bonds of law,
To our most valiant brother. So much for him.

Thus much the business is: we have here writ
To Norway, uncle of young Fortinbras—
Who, impotent and bedrid, scarcely hears
Of this his nephew’s purpose—to suppress
His further gait herein, in that the levies,
The lists, and full proportions are all made
Out of his subject; and we here dispatch
You, good Cornelius, and you, Voltemand,
For bearers of this greeting to old Norway,
Giving to you no further personal power
To business with the king more than the scope
Of these dilated articles allow. (gives them a paper)
Farewell, and let your haste commend your duty" (I.ii.1-38). I find it ironic that Gertrude complains that Polonius is lacking substance and covering it up with rhetoric when she says: "More matter, with less art, " but that he own husband seems to possess the same ability to speak with absurd length and verbosity (II.ii.95). Therefore, I must conclude that Gertrude is either unable to find flaws in her husband, out of the power of love, or she is too hypocritical to care. My conclusion about the wordy nature of Claudius is also confirmed by, the nature of Hamlet's father's death, by poison in the ear. As stated by the ghost of Hamlet, "Upon my secure hour thy uncle stole with juice of cursed hebona in a vial, and in the porches of my ear did pour the leprous distilment whose effect holds such an enmity [within] blood of man (I.v. 61-65). The irony created with this evidence, that Claudius would kill someone through the ear just as he pollutes other's minds with his words, goes directly against Gertrude's attitude of get to the point that she displayed to Polonius. Thus, I must conclude that Gertrude either does not see the behaviors that she complains about in Polonius, in her own husband, or she is a hypocrite.

"More matter, with less art"

In Act 2, Scene 2 of Hamlet, Polonius is addressing King Claudius and Queen Gertrude about the cause of Hamlet's odd behavior. Polonius is quite philosophical in his statements to the royals saying: "What majesty should be, what duty is, [w]hy day is day, night night, and time is time, [w]ere nothing but to waste night, day, and time" (II.ii.86-89). The juxtaposition of this philosophy with the declaration of Hamlet's madness is intended to draw comparison between those who seek truth about the world around themselves, philosophers, and Hamlet, who seeks the truth about the death of his father. Perhaps Polonius plays a foreshadowing role, artfully telling Claudius and Gertrude the true cause of Hamlet's odd behavior unbeknownst to them. Regardless, of Polonius' intentions, Gertrude's redirection by saying, "More matter, with less art," shows that she has no patience for verbosity (II,ii.95).

Holla in Hamlet

When I first began to read Hamlet, I was taken aback when on line 19 in Act 1, Marcellus says: "Holla Barnardo." I did not even know what this word was, so I tried pronouncing it to myself. However, my pronunciation sounded awfully like the Spanish word hola. Although I have not taken Spanish for several years, I was still fairly certain that hola had one l, that my version of the text was not the Spanish edition, and that people in Denmark do not speak Spanish.  To this end, I began to investigate what this mysterious word was. I looked on dictionary.com to see if I could find a pronunciation but I was unsuccessful. Eventually, I resorted to downloading and listening to the audiobook of that specific section of the text. What I heard astonished me. This word sounded like the slang English word that I had heard used in dramatic fashion on T.V. and this confounded me. Was a word that has seen much usage as a slang term nowadays really descended from a word used by Shakespeare? As it turns out, yes. Going back to the dictionary, I learned that similar to its usage today, holla actually is an informal form of greeting. Thus, its use is entirely plausible in Hamlet as it is a form of greeting used by Marcellus to address Barnardo. Nevertheless, I was still shocked to find such colloquial language in one of the most famous plays in the world. I guess it shows that the meaning and context of a word can really change through the passage of time. 

How Hamlet Differs

Besides Hamlet, the other Shakespeare plays that I have read include: Twelfth Night and The Merchant of Venice. One particular aspect of Hamlet which differs from the other plays that I have read is that Hamlet at least from what I have seen,  appears to be a straight tragedy. This is in direct opposition to Twelfth Night which was an obvious comedy, and The Merchant of Venice, which I would classify as a tragicomedy. However, although Hamlet is tragic in nature, it still appears that Shakespeare incorporated comedic aspects into the play. For instance, in Act 1 Scene 5 when Hamlet meets the ghost of his father. After Hamlet the elder disappears and Hamlet junior is talking with Horatio and Marcellus, Hamlet the elder's ghost can be heard wailing "swear". For some reason, I found the shrieking of the Ghost to be rather amusing. I am not sure if this was intended by Shakespeare or if I just have a sick sense of humor. However, if it was intentional, then it reinforces the idea that even in the darkest of tragedies, a little amount of comedic relief is necessary to keep the audience entertained and engaged.