Hamlet Essay

Performative utterance and self overhearing are techniques in which many authors choose to portray their characters. It allows us to understand what a character is really thinking and allows us to better appreciate the characters and their thought processes and actions. It is most easily recognized in Shakespeare’s play, Hamlet. Hamlet uses self overhearing to think through situations and come to decisions, which results in our ability to have a deeper understanding of Hamlet. He also uses performative utterance by turning his words into actions, again allowing for a more valuable comprehension of his meaning.  Without these two techniques, audiences wouldn’t be able to understand Hamlet on the level that they do. And these techniques don’t just pop up in books, they’re present in our lives as well.

We talk to ourselves and we do it all the time.  It doesn’t matter if it’s out loud or in our heads, or whether it's consciously recognized or not. We talk to ourselves about what’s going on in our everyday lives. We ask ourselves questions, and then in turn answer them.  This process of talking to ourselves is called self overhearing and was first thought up by Harold Bloom. By talking to ourselves we create new signals in our brain and we create new pathways for those signals to travel along. In my personal experience, I have found that self overhearing is an exceptional way of processing and dealing with new information. It’s something that I’ve been doing (without realizing it) even since I was a child. Every time I self overhear, I’m allowed a new opportunity to look at the same situation in a different way.  When memorizing “To be or not to be”, self overhearing allowed me to interpret the soliloquy in different ways and made it easier to memorize.  Without realizing it I was able look it over from a hundred different angles and view points allowing myself to come away with a better understanding of the soliloquy as a whole. It’s getting more bang for your buck. (In a sense)

Hamlet isn’t any different.  In every one of his soliloquies, Hamlet not only allows us access to his inner most thoughts, but he also makes himself subject to the affects of self overhearing.  That is to say that Hamlet is directly affected by the things he thinks about and goes over. He looks at things from different view points and analyzes them in a way that we wouldn’t be able to understand without him overhearing his spoken words.  Hamlet’s words not only describe the reality around him, but they create it as well (Performative utterance). When he vows to avenge his father by killing his uncle he’s not only describing what he’s going to do but also locking himself into that promise, therefore creating an action.  He finally carries out this action in the final scene of the play by stabbing his uncle. The way that Hamlet talks has an impact on the characters and the plot by influencing his thought process and the way that he goes about coming to decisions. Without this thought process, Hamlets thoughts wouldn’t turn into the actions that they create.

Performative utterance is also present in real life. The idea that words are also actions isn’t as far fetched as it sounds. “I now pronounce you man and wife” isn’t just describing what’s going on, it’s joining two people together. Therefore the words are also an action. There is also the locutionary force which is the ability of language to deliver a message. Followed by the illocutionary force which is what is done in being said. In other words, the meaning in which the message (locutionary force) was intended. Finally the perlocutionary force which is what is achieved by being said, or the direct outcome that the words have. An example would be someone saying, “I have total trust in you.” If we look at the words themselves we are looking at the locutionary force and the speaker appears to be delivering a heartfelt message. Unfortunately, this phrase was said sarcastically. Now we see the illocutionary force and realize that this wasn’t meant to be heartfelt at all. It meant the total opposite of what the locutionary force implied. Now whatever reaction the person being spoken to would have, would be an example of the perlocutionary force. 

Self overhearing and performance utterance are both very important when it comes to understanding characters in plays as well as people in real life. Hamlet’s self overhearing impacts his own thought process as well as our understanding of him as a character. Without the effects of self overhearing, people would be lacking a very critical and beneficial way of problem solving and self understanding.  Without performance utterance, it would be impossible to understand the true meaning behind anyones words or to even put meaning into words. Therefore, Hamlet’s words would create no action which would change the entire story and plot line. By including both of these techniques in Hamlet, Shakespeare allows us insight into Hamlet’s mind and helps us to realize that Hamlet’s words are not just words, they’re actions.