This has always been such a strange exchange to me. Why is Hamlet asking Horatio if it’s cold? Dude doesn’t have a thermometer on him; he can’t tell any better what the temperature is than you can. Why is Hamlet asking Horatio the time? He doesn’t have a watch; he doesn’t know the time any better than you do.
For a long time I saw this as an extremely clunky way of setting the scene: Telling the audience the time and the temperature by having the characters tell each other things they would already know. But it occurs to me now that what Shakespeare is actually doing is showing us that Hamlet doesn’t trust his own senses: He feels cold, but he isn’t sure if it’s actually cold. He heard the clock strike, but he doesn’t know what time it is. What it is setting up is the idea of Hamlet’s madness: the idea that he can’t tell what’s real.
THIS. I rarely ever reblog anything, but THIS needs to be reblogged. THIS is the excellent literary analysis I log on to tumblr for.
I have nothing to add on to this, or any extra points to point out like I’d normally do when I reblog something, because this is already perfect as is. What percentage of Hamlet’s madness was faked is such an interesting topic, and for this short interaction to be alluding to his madness- that’s just fantastic.
OP, I haven’t yet done Hamlet in school, and unfortunately I don’t see many posts analyzing if the ghost of Hamlet Sr. was really in Act 3 Scene 4. Please OP, what’s your take on that?
I honestly haven’t been able to make up my mind on that. Most of what I’ve read comes down on the side of the ghost being real, giving some hand-waving excuse for why Gertrude can’t see him. And you know, the ghost is clearly real in Act 1, so why wouldn’t he be in Act 3? But, personally, I think it’s really weird that Gertrude can’t see him. I’d love to hear other people’s explanations for this.
(Oh, and thank you for the praise. I’m sure I can’t be the first person to have come up with the idea. What I find interesting about this scene is that it’s before Hamlet has actually seen the ghost. Perhaps he is doubting not his own senses but Horatio’s? But I don’t think so. Horatio is the only person he trusts, and he trusts him completely. I just find it interesting that Hamlet is already doubting his own mind even before seeing the ghost.)
I agree with you- this answer is kinda unsatisfying. Mainly because it goes all into the symbolism of the ghost, and the symbolism of Gertrude not seeing the ghost/Hamlet seeing it. Which I don’t particularly like, because people’s ability to see ghosts shouldn’t depend on if they’re cheating on said ghost or not.
Idk. If I were a ghost and my ex-spouse was cheating on me, I would 100% haunt them. But that’s just me.
