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Hamlet's eavesdropping

posted 15 years ago by pgarrone
3 replies | jump to latest

This film has Hamlet eavesdropping when Polonius directs his daughter

"I would not, in plain terms, from this time forth
Have you slander any moment leisure
As to give words or talk with the Lord Hamlet"

and Ophelia by his command "did repel his letters and denied his access"

Hamlet, rather than suffering "the pangs of despised love," as in the play, now knows that Ophelia is simply following her fathers command, and perhaps has feelings for him. This makes Hamlet cruel and uncaring in the "Get thee to a nunnery" scene.

In the play, Hamlet knows from Rosencrantz, Guildenstern, and Polonius that the King is interested in finding out exactly what he is up to, and that Ophelia has rejected him abruptly two months before. To him she is attempting to effect a reconciliation, but simply because he doesn't know any reason for her change of heart, ("well well well") Hamlet knows all is not what it seems, and she does not explain, rather takes the approach that the break came from him. He presses her and she cannot give him a straight answer. His lunacy is designed offensively to flush out the King and make him play his hand, and as a defense, to mask his true feelings. Ophelia represents a considerable threat, being able to penetrate his defenses, and his brutality towards her is an attempt to warn her off. While he would still love her, he would not imagine he could hurt her personal feelings, as she would not be genuine.

However in the film, because of the eavesdropping, Hamlet knows she still has feelings, that her father has only forbidden her, so his actions are much crueler. It comes across as not forgiving her weakness for not refusing her fathers command.

Also the bit where he "raises a sigh so piteous and profound" in visiting Ophelia makes no sense if he knows Ophelia is obeying her father, unless Hamlet is using Ophelia to trigger the whole "bait-with-Ophelia" setup, which is too machiavellian.

Overall this makes Hamlet's protestations of love at Ophelia's funeral hollow, his motives less interesting, and his death less tragic. That Mel pulls it off is to his credit. He artfully conceals it as schizophrenia, along with the mother love, as the madness allows him to.

Also the "Nymph. In thy orisons be all my sins remembered." line, as used in this film as a greeting to Ophelia, makes no sense. I cannot imagine a gentle wooer calling the woo-ee a nymph, from which nymphomaniac is derived, in the 16 century, though it is of course a great compliment in the 21st. For mine Hamlet says this to himself sarcastically, urging her inwardly to dwell on the imagined shortcomings that have led her to reject him, and calling her an erudite slut under his breath as a disappointed male lover might. In this film, it is presented as Hamlet urging Ophelia to pray for him! Luckily Hamlet is mad. However calling Ophelia a nymph seems inappropriate at the start of the "words of so sweet breath" scene. It would put Ophelia off. After it, perhaps yes.

If Hamlet does know of Polonius' influence, it would make the "fishmonger" scene more understandable, giving Hamlet a strong motive to bait Polonius. But if he does not know Polonius exact role, he could still call him a fishmonger, slang for pimp, if he can call his daughter a nymph.

So this eavesdropping does not work for me!

[–] qt_w_booty007 14 years ago

Actually, this scene is why I like this version (among several).

I love how it is explicitly shown that Hamlet knows Ophelia is lying. It explains his entire demeanor towards her in that scene - contempt of how weak she is BUT it doesn't mean like you imply, that he doesn't love her still. For all that he loves her, he realizes now that he can no longer trust her. His grief at her funeral is perfectly legit - sure you might hate a person b/c they helped to do something to you, but when that person ends up DEAD of all things, it still hurts and he is grieving that she had to be caught up in all the treachery and deception. He had just wanted to hurt her for hurting him - thats why he rejected her previously.

How does this make his motives less interesting? I think it adds a delightful twist - now he KNOWS all the deception that is going around him, and takes part of it by turning the deception on them. His death, to me anyways, is still tragic - he was a pawn in a game but became the king of the chessboard so to speak b/c he realized what was going on - but he still lost the game in the end.

the nymph part that you speak of, I can't correctly critique on b/c I havent seen the film for months now but I am going to have to watch it again and soon, so when I do I'll get back to you on what I think!

[–] bok602 14 years ago

I'd always interpreted the Hamlet/Ophelia business as Hamlet's projecting his anger at his Gertrude's duplicity onto Ophelia. All of his references to the sins and weaknesses of women that he throws at her are actually slams against his mother, but in his melancholy he -perhaps- sees them in Ophelia as well.

That is the way in which I saw the scene, romantic backstory notwithstanding.

"If you don't know the answer -change the question."

[–] dolphingirl92789 14 years ago

I do want to say something about the line "raises a sigh so piteous and profound". If I remember correctly, that was during the scene in which Hamlet visits Ophelia and she retells the tale to her father. The thing about that scene was that Shakespeare meant it to have a sexual double entendre. The entire string of lines in which Ophelia tells her father,

"He took me by the wrist and held me hard;
Then goes he to the length of all his arm;
And, with his other hand thus o'er his brow,
He falls to such perusal of my face
As he would draw it. Long stay'd he so;
At last, a little shaking of mine arm
And thrice his head thus waving up and down,
He raised a sigh so piteous and profound
As it did seem to shatter all his bulk"

is a euphemism for a handjob. Disgusting, but true. Reread it and you'll see what I mean.

So the line in which she says that "he raised a sigh so piteous and profound", actually has more to do with sexual tension being released. Now whether or not that can be debated to relate to his sadness over his love for Ophelia, is another story entirely.

(P.S. I did not make this up, I was taught this in English.)