Hamlet Essay

The term "performative utterances" refers to when a character's words correlate with their actions, a direct relationship between the two exists. In one of Shakespeare's many plays, Hamlet, the characters' actions and motives are portrayed through their utterances.  Because of the connection between actions and words, the reader is able to gain a grasp of what is to come more easily.

At the beginning of the play, Hamlet has no goal other than to avenge the death of his father. His plan seemed simply enough, to have his revenge by killing his uncle, Claudius, his father's murderer. The plot was justified in his mind, but as soon as it was spoken aloud and upon realizing it would be a difficult task to perform, Hamlet began to mull over different strategies to achieve his goal. This is an example of self-overhearing, a reaction to one's thought after it has been said aloud. Other characters, such as Gertrude and Ophelia, also display acts of self-overhearing. Ophelia with her feelings towards Hamlet and Gertrude when she becomes conscious of the sin she had committed by remarrying to her late husband's brother.

Like in Hamlet, performative utterances occur in real life everyday and once a person claims they will do an action, they are committed to it. When I tell my mother that I will depose of our garbage then I will do it, it may not happen at that current moment but I will get to it eventually like Hamlet eventually killed his uncle. I speak my actions aloud because now I have gained a sense of responsibility. Performative utterances also work in the negative, people will often tell themselves they cannot perform a certain, like a mathematics question, so they will not bother to try at all.

Self-overhaearing is present in life more often than one might believe. For me, my inner thoughts sound better in my head than when spoken aloud. I often regret the words that come out of my mouth after I utter them, they are not as attractive as they were in my mind. My own personal experience with self-overhearing is when I constantly believe that I am not skilled at anything, I think I have no outstanding qualities or skills. When I said this aloud once, I realized that while there is some truth to that statement, it is not all true. I have decent abilities in some areas, but because I have this mindset that I am useless, I do not apply myself to anything.

Because Hamlet is a play it is crucial for characters to display their motives/actions through their thoughts. There is no direct characterization, we as readers much infer as much as we can about these character's through their performative utterances and how they respond to self-overhearing. Aspects such as these, are key factors in the plot of a story as they provide insight into how a character thinks and adapts to the event happening around them.