Hamlet's Mirror

Shakespeare's Hamlet appears to reach a climax in Act III, scene iv as Hamlet verbally assaults his mother, releasing a torrent of long suppressed resentment over her betrayal of King Hamlet.

Queen: Have you forgot me?
Hamlet: No, by the rood, not so.
You are the Queen, your husband's brother's wife,
And (would it were not so) you are my mother. (3.4.15-18)

Shortly after this exchange, the Queen recognizes that her son has not come to her chamber to be disciplined, but instead intends to show her how distorted her perception has become. Gertrude then seeks to escape the chamber, but she cannot avoid looking at what she has become.

Hamlet: Come, Come, and sit you down; you shall not
budge.
You go not until I set you up a glass
Where you may see the inmost part of you. (3.4.19-21)

The mirror Hamlet forces his mother to examine reveals, "such black and grained spots as will not leave their tinct" (3.4.92-93). Why does Hamlet's mirror have so much power over his mother? When Gertrude gazes into this mirror, what exactly does she see?

Apparently, Gertrude, prior to Hamlet's visitation, was unable or unwilling to see the enormity of her sin-- a loyal husband dishonorably given an abbreviated period of mourning, a ous brother-in-law exchanged for the "goodly king", a son completely cut off, abandoned by his mother in a time of need.

In Harold C. Goddard's book The Meaning of Shakespeare offers up an interpretation of what Gertrude may have seen.
"And the sin which he chastizes in his mother is nothing but his own in reverse. Anger and (plus cruelty in which they both usually culminate) are the two nt passions in man, one generically masculine, the other feminine" (372).

My question for this discussion thread is this: what did Gertrude see in this glass? Perhaps most importantly, what do we, as readers, see when Hamlet holds up this mirror to us-- demanding that we examine closely who we truly are and what we intend to do with this self-knowledge? :idea:

What actually happens in the Closet Scene is a bad misunderstanding between Hamlet and Gertrude.

When Hamlet says "by the rood" he's holding his sword up to Gertrude. "Rood" is a word for the Christian cross, and Hamlet is swearing on the cross, using his sword. (It's the identical symbolism as the "swear" passage when the Ghost called out from the earth. Hamlet wanted Horatio and Marcellus to swear on the cross, using his sword to symbolize it.) Here, Hamlet is using his sword as he "swears on the cross" that he knows who Gertrude is. That's why Hamlet says "rood."

But when Gertrude sees Hamlet hold his sword up at her, and hears him say he doesn't like it that she's his mother, she becomes frightened. She mistakenly sees it as a threat. She starts for the door to get some guards, who "speak" the language of swords, figuratively speaking. She's going to get the guards to take Hamlet's sword away, and restrain him.

Hamlet stops Gertrude, and makes her sit in a chair. He wants to lecture her.

He says he'll set up a mirror, and show her her "inmost" part. What he means is that he's going to "paint her a picture in words," so to speak, so that as she hears him, it'll be like she's seeing the condition of her own soul in the mirror. Hamlet is using figurative language.

But as Gertrude hears Hamlet, and sees him with the sword, she takes it literally. She thinks Hamlet has just said that he's literally going to set a mirror in front of her, then slice her open with that sword he's holding, and make her look at her insides in the mirror.

To Gertrude, it sounds absolutely crazy, and very frightening. That's why she exclaims about "murder" and screams for help. Then Polonius takes up the call for help, and so on.

And you'll find any number of books that deal only in odd philosophical and psychological generalities, because the authors couldn't follow the play events, and didn't have the slightest idea why any of the characters does or says anything.

I think that, in Hamlet's hypothetical "mirror", Gertrude finally recognized the implications of her actions. She realized how sinful she had been by marrying her late husband's brother quite shortly after his death, which thus could have been interpreted to mean that she was not faithful to her former husband, or possibly that she didn't even love him. And if neither of these assumptions were correct in her case, then she would of course be consumed with guilt and regret, and she would be quite displeased with herself. She may have been upset with the fact that Hamlet would say such disrespectful things to her, but I think she may have partially been grateful, because of Hamlet's honesty and insight, that she had the chance to "right her wrongs" later on in the play.

And in response to your question about what Hamlet causes the readers and audience to see in themselves when he holds up the "mirror", I would say that he makes them (us) examine our existence and our purpose in this world. He makes us question our morality and mortality, and makes us take a closer examination of ourselves and the lives we have led thus far. In many ways, he brings forth the parts of ourselves or our lives that we dislike the most, and sometimes, he makes us realize that we resemble him or some of the other characters in the play. In essence, he reminds us that, although we each are different, we all are human- that we all have sinned, that we all have our regrets, and conversely, that we all have our dreams, hopes and desires.

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Originally Posted by Nirome

Perhaps most importantly, what do we, as readers, see when Hamlet holds up this mirror to us-- demanding that we examine closely who we truly are and what we intend to do with this self-knowledge?

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How does that help Hamlet?

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Originally Posted by Lote-Tree

How does that help Hamlet?

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HAMLET
Be not too tame neither, but let your own discretion
be your tutor: suit the action to the word, the
word to the action; with this special o'erstep not
the modesty of nature: for any thing so overdone is
from the purpose of playing, whose end, both at the
first and now, was and is, to hold, as 'twere, the
mirror up to nature; to show virtue her own feature,
scorn her own image, and the very age and body of
the time his form and pressure. Now this overdone,
or come tardy off, though it make the unskilful
laugh, cannot but make the judicious grieve; the
censure of the which one must in your allowance
o'erweigh a whole theatre of others. O, there be
players that I have seen play, and heard others
praise, and that highly, not to speak it profanely,
that, neither having the accent of Christians nor
the gait of Christian, pagan, nor man, have so
strutted and bellowed that I have thought some of
nature's journeymen had made men and not made them
well, they imitated humanity so abominably. (3.2.17-37)

The metaphorical mirror we have been discussing helps Hamlet to expose the weaknesses and folly of the main characters in the play. As for Hamlet, I believe Shakespeare used Hamlet, the character, to show us what it means to be human and to live under the restrictions of our limited perceptions.

Harold Bloom in his book Shakespeare: The Invention of the Human described this mirror metaphor in Hamlet as, "a reflective pool, a spacious mirror in which we needs must see ourselves. Permit this dramatist a concourse of contraries, and he will show us everybody and nobody, all at once" (401).

What we learn, I think, is that we require the help of others in order to clearly understand who we are--to help us interpret and integrate a continual barrage of life's events through the often distorting filter of human consciousness. Without looking through this mirror of perception, Hamlet's mirror, we have no hope of distinguishing appearance from reality.

This particular scene is one of my favorites in the play. When first reading the play I also believed that Hamlet was actually threatening to cut out his mother's insides and show them to her in a mirror. (Drastic and really freaky) After a discussion in class with a very intelligent teacher of mine, I'm beginning to think that I took the words way too literally. :idea: Since the play is filled with deep meaning, it is only fitting that this scene is no different. By showing the mirror to Gertrude, Hamlet is showing his mother what she has turned into. She has turned into a creature that is no longer his caring, trusting mother that he has once known, but a spiteful and traitorous one!:flare: Hamlet is really only saying what most readers are thinking. . .("Jezz Gertrude quit being such a b----") He hopes to show her true-self and how she has changed in the inside. Hamlet is just one of those characters that is brutally honest. In this case, his brutally honest words are very powerful because he is saying them to his mother.

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Originally Posted by HomeSkillet

... When first reading the play I also believed that Hamlet was actually threatening to cut out his mother's insides and show them to her in a mirror. (Drastic and really freaky) After a discussion in class with a very intelligent teacher of mine, I'm beginning to think that I took the words way too literally. ...

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It's unfortunate if your teacher talked you out of the truth. That wouldn't be intelligent by a teacher, or even competent. It would be irresponsible and foolish behavior by a teacher to mislead a student, when in fact, the student is at least partly right.

You were, in fact, partly correct. It is a fact in the play that Gertrude does think that. It's what causes her to exclaim about being "murdered" and scream for help. If your teacher doesn't even know Hamlet well enough to know the basic dialogue, your teacher is not somebody to listen to on the subject.

But Gertrude's view isn't the whole story, of course. Hamlet really intends Gertrude no harm. He was speaking figuratively.

There's more than one character in the scene, so full understanding requires considering both their points of view.

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Since the play is filled with deep meaning, ...

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Like what? It's a stage play. It's a known fact that the play was written to entertain an audience. It has some superb writing, some interesting observations about the human condition, and so on, but Hamlet is a stage play. It is not Kant's Critique of Pure Reason, nor Hume's essay on morals, or anything like that, and of course it was never written to be.

There's all kinds of writers who try to leech off Hamlet - because it's famous - to promote their own ideas, or agendas, but they don't really write about Hamlet at all, and generally they don't even really know the play dialogue.

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Originally Posted by Amleth

Like what? It's a stage play. It's a known fact that the play was written to entertain an audience. It has some superb writing, some interesting observations about the human condition, and so on, but Hamlet is a stage play. It is not Kant's Critique of Pure Reason, nor Hume's essay on morals, or anything like that, and of course it was never written to be.

There's all kinds of writers who try to leech off Hamlet - because it's famous - to promote their own ideas, or agendas, but they don't really write about Hamlet at all, and generally they don't even really know the play dialogue.

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I believe some people overthink Hamlet.

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Originally Posted by Amleth

It's unfortunate if your teacher talked you out of the truth. That wouldn't be intelligent by a teacher, or even competent. It would be irresponsible and foolish behavior by a teacher to mislead a student, when in fact, the student is at least partly right.

You were, in fact, partly correct. It is a fact in the play that Gertrude does think that. It's what causes her to exclaim about being "murdered" and scream for help. If your teacher doesn't even know Hamlet well enough to know the basic dialogue, your teacher is not somebody to listen to on the subject.

But Gertrude's view isn't the whole story, of course. Hamlet really intends Gertrude no harm. He was speaking figuratively.

There's more than one character in the scene, so full understanding requires considering both their points of view.



Like what? It's a stage play. It's a known fact that the play was written to entertain an audience. It has some superb writing, some interesting observations about the human condition, and so on, but Hamlet is a stage play. It is not Kant's Critique of Pure Reason, nor Hume's essay on morals, or anything like that, and of course it was never written to be.

There's all kinds of writers who try to leech off Hamlet - because it's famous - to promote their own ideas, or agendas, but they don't really write about Hamlet at all, and generally they don't even really know the play dialogue.

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Hamlet, like most other works of literature, are open to interpretation. The reader takes what they want from it, so don't criticize people for their view of a play.

Also, the whole play is full of meaning. What do think the "To Be Or Not To Be" speech is all about??? Is that just to entertain us with some joke? Have you even read Hamlet? Only a fool would say the things you have said.

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Originally Posted by Zirkle2007

Hamlet, like most other works of literature, are open to interpretation. The reader takes what they want from it, so don't criticize people for their view of a play.

Also, the whole play is full of meaning. What do think the "To Be Or Not To Be" speech is all about??? Is that just to entertain us with some joke? Have you even read Hamlet? Only a fool would say the things you have said.

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I totally agree. I guess some people just don't know how to interperet literature.

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Originally Posted by Amleth

It's unfortunate if your teacher talked you out of the truth. That wouldn't be intelligent by a teacher, or even competent. It would be irresponsible and foolish behavior by a teacher to mislead a student, when in fact, the student is at least partly right.

You were, in fact, partly correct. It is a fact in the play that Gertrude does think that. It's what causes her to exclaim about being "murdered" and scream for help. If your teacher doesn't even know Hamlet well enough to know the basic dialogue, your teacher is not somebody to listen to on the subject.

But Gertrude's view isn't the whole story, of course. Hamlet really intends Gertrude no harm. He was speaking figuratively.

There's more than one character in the scene, so full understanding requires considering both their points of view.



Like what? It's a stage play. It's a known fact that the play was written to entertain an audience. It has some superb writing, some interesting observations about the human condition, and so on, but Hamlet is a stage play. It is not Kant's Critique of Pure Reason, nor Hume's essay on morals, or anything like that, and of course it was never written to be.

There's all kinds of writers who try to leech off Hamlet - because it's famous - to promote their own ideas, or agendas, but they don't really write about Hamlet at all, and generally they don't even really know the play dialogue.

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I forgot this was the online-bash other's opinions forums. I could have sworn that we were here to discuss, not put down, others' interpretations of a play or work of literature. If you honestly have enough time to troll around forums and bash people...then...well. enough said.

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Originally Posted by Nirome

Shakespeare's Hamlet appears to reach a climax in Act III, scene iv as Hamlet verbally assaults his mother, releasing a torrent of long suppressed resentment over her betrayal of King Hamlet.

Queen: Have you forgot me?
Hamlet: No, by the rood, not so.
You are the Queen, your husband's brother's wife,
And (would it were not so) you are my mother. (3.4.15-18)

Shortly after this exchange, the Queen recognizes that her son has not come to her chamber to be disciplined, but instead intends to show her how distorted her perception has become. Gertrude then seeks to escape the chamber, but she cannot avoid looking at what she has become.

Hamlet: Come, Come, and sit you down; you shall not
budge.
You go not until I set you up a glass
Where you may see the inmost part of you. (3.4.19-21)

The mirror Hamlet forces his mother to examine reveals, "such black and grained spots as will not leave their tinct" (3.4.92-93). Why does Hamlet's mirror have so much power over his mother? When Gertrude gazes into this mirror, what exactly does she see?

Apparently, Gertrude, prior to Hamlet's visitation, was unable or unwilling to see the enormity of her sin-- a loyal husband dishonorably given an abbreviated period of mourning, a ous brother-in-law exchanged for the "goodly king", a son completely cut off, abandoned by his mother in a time of need.

In Harold C. Goddard's book The Meaning of Shakespeare offers up an interpretation of what Gertrude may have seen.
"And the sin which he chastizes in his mother is nothing but his own in reverse. Anger and (plus cruelty in which they both usually culminate) are the two nt passions in man, one generically masculine, the other feminine" (372).

My question for this discussion thread is this: what did Gertrude see in this glass? Perhaps most importantly, what do we, as readers, see when Hamlet holds up this mirror to us-- demanding that we examine closely who we truly are and what we intend to do with this self-knowledge? :idea:

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The mirror that Hamlet shows his mother reflects the truth of the situation. Gertrude has been blind, believing the King and accepting him as her new husband. After he killed King Hamlet, his own brother, Claudius takes his crown and everything that belongs to him. Gertrude is naive and somewhat self-centered, not thinking about the betrayal to her late husband, King Hamlet. Hamlet harshly opens her eyes, making her realize what she has done, and the truth about her precious husband. Gertrude is upset by all of this because she has been wrong and knows she is partially at fault.

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Originally Posted by Madkins

I forgot this was the online-bash other's opinions forums. I could have sworn that we were here to discuss, not put down, others' interpretations of a play or work of literature.. l2go outside. seriously. If you honestly have enough time to troll around forums and bash people...then...well. enough said.

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Sometimes I wonder, Than I just walk away slowly, and watch what happens next.

I agree with Zirkle2007, everyone views a play differently. Everyone has different opinons, and you don't have to agree with them, but you NEED to respect it!!!

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Originally Posted by HeatherBug

I agree with Zirkle2007, everyone views a play differently. Everyone has different opinons, and you don't have to agree with them, but you NEED to respect it!!!

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I agree

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Originally Posted by Nirome

Shakespeare's Hamlet appears to reach a climax in Act III, scene iv as Hamlet verbally assaults his mother, releasing a torrent of long suppressed resentment over her betrayal of King Hamlet.

Queen: Have you forgot me?
Hamlet: No, by the rood, not so.
You are the Queen, your husband's brother's wife,
And (would it were not so) you are my mother. (3.4.15-18)

Shortly after this exchange, the Queen recognizes that her son has not come to her chamber to be disciplined, but instead intends to show her how distorted her perception has become. Gertrude then seeks to escape the chamber, but she cannot avoid looking at what she has become.

Hamlet: Come, Come, and sit you down; you shall not
budge.
You go not until I set you up a glass
Where you may see the inmost part of you. (3.4.19-21)

The mirror Hamlet forces his mother to examine reveals, "such black and grained spots as will not leave their tinct" (3.4.92-93). Why does Hamlet's mirror have so much power over his mother? When Gertrude gazes into this mirror, what exactly does she see?

Apparently, Gertrude, prior to Hamlet's visitation, was unable or unwilling to see the enormity of her sin-- a loyal husband dishonorably given an abbreviated period of mourning, a ous brother-in-law exchanged for the "goodly king", a son completely cut off, abandoned by his mother in a time of need.

In Harold C. Goddard's book The Meaning of Shakespeare offers up an interpretation of what Gertrude may have seen.
"And the sin which he chastizes in his mother is nothing but his own in reverse. Anger and (plus cruelty in which they both usually culminate) are the two nt passions in man, one generically masculine, the other feminine" (372).

My question for this discussion thread is this: what did Gertrude see in this glass? Perhaps most importantly, what do we, as readers, see when Hamlet holds up this mirror to us-- demanding that we examine closely who we truly are and what we intend to do with this self-knowledge? :idea:

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Hamlet's mirror shows us our true selves. It shows us the things about ourselves we don't want to see, the ugly things. For example, it showed Polonius what a fool he was, Gertrude as a traitor, and Claudius as a murderer. The mirror is the truth, what we try to ignore.

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Originally Posted by Nirome

Shakespeare's Hamlet appears to reach a climax in Act III, scene iv as Hamlet verbally assaults his mother, releasing a torrent of long suppressed resentment over her betrayal of King Hamlet.

Queen: Have you forgot me?
Hamlet: No, by the rood, not so.
You are the Queen, your husband's brother's wife,
And (would it were not so) you are my mother. (3.4.15-18)

Shortly after this exchange, the Queen recognizes that her son has not come to her chamber to be disciplined, but instead intends to show her how distorted her perception has become. Gertrude then seeks to escape the chamber, but she cannot avoid looking at what she has become.

Hamlet: Come, Come, and sit you down; you shall not
budge.
You go not until I set you up a glass
Where you may see the inmost part of you. (3.4.19-21)

The mirror Hamlet forces his mother to examine reveals, "such black and grained spots as will not leave their tinct" (3.4.92-93). Why does Hamlet's mirror have so much power over his mother? When Gertrude gazes into this mirror, what exactly does she see?

Apparently, Gertrude, prior to Hamlet's visitation, was unable or unwilling to see the enormity of her sin-- a loyal husband dishonorably given an abbreviated period of mourning, a ous brother-in-law exchanged for the "goodly king", a son completely cut off, abandoned by his mother in a time of need.

In Harold C. Goddard's book The Meaning of Shakespeare offers up an interpretation of what Gertrude may have seen.
"And the sin which he chastizes in his mother is nothing but his own in reverse. Anger and (plus cruelty in which they both usually culminate) are the two nt passions in man, one generically masculine, the other feminine" (372).

My question for this discussion thread is this: what did Gertrude see in this glass? Perhaps most importantly, what do we, as readers, see when Hamlet holds up this mirror to us-- demanding that we examine closely who we truly are and what we intend to do with this self-knowledge? :idea:

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Couldn't the mirror also be Shown by Ophelia's Flowers?

I think that the mirror could be our subconcious. It's like we know what we look like on the inside, but we don't want to admit it. The mirror is just a tool in showing ourselves what we already know, we just haven't accepted.

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Originally Posted by Amleth

It's unfortunate if your teacher talked you out of the truth. That wouldn't be intelligent by a teacher, or even competent. It would be irresponsible and foolish behavior by a teacher to mislead a student, when in fact, the student is at least partly right.



Like what? It's a stage play. It's a known fact that the play was written to entertain an audience. It has some superb writing, some interesting observations about the human condition, and so on, but Hamlet is a stage play. It is not Kant's Critique of Pure Reason, nor Hume's essay on morals, or anything like that, and of course it was never written to be.


There's all kinds of writers who try to leech off Hamlet - because it's famous - to promote their own ideas, or agendas, but they don't really write about Hamlet at all, and generally they don't even really know the play dialogue.

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How on earth could you attack a teacher and a class that you have never attended? Did you have the unfortunate experience (as a student) of having a teacher annoy you with ideas and discussion about some concept upon which you had already made up your mind? This must have been similar to Hamlet's father's experience of hell following his murder. "O horrible, O horrible, most horrible!" (1.5.81) :bawling:

Ameleth, you have single-handly put scholars around the world on the unemployment rolls. You have, in a single post, killed all debate over the meaning of Hamlet. "The play is simply a play." End of debate. Period.

Interesting idea, but totally wrong. Maybe the book notes (Cliffs, perhaps, or Pink Monkey Notes?) version of Hamlet you were reading failed to cover the complex issues, language, elements built into the play. Why is it that after over 400 years scholars continue to write essays and books of criticism over this play? Harold Bloom, the critic I mentioned in my last post, has devoted his entire professional life in studying the works to Shakespeare. According to Ameleth, the learned Bloom is merely a leech. I suppose this award winning leech should be informed that he has wasted his life seeking meaning where none existed. Ameleth says all of this criticism and study is merely a bunch of mumbo-jumbo-- ignorant people projecting their own thoughts onto something as simple as a play. How amusing!

Please take a sentence, perhaps two even, to illuminate the more complex ideas of Kant and Hume. Given your ability to state the meaning of Hamlet so succinctly, I suspect it would take a broken paragraph, filled will a few broken, error-filled sentences to encapsulate their philosophical beliefs. Anything beyond what you have to say about these men's ideas, no doubt, be total clap-trap, rubbish, foolish, and misleading. We will depend on your wisdom, Ameleth, to tell us what we need to know.

If this works out well, perhaps you could cover the whole of human knowledge in literature and philosophy. It might take one or two posts for you to do this, but I know that I will be a better person for having absorbed your erudite thoughts on the human condition. You should have made your screen name "Pangloss" (see Candide, another easy read from a silly Frenchman named Voltaire).

Universities around the world are no doubt eliminating all Shakespeare classes from their curriculum due to its lack of complexity. As Ameleth states so eloquently, "They don't even really know the play dialogue." All because Ameleth says so. :lol:

Well put Nirome!

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Originally Posted by Amleth

It's unfortunate if your teacher talked you out of the truth. That wouldn't be intelligent by a teacher, or even competent. It would be irresponsible and foolish behavior by a teacher to mislead a student, when in fact, the student is at least partly right.

You were, in fact, partly correct. It is a fact in the play that Gertrude does think that. It's what causes her to exclaim about being "murdered" and scream for help. If your teacher doesn't even know Hamlet well enough to know the basic dialogue, your teacher is not somebody to listen to on the subject.

But Gertrude's view isn't the whole story, of course. Hamlet really intends Gertrude no harm. He was speaking figuratively.

There's more than one character in the scene, so full understanding requires considering both their points of view.



Like what? It's a stage play. It's a known fact that the play was written to entertain an audience. It has some superb writing, some interesting observations about the human condition, and so on, but Hamlet is a stage play. It is not Kant's Critique of Pure Reason, nor Hume's essay on morals, or anything like that, and of course it was never written to be.

There's all kinds of writers who try to leech off Hamlet - because it's famous - to promote their own ideas, or agendas, but they don't really write about Hamlet at all, and generally they don't even really know the play dialogue.

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Dont you claim on your website that "Hamlet is a highly complex play - possibly the most complex writing in all of literature - and a modern English translation is not enough to convey the full meaning of it." Hmmmm???

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Originally Posted by Andrea2007

Hamlet's mirror shows us our true selves. It shows us the things about ourselves we don't want to see, the ugly things. For example, it showed Polonius what a fool he was, Gertrude as a traitor, and Claudius as a murderer. The mirror is the truth, what we try to ignore.

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I like this take on the mirror. I believe that while the "mirror" can be the actual mirror Hamlet shoved, can it also be Hamlet showing Gertude her inner self. Does anyone else find it strange, that the only thing we can never see clearly is ourselves (both figurativly and literally). In order to see ourselves we need an outside source and often the image is disorted (ei. mirrors,pictures) We can never see our true self. Maybe we need others to give a true image of ourselves, and that is what Hamlet does to Gertrude with his "mirror".

Hamlet's use of a mirror is ironic in that the play is replete with references to "play" "show" and "seems." Again and again the play revolves around the inability to judge something by appearances - Hamlet discourses with his mother over her interpretation of his appearance and how "these things indeed seem,/ for they are actions that a man might play:/ But I have that within me which passes show;/ These but the trappings and the suits of woe" (1.2). Hamlet uses the play (a false story) to intuit Claudius' guilt; Polonious himself admits - while preparing his daughter to "chance" upon Hamlet that "with devotion's visage and pious action we do suger o'er the devil himself." In the world of Hamlet, a mirror could hardly be trusted.

It is Hamlet's words - not the mirror - that prompt Gertrude to protest "Thou turn'st mine eyes into my very soul." In Hamlet, it is language that reveals the truth - not mirrors. Kenneth Branaugh emphasized this idea nicely in his version of Hamlet by utilizing a throne-room full of mirrors for the "To Be" soliloquy.

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Originally Posted by Redzeppelin

Hamlet's use of a mirror is ironic in that the play is replete with references to "play" "show" and "seems." Again and again the play revolves around the inability to judge something by appearances - Hamlet discourses with his mother over her interpretation of his appearance and how "these things indeed seem,/ for they are actions that a man might play:/ But I have that within me which passes show;/ These but the trappings and the suits of woe" (1.2). Hamlet uses the play (a false story) to intuit Claudius' guilt; Polonious himself admits - while preparing his daughter to "chance" upon Hamlet that "with devotion's visage and pious action we do suger o'er the devil himself." In the world of Hamlet, a mirror could hardly be trusted.

It is Hamlet's words - not the mirror - that prompt Gertrude to protest "Thou turn'st mine eyes into my very soul." In Hamlet, it is language that reveals the truth - not mirrors. Kenneth Branaugh emphasized this idea nicely in his version of Hamlet by utilizing a throne-room full of mirrors for the "To Be" soliloquy.

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I like your view on Hamlet a lot. I agree completely with you about Hamlet's conversation with his mother.

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Originally Posted by Zirkle2007

I like your view on Hamlet a lot. I agree completely with you about Hamlet's conversation with his mother.

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Thank you kindly. :)

I love the play. It is magnificent.

Ashley and others covered fairly well the symbolism of Hamlet showing his mother a "mirror" - and she is clearly deeply moved by the end of the scene.

The most common misconception today about Gertrude, though, is that she's wanton, or as one comment wrote, "a b---"

We do not feel in our times that back then, when a king died, even if it were his brother who took the throne, it was common for the old Queen and her family to be executed, or at a minimum, banished. But usually executed. There was a lot at stake for Gertrude. Men survived by brute strength or political acumen or military might. Women tended to survive by giving themselves to the most powerful suitor. The psychology of Hamlet, his adolescent rantings, paint an introspection of human psychology far advanced for its time. As a "stage play" (as one person wrote), none of that would have been covered or revealed, for the writer - writing for an of his own time - would have skipped all reference to "unreasonable passions so out of keeping with the brutish reality" ... Hamlet goes so much farther, forcing Gertrude to a place of confession and absolution, or humility and remorse, while Hamlet himself is actually most chilidish, recalcitrant, and just plain wrong. It's his honesty of emotion that illicits honesty from his mother.

Even as he rants, raves, sees a Ghost, and stabs Polonius to death, to keep the action moving. Such enormity of action and philosophy has rarely been married, before or after.

These are my opinions and thoughts at least, hopefully of some use.

David Blair

Hamlet's mirror and his words are one in the same. When Hamlet says that he will hold up a "glass" where his mother may see the "innermost part" of herself, he is using a synecdoche that uses the glass or mirror to represent simultaneously the tangible and abstract together in a brilliant flash of verbal economy (3.4.21-22). Both mirror and word reveal the wickedness hidden deep under the various "players" within the play itself. Ironically, just as a mirror has the power to reveal our flaws, it also gives us the power to hide them more deeply under whatever mask we choose.

Why do we need mirrors, Red? We do not use them to view others; we use them for ourselves. Mirrors are real, but they are also abstractions. :idea:

While the stock theme in Hamlet is, as you have pointed out, "appearance and reality," your analysis totally discounts the mirror as a symbol of the human soul. What, after all, constitutes our development of self, of identity? Who is the person I call myself?

Can I wear a mask, put on a multitude of disguises (create an avatar), play at emotion, create a character, a complete counterfeit of myself? Of course! But when I gaze into the mirror, whether I wear the disguise or not, what is it that looks back at me? The mirror, whether glazed over with fog, cracked, or distorted, will faithfully render an image that may fool others, but will never fool me (unless I am truly mad).

I wonder what Ophelia saw as she leaned out over the water shortly before her suicidal swim. What reflection swam into her vision before the "envious sliver broke" and cast her into the "weeping brook" (4.7.175-178)? Perhaps her impulse to merge with whatever image she beheld was impossible to resist.

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I wonder what Ophelia saw as she leaned out over the water shortly before her suicidal swim. What reflection swam into her vision before the "envious sliver broke" and cast her into the "weeping brook" (4.7.175-178)? Perhaps her impulse to merge with whatever image she beheld was impossible to resist.

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I do indeed wonder what Ophelia saw when she gazed deep into her own reflection. Perhaps it was something so terrible that it made her fear life, or maybe it was something more beautiful than we can imagine that made this life seem pointless. Unfortunately we will never know what she saw that made her take the final plunge.

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Originally Posted by Nirome

Why do we need mirrors, Red? We do not use them to view others; we use them for ourselves. Mirrors are real, but they are also abstractions. :idea:

While the stock theme in Hamlet is, as you have pointed out, "appearance and reality," your analysis totally discounts the mirror as a symbol of the human soul. What, after all, constitutes our development of self, of identity? Who is the person I call myself?

Can I wear a mask, put on a multitude of disguises (create an avatar), play at emotion, create a character, a complete counterfeit of myself? Of course! But when I gaze into the mirror, whether I wear the disguise or not, what is it that looks back at me? The mirror, whether glazed over with fog, cracked, or distorted, will faithfully render an image that may fool others, but will never fool me (unless I am truly mad).

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Well said.

1) I don't discount the mirror so much as point to another "layer" of meaning the play presents - that the outside of someone cannot be totally trusted to reflect (pun intended) the inner person (Duncan reinforces this idea in 1.4 of Macbeth: "There's no art to find the mind's construction in the face"). Your interpretation is equally valid.

2) I think that a mirror's reflection must be "filtered" through the consciousness that observes it; if that consciousness has certain fallacious views about the object in the mirror, then the mirror can - essentially - lie. You speak as if our vision is a penetrating "truth-sifter"; I think the plays of Shakespeare (as well as the Bible and most literature) points out that what we see can rarely be trusted.

Your observations are - as always - insightful and well-articulated.

In Hamlet as life, we see the need for others to be our conscious to help show us when we have foundered and made severe moral errors. I believe when Hamlet visits his mother in her closet, he is acting as her conscious to show her the error of her ways. As Nirome stated in the introduction to this tread. "... the Queen recognizes that her son has not com to her chamber to be disciplined, but instead intends to show her how distorted her perception has become." Gertrude like all parents is not ready for her son not to be her little boy anymore. Hamlet has reached an age and started down a new road, in which he believe he is no longer able to be punished by his mother. This is because it is Gertrude, the mother, and not Hamlet, the son, who has strayed from what is morally right. Gertrude is not will or able to accept this fact at first and even goes as far as to sate, " Nay, then I'll set those to you that can speak. " (3.4.19) She wants Hamlet to take her side and admit that he is wrong, she goes as far as to threaten to go get someone more important that he will listen to. To me this seems a little ironic as the only person above Gertrude that Hamlet could listen to is Claudius, whom Hamlet has not respect for. The whole reason why Hamlet is coming to scold his mother is because of her relationship with his uncle, which Hamlet finds to be perverse and disrespectful to his father.
In Act II Scene IV lines 53-89, Hamlet list all the grievances he has against his mother, particularly the way she reacted to his father's death by marrying her husband's brother. I agree with Redzippelin when he states

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Originally Posted by Redzeppelin

...It is Hamlet's words - not the mirror - that prompt Gertrude to protest "Thou turn'st mine eyes into my very soul." In Hamlet, it is language that reveals the truth - not mirrors.

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But I also believe that the mirror Hamlet "uses" can be a symbol of the truth he reveals to Gertrude. Hamlet not only shows Gertrude her sins in marrying her husband's brother but he also revels that his father was murdered by her now husband. (3.4.29-30) Can it be that this is to show that as members of the human race we are to be mirrors to each other, showing the inner selves of those around us??

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Originally Posted by Wallflower01

But I also believe that the mirror Hamlet "uses" can be a symbol of the truth he reveals to Gertrude. Hamlet not only shows Gertrude her sins in marrying her husband's borther but he also revelas that his fatehr was murdered by her now husband. (3.4.29-30) Can it be that this is to show that as members of the human race we are to be mirrors to each other, showing the inner selves of those around us??

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Yes - I agree fully with what you've said. In Shakespeare I believe this to always be true.

See post 36 oops. . .

In my on-going theories about Ophelia's death an interesting revelation was presented before me by my AP English instructor, Mr. Romine. As I have written before, I believe, because of my teacher, that Ophelia saw something in the stream she looked down upon before she supposedly fell/threw herself into it. My teacher believes that she saw something that made her want to mesh with the water. It could possibly be that she saw her father, Polonius, and this caused her to want to be with him. Since he was taken from her rather abruptly I would say that this is feasible. Or perhaps it was Hamlet she saw, her one true love that she could never truly have. This is one theory that I support, but it is not my own.
My own theory is that she saw something that made this life seem obsolete to death. As Hamlet says in the famous “to be or not to be” speech, death doesn't seem all too bad. If there is nothing such as a life after death then why do we keep on with our lives? It is then just simply sleep. A long sleep. Perhaps this is what Ophelia envisioned. She saw death played out before her and she liked the thought of it over life. Can we blame her if she saw what happens after life and it wasn't what we all thought it was? If she saw that we are wasting time living? If there is no punishment for suicide and she saw this played out before her then I do not blame her. I commend her bravery for taking the plunge. She is either much smarter then the rest of us or she is a lot more delusional than the normal person.
As the Queen says, “There is a willow grown askant the brook that shows this hoar leaves in the glassy stream,”(4.7. 69-70). This glassy stream is like a mirror. Yet another point in the play where they use something that can reflect the human soul. Something that shows us the truth.

Upon hearing the term mirror, most people think of “a polished or smooth substance that forms images by the reflection of light,” as the dictionary states. I believe Shakespeare's mentioning of a mirror in Hamlet, however, evokes more of a representational and theoretical meaning. Or, that the aforementioned mirror serves as a true embodiment of the essential being of such characters as Queen Gertrude and Ophelia, and essentially in the end, human beings.
When Hamlet tells Gertrude “Come, come, and sit you down; you shall not budge.
You go not till I set you up a glass
Where you may see the inmost part of you.”
(3.4.18-21)
he is saying that he will show her a mirror so that she may see her immoral ways. He is trying to get her to notice her negligence, and to change as a result of this realization. To some, Hamlet's threatening to place a mirror in front of his mother may not initially make sense, because mirrors are usually associated with superficiality. Upon further examination, conversely, readers may realize that mirrors can serve as the only tangible objects that actually show us humans our true selves, and not just the selves we show to the world. This is because when we must see ourselves face to face, we can no longer conceal our previous misdoings, faults, regrets or sins.
Additionally, I think that it is of great interest to wonder what Ophelia may have seen after possibly seeing her reflection before her tragic death, as Nirome has previously asked in a thread. I found Hyatt07's interpretation on the subject thought-provoking when he said this about what Ophelia could have seen: “Perhaps it was something so terrible that it made her fear life, or maybe it was something more beautiful than we could imagine that made this life seem pointless.” I had never thought of what she viewed deep within herself from such a positive viewpoint, I must admit. I had always just pictured that the final images and thoughts consuming her mind were depressing, because I think she was driven to madness by feeling betrayed by the men in her life and by never really being able to think for herself. Maybe she saw this inner quality as she peered over the water while contemplating her death and felt that drowning herself would be the only decision she would truly ever be able to make.
Perhaps it is these instances of the unknown, and those that must be left up to interpretation, that make Hamlet and other Shakespearean works so intriguing and debatable. Nonetheless, I do still believe that the mentioning of the mirror in Hamlet is quite profound, because sometimes it takes something or someone else to help us to see ourselves for who we truly are, whether we want to know this for sure or not.

Most likely everyone has seen their own reflection once before. We see something, and everyone else sees something, but do we see the same thing? Probably not. Some view themselves as what they want to see, but not the truth. The play really revolves around different characters seeing themselves as who they truly are (or have become).
It is hard to see an image when it is distorted. Doesn't one wonder if the characters see themselves as distorted images, dealing with their own struggles and ideas? I think that they do.
When Hamlet shows the mirror to his mother she does not want to accept it at first. This is shown in (3.4.(1-221))
QUEEN GERTRUDE
Hamlet, thou hast thy father much offended.
HAMLET
Mother, you have my father much offended.
QUEEN GERTRUDE
Come, come, you answer with an idle tongue.
HAMLET
Go, go, you question with a wicked tongue.
QUEEN GERTRUDE
Why, how now, Hamlet!
HAMLET
What's the matter now?
QUEEN GERTRUDE
Have you forgot me?
HAMLET
No, by the rood, not so:
You are the queen, your husband's brother's wife;
And--would it were not so!--you are my mother.
QUEEN GERTRUDE
Nay, then, I'll set those to you that can speak.
HAMLET
Come, come, and sit you down; you shall not budge;
You go not till I set you up a glass
Where you may see the inmost part of you.

They exchange more cutting words and then the queen states...

“O Hamlet, speak no more:
Thou turn'st mine eyes into my very soul
And there I see such black and grained spots
As will not leave their tinct.”(3.4.(90-93))

So afterwards, her reflection becomes crystal clear. :lol:

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Originally Posted by Redzeppelin

It is Hamlet's words - not the mirror - that prompt Gertrude to protest "Thou turn'st mine eyes into my very soul." In Hamlet, it is language that reveals the truth - not mirrors. Kenneth Branaugh emphasized this idea nicely in his version of Hamlet by utilizing a throne-room full of mirrors for the "To Be" soliloquy.

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I agree and also believe that this is the case of Hamlet’s words showing his mother what she has become and the mirror acting as a symbol as said before.

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Originally Posted by Nirome

I wonder what Ophelia saw as she leaned out over the water shortly before her suicidal swim. What reflection swam into her vision before the "envious sliver broke" and cast her into the "weeping brook" (4.7.175-178)? Perhaps her impulse to merge with whatever image she beheld was impossible to resist.

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I like Nirome’s idea of Ophelia and what she sees when looking at her reflection in the water. I bet the ripples were not the only things that added distortion to her image. It is a constant struggle for us today and the characters in Shakespeare’s Hamlet to see ourselves truly instead of what we would like to see.
I find it interesting to see how the two different times reflect so much about humanity.
Shakespeare is amazing:)

Obviously, Ophelia went mad. In doing so, she takes her life by jumping into a river and drowning herself. This brings to question, what did she see that made her take her life? Was it out of pure insanity? Or did she still have a resemblance of her former self, a small shred of sanity... and did the river show what was left of her former self that which she was...a mad, love-sick woman? Then again she could have been completly insane and she saw things that weren't there. Perhaps she caught a glimpse of heaven or a paradise of some sort and in doing so, decided it was a far greater place than where she was at that point in time. However, killing yourself isn't the way to get there in most cases, being insane she wouldn't know this. Maybe she saw herself with Hamlet, most likely the biggest cause of her insanity, the way things once were. But knowing she couldn't be with him in life, she chose that which she saw in the reflection...regardless of knowing it as death. Then again, she could have been so grief stricken that she saw a world without him altogether and saw this as a far greater alternate existence to that in which she currently resided.
Ophelia's case isn't the only time a "mirror" of some sort is brought into play. Hamlet visits his mother, Gertrude, in her chambers at one point in the play. During this scene, the use of a mirror is brought up. Hamlet uses this, in my opinion, to show his mother the error of her ways. The fact that she tries, yet again in my opinion, to be oblivious to the goings on around her-the death of Hamlet's father for instance. He uses it to show her what she has become, showing her the monster that she truly is, forsaking her former love and herself, which is seen as despicable in Hamlet's eyes. How she could so easily dismiss the death of the king, to make things worse, marry his brother?
His plan is successful, he shows her what he sees, what she has done to herself and more importantly to Hamlet. This quote drives that fact home.
“O Hamlet, speak no more:
Thou turn'st mine eyes into my very soul
And there I see such black and grained spots
As will not leave their tinct.”(3.4.(90-93))
This is how I've interpretted Hamlet, as far off base as it may be. The fact that "mirrors" are used to show everyone what they are, be it wicked or grief-stricken, is an awesome concept in itself. Maybe it was a subtle or not so subtle way of Shakespeare taking a jab at society as a whole...then again we may never know the truth of the matter.