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December 4, 2002 Shakespeare Final Paper Dark Humor in Hamlet A distinguishing and frequently mystifying feature of William Shakespeare’s tragedy Hamlet is the presence of dark humor: constant wordplay, irony, riddles, clowning, and bawdy repartee. The language of Hamlet is cleverly and specifically designed in the guise of Shakespeare’s dark humor. In regards to all uses of comedy and wit, the language of this play is meant to be pleasing to the audience but not to the characters. This concept is essential in understanding what place comedy has in a tragedy such as Hamlet. Hamlet’s very use and style of language, especially the use of the pun, his dialogue with the minor character Polonius, and the realization of his destiny in graveyard scene reveal the comic relief that lies within this tragedy. But why have any comic relief at all in a tragedy? One possible answer lies in the timelessness of the human condition, in the idea that people of all time periods in history experience the same emotions. In the same way that movies and plays can be cathartic experiences for audiences today, Shakespeare’s plays must have been cathartic for his Elizabethan audience, groundlings and aristocrates alike. The fact that Hamlet maintains a usage and sense of humor makes him more real and more identifiable with the audience; he isn’t tragically one-dimensional. Humor is as much a part of the human condition as sadness; in times of grief, humor can be a saving grace. Hamlet’s use of dark humor makes him more believable; he isn’t just some royal brat who is upset that he has been further removed from the crown, but he actually cares about his family, specifically his father, and the wrong done to him. Therefore, for the audience, Hamlet’s believability relies on his use of dark humor. The audience comes to share with Hamlet the knowledge that he is right, that he is justified. Considering that the audience also shares Hamlet’s knowledge of the murder, his use of humor reminds the audience that his madness is just an act and that he in fact still has his wits. In my estimation, and for the purpose of this paper I aim to show how, the use of dark humor maintains our (the audience/reader) reliance in Hamlet as a justified and believable character through the play to his tragic end. The exchange of wit often relied heavily on the identity of the actors (Thomson 116). Shakespeare writes the plays for his audience in his time, so the audience would be familiar with the actors. Thus, there may have been some very pointed sarcasm thrown into the dialogue that seems very funny to the 17th century playgoer (depending on the real identity of the speaker), but appears mystifying to the modern viewer. The pun is the most frequent of Shakespeare’s comic uses. Act one introduces the reader to Hamlet, who seems to be showing signs of strong angst towards his elders, but uses biting remarks to defend himself. Hamlet believes that humor (albeit sarcastic humor) suggests a nimble and flexible mind, as well as an imagination. Wittenberg is a pinnacle of wits, which is where, of course, Hamlet wants to return to (Watts 94). “A little more than kin, and less than kind” (1.2.65). Hamlet’s first words in the play show him playing with words in order to state a paradox: Claudius is twice related to him, as uncle and stepfather, but not really his kin or kind at all. Immediately thereafter, the king questions, “How is it that the clouds still hang on you?” (1.2.66) Hamlet responds with, “Not so, my lord, I am too much in the sun” (1.2.67). He means that the king has called Hamlet “son” too often (Fisch 220). “Thrift, thrift, Horatio! The funeral baked meats / Did coldly furnish forth the marriage tables”(1.2.180-81). Here Hamlet bitterly jokes that the real reason his mother's remarriage came so soon after her husband's death was so that she could save money by serving the leftover funeral refreshments to the wedding guests. Albeit caused by a joke, any human in the audience with a heart would sympathize with Hamlet given this information. In the last scene of act one, the reader meets Hamlet’s last family member, his deceased father. Hamlet’s feigned madness is concocted in his mind in this scene. This reflects the ability of his nimble mind to change characters very easy, which is significant later in the play. Shakespeare’s extensive knowledge of differing meanings of the same words (Charney 46) is put to good use here. When Hamlet sees the ghost of his father, his friends try to stop him from following the apparition, and he cries out, “Unhand me, gentlemen / I’ll make a ghost of him that lets me!” (1.4.84-5). In Elizabethan English, “lets” means “allows” AND “hinders” (Charney 51). Now the sentence has two different meanings. Hamlet’s instinctive and unconscious punning here foreshadows Polonius’ death by Hamlet; at the very least, it foreshadows the murder of someone by Hamlet. In addition, a third layer of meaning can be found in this sentence. The ambigiousness of this sentence mirrors Hamlet’s own doubts (which come out later in the play) in believing the ghost; an action which yields another dimension, another incitement of believability for the audience. The comic world is frankly controlled and unified (Weitz 64), whereas the tragic world is one that has many possible routes and directions. Shakespeare often presents a love triangle of daughter, father, and prospective son-in-law (96). This can be a humorous triangle in a comedy (such as the one that results from Egeus, Hermia, and Lysander in A Midsummer Night’s Dream), or a tragic one in a tragedy.
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