How does rhetoric of drama shed light on truth and reason in Hamlet?

Abstract

This thesis will examine how speech can be used or abused once disembedded from the Judaeo/Christian ontological framework which normally sustained and validated it. Chapter one looks at speech being used to express, describe and ultimately influence emotion; examples are Polonius' treatment of Ophelia, Claudius' propagandist address to his new court and the ghost's interaction with Hamlet. These manoeuvres seem successful, since Polonius achieves as much control over his daughter as Claudius over the court and Hamlet readily agrees to become an avenger, making a series of promises, in a semi-incantatory attempt to bind his future self to the task. These promises, like much of the ghost's speech are replete with religious references and imagery, although neither speaker demonstrates any adherence to the spirit of Christianity. (Also examined is Gertrude's "if it be" which recurs as a thematically influential leitmotif throughout the play). Finally the surreal oath swearing conclusion to act one will be discussed in the light of a subversive technique, whereby Shakespeare deliberately mocks the solemnity of what has gone before, foreshadowing, I believe, his treatment of the play's ending.