Self-Referential Instances in Hamlet and The Tempest Shakespeare is famous for drawing attention to what the audience is experiencing is a play. In a Midsummer Night’s Dream, Puck concludes with “If we shadows have offended, / think but this, and all is mended” (5.1.418-19), reminding the audience that the “shadows” are just actors, and the magic they experienced was a play. There is also Jacques’ famous “all the world’s a stage” speech in As You Like It, in which he compares life to a stage, and men and women to actors (2.7.138-39). But Shakespeare’s most self-referential plays are Hamlet and The Tempest. The protagonists, Hamlet and Prospero, are both performers and directors of the action of the plays. Furthermore, each play consists of a play within the play, The Murder of Gonzago in Hamlet, and the wedding masque in The Tempest. These self-reflexive moments break down the barrier between fiction and reality. Hamlet is associated with raw emotion, and theatre acts as a sort of stand in for authentic emotion, something that Hamlet struggles to understand. In act one, scene two, Gertrude questions Hamlet why he “seems” to be taking his father’s death so personally, to which he responds that sulking around in black clothing, sighing, and weeping are just “actions that a man might play” (1.2.84), or a performance of grief, but not truly representative of the grief he feels within. These lines seem very self-aware, and bring attention to the fact that an actor, expected to act in anguished manner, is almost questioning his own authenticity as a performer. These lines pair with a later scene in act two. Following the first player’s speech of “Aeneas’ tale to Dido,” Hamlet is outraged at the actor’s ability to evoke such passion for a fictional purpose: “Is it not monstrous that this player here, / but in a fiction, in a dream of passion, / could force his soul to his own conceit” (2.2.551-53). Hamlet questions what the actor would do if he had his “motive” and “cue for passion” (2.2.561). The lines highlight Hamlet’s inability to act upon his emotions, but also how acting is the very instrument he uses to seek revenge. The play within the play, The Murder of Gonzago, serves as the vehicle that drives the plot, and Hamlet is the director. Hamlet coaches the actors’ performance, from how he wants them to speak: “speak the speech…as I pronounced it to you,” to their behavior and disposition on stage: “beget a temperance that may give [their performance] smoothness” (3.2.1-8). Hamlet goes as far as to threaten that he will hire the “town crier” to replace them, if they do not perform to his standards. It is also extremely important to Hamlet that the actors appear authentic and realistic, “hold as ‘twere the mirror up nature” (3.2.22). Listening to Hamlet’s directions allows the audience a sort of behind the scenes access to the production of a play. It is easily to visualize Hamlet as an actual director directing real actors, which is what is happening fictionally, and realistically. Additionally, when The Murder of Gonzago is being performed, Shakespeare sets up an interesting dynamic for the audience; they are watching a fictional audience watch a play, and also examining Claudius along with Hamlet. These are prime examples of the ways in which theatre blurs the lines between fiction, and reality. Other examples of self-reference in Hamlet occur when Polonius and Hamlet are discussing theatre. Polonius begins “the best actors in the world…” and lists a catalogue of theatrical genres (2.2.396-400). Polonius also references his performance as Julius Caesar, which appears to be alluding to the actor’s actual performance as the tyrant in another Shakespearean play (3.2.96-102). Additionally, the prologue to The Murder of Gonzago, “For us, and for our tragedy, / Here stooping to your clemency, We beg your hearing patiently” (3.2.147-49) parallels with the nature of the tragedy of Hamlet.
Like Hamlet, Prospero in The Tempest is the director of the action of the play, and is even likened to Shakespeare himself. Prospero manipulates almost every circumstance that occurs on the island, from the tempest itself, to his daughter’s romance, and to the outcomes of the other characters in the play. Ariel, Prospero’s fiery spirit, serves as a sort of stagehand who executes the orders of the director. Furthermore, Prospero embodies artistic characteristics and an obsessiveness with perfection, made evident in his allusions to his art.
There are many allusions to art in The Tempest. In the act one, scene two, Miranda says to Prospero, “if you by your art, my dearest father, you have / put the wild waters in this roar, allay them” (1.2.1-2). Prospero’s function as director and manipulator are herein revealed. Prospero proceeds to lay down his cloak, and remarks, “lie there, my art” (1.2.24). The “art” referred to here works in two ways. It refers to Miranda, and to his magic. Prospero’s magic connects to the magic of theatre, and how impossibilities are made possible on the stage. Prospero is not only using his magic to manipulate the action, he also wants to be admired for it. In act four, scene one, Prospero instructs Ariel to assist him in executing the wedding masque, and then remarks that he wishes to give the young couple, “some vanity of mine art. It is my promise, and they expect it from me” (4.1.41-42).
Prospero manipulates the romance between Miranda and Ferdinand. He believes that showing his disapproval for their courtship will only make their bond stronger. His plan proves to work, and the lovers quickly fall in. Prospero gifts the lovers with a dazzling performance of a wedding masque, where mystical figures Juno, Ceres, and Iris appear and bestow well wishes upon the newlyweds. But in the middle of the beautiful performance, Prospero ends it abruptly remembering that the “minute of [Caliban’s] plot is almost come” (4.1.140-141). The interruption highlights theatre’s ability to stop time and allows the audience to forget about the problems of the world for a short time, but also serves as a reminder that issues still linger outside of the theatre. This notion is further encapsulated in Prospero’s speech following the masque:
Our revels are now ended. These our actors,
As I foretold you, were all spirits…
And like the baseless fabric of this vision,
The cloud-capped towers, the gorgeous palaces,
The solemn temples, the great globe itself,
Yea, all which it inherit, shall dissolve,
And, like this insubstantial pageant faded…
We are such stuff
As dreams are made on (4.1.148-157).
This speech reflects back to Jacques “all the world’s a stage speech” and Puck’s, “I am sent with broom before, to sweet the dust behind the door” (5.1.384-85). The speeches reflect the fleeting nature of life, and how the theatre serves as an escape filled with new and exciting possibilities outside of reality. But one we leave the theatre, reality is there to greet us once again. Both Hamlet and The Tempest remind the audience of the power of theatre. The moments of self-reference in both plays breakdown the fourth wall and give the audience exclusive access to the behind the scenes functioning’s of the theatre. By having his protagonists’ function as the directors of the action of plays, Shakespeare blends fiction and reality. Theatre has the ability to thrust its audience into unexpected territory, but regardless of its magic and wonder, reality is always there upon our exit.