Hamlet: I couldn’t hurt my mother! (Could I, though?) (3.2.383-389) #InkyCloak #SlowShakespeare

HAMLET O heart, lose not thy nature. Let not ever

The soul of Nero enter this firm bosom –

Let me be cruel, not unnatural:

I will speak daggers to her but use none.

My tongue and soul in this be hypocrites.

How in my words somever she be shent

To give them seals never my soul consent.

(Exit.) (3.2.383-389)

Hamlet knows he’s on the verge of losing control: O heart, lose not thy nature. Don’t go too far; don’t forget that, despite everything, she’s your mother, and you love her. Let not ever the soul of Nero enter this firm bosom—let me be cruel, not unnatural. The Roman emperor Nero had his mother murdered, then—according to legend—ripped open her womb to see where he himself had come from; Nero is the archetype of the murderous, crazed, unnatural son (but also, again, an invocation of wanting to probe, to search, to know the ultimately unknowable, here in grotesquely horrifying terms). I’m resolute, firm, Hamlet says, even hard-hearted, but even though I’m planning to speak harshly to her, I’m not actually going to hurt her. I’m not. NO. He might be having to say this out loud to reassure himself, as a kind of affirmation, or admonition. (Because he knows it’s a possibility, he’s so wound up.) I will speak daggers to her but use none. I’ll be harsh, violent, penetrating in my words—but I wouldn’t hurt my mother? (Would I? Could I?)

My tongue and soul in this be hypocrites: no matter what I want to do to her, I’ll confine myself to words. (Or else, perhaps, I’m going to say things, and say them in ways, that I don’t really mean.) How in my words somever she be shent to give them seals never my soul consent. Whatever I say to her, however fierce my reproaches and rebukes, I’m not going to harm her. I’m resolved on that. I couldn’t. (Could I?)

And that’s the end of the scene. For all that this play—and perhaps this scene—is cut in performance, to contemplate Hamlet’s words, line by line, the sheer volume and variety, the agility and the agony, is a LOT. Actors, you have this critic’s admiration in even contemplating it.

View 2 comments on “Hamlet: I couldn’t hurt my mother! (Could I, though?) (3.2.383-389) #InkyCloak #SlowShakespeare”

Hamlet is a tough role not just for its length but also emotional intensity. His line load (1506 lines if uncut) is almost as long as The Comedy of Errors (1785 lines) and he only gets a much-needed break for Act IV. It is impressive for any actor, even more so when Eddie Izzard performed all the roles in the play, abridged as it was.
The only role probably harder to do is Prince Hal/Henry V who has 1900 odd lines across three plays. Last year, I sat through a marathon session of the Henriad (Parts 1 and 2 of Henry IV were conflated) performed in a single day at the Guthrie theatre in Minneapolis. Kudos to the actor playing Hal/Henry for keeping the energy up and somehow manage a charming romantic scene at the very end. I admire it even more in retrospect after spending the last four months on the Henriad as part of our Shakespeare Project.

Hester Lees-Jeffries says:

13 May 2025 at 23:14

Absolutely re the emotional intensity. I think it’s harder than Hal, even at one sitting, because Hamlet is the engine, making things happen, and because of the state he’s in; Hal gets to react more, gets to bounce off Falstaff, Poins, etc. (He has more fun!!) (I thought the Izzard was a memory feat but as an account of the play, pretty woeful. I’ve seen a vastly better solo Hamlet recently.) Your Henriad sounds great! when the RSC did both tetralogies in rep it was possible to see all 8 over 3 days; every actor got at least one play off in the 8 but it was astonishing…

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Hamlet: I couldn’t hurt my mother! (Could I, though?) (3.2.383-389) #InkyCloak #SlowShakespeare

View 2 comments on “Hamlet: I couldn’t hurt my mother! (Could I, though?) (3.2.383-389) #InkyCloak #SlowShakespeare”

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