Rhema Hokama

The Etymological Significance of “Disposition” within Shakespeare’s Hamlet

     Hamlet emerges as one of the most notable figures in the Western canon. His momentousness stems from the complexity of his nature and from his “godlike apprehension” of his own tragedy. Hamlet’s acute consciousness of his predicament disposes him to analyze—and reanalyze—his calamity, and this tendency ultimately renders him unable to carry out the revenge promise he makes to the ghost of King Hamlet. Repeatedly, Hamlet relinquishes opportunities for revenge and instead, in his attempts to cast doubt on his soundness of mind, chooses to put on an “antic disposition.” This display of madness, Hamlet reasons, will leave him time to speculate about the situation and act accordingly.

     Hamlet explains to Horatio at the opening of the play that assuming a bizarre “mental constitution” and “temperament” (OED, 2nd ed. s.v. “disposition,” 6) will aid his ability to uncover the truth of the situation.  Late fourteenth century texts use “disposition” to describe the influences of the planets on human behavior, (OED, 5) and in the late sixteenth century during the time of Shakespeare, the word continued to hold astrological significance. Dispositions were often characterized in planetary contexts (i.e. saturnine, jovial, martial, venereal, mercurial). At the start of the play, Horatio fittingly alludes to this astrological significance when he links the troubles at Elsinore to heavenly disorder:

As stars with trains of fire and dews of blood,
Disasters in the sun; and in the moist star,
… prologue to the omen coming on,
Have heaven and earth together demonstrated
Unto our climatures and countrymen. (1.1.117-125)

     Horatio’s astrological explanation for the unrest in Denmark infuses the entire tragedy with a sense of foreboding and inevitability. Hamlet claims that his antic disposition is merely an act, that he is “but mad north-northwest” (2.2.76-7). However, Horatio’s mention of heavenly influence on earthly events implies that the tragic unfolding of events is perhaps literally written in the stars, that is, predetermined and unavoidable. Indeed, as the play progresses, Hamlet’s temperment becomes increasingly erratic and unexplainable, and the audience is compelled to wonder whether the prince’s behavior is truly just an act. Surely, Horatio’s astrological speech is not the only passage in the play that insinuates the possibility of Hamlet’s genuine insanity. However, its strategic placement at the opening of the work presents the audience with the possibility that perhaps, as the planets move as they will, so too will Hamlet’s antic disposition progress to the point where the prince is no longer able to assume madness at will. The uncertain nature of Hamlet’s antic disposition heightens the complexity of the prince’s already intreaging personality and blurs the distinction between that which is an act and that which is real.