Melissa Ramirez

Green

            William Shakespeare’s “Hamlet Prince of Denmark” is a play based on the idea of revenge and tragedy, full of puns and a substantial amount of word play.  Many of the words and phrases used in the play are rife with meaning, many of their etymological origins pointing towards meanings the modern reader would otherwise normally overlook.  Many of these meanings and origins are important in that they often hint towards an important and general theme or event that will occur later in the play.

             A striking example of word having more meaning occurs early in the play with the new King of Denmark, Claudius, speaking of the former King of Denmark’s recent death: “Though yet of Hamlet our dear brother’s death / The memory be green, and that it us befitted / To bear our hearts in grief, and our whole kingdom / To be contracted in one brow of woe…” (I. ii. 1 – 4)  Green, according to the Oxford English Dictionary when used in the context of Claudius’ speech, means, “of immaterial things, esp. the memory of a person or event,” (OED, 2nd ed., s.v., “green,” 6b) directly referring to the memory itself of King Hamlet’s death.  Working hand-in-hand with this definition, green can also mean “Unaltered by time or natural processes; fresh, new,” (OED, 2nd ed., s.v., “green,” 10) which elaborates on Claudiuus’ point of Hamlet’s green memory being a fresh and new loss for Denmark.

            However, the word green carries with it many more meanings that are integral to the play and are indicative of the characters and nature of Claudius and Hamlet.  Green can also mean “Of flesh, fish: Freshly killed or taken; unsalted; uncured; undried. Of meat: Uncooked, underdone, raw,” (OED, 2nd ed., s.v., “green,” 9b) underscoring the violence and usurpation of the former king’s throne.  It is revealed later that Claudius murdered Hamlet in order to secure his seat on the throne.  His use of the word green in his opening introductory speech as king speaks of the violence and murder that led him to his position and also on the newness of the old King’s tragic memory.

            More importantly, the word green can also apply to the nature “Of a wound: Recent, fresh, unhealed, raw,” (OED, 2nd ed., s.v. “green,” 10a) which corresponds directly to young Hamlet’s emotions as he deals with the death of his father only to find that his mother has remarried his uncle who now sits on the throne of Denmark.  Hamlet’s emotional wounds are raw and unhealed, —his father’s ghost urges him to enact revenge, to right the wrongs done unto him. Like Francis Bacon said, “This is certain, that a man that studieth revenge keeps his own wounds green, which otherwise would heal and do well,” Hamlet is a student in this school of thought.  His emotional wounds are fresh and unhealed, kept green by the motivation of revenge.