O’Neill, Liz
According to the Oxford English Dictionary, a sable is a carnivorous quadruped of small stature found in the arctic and sub-arctic regions of the globe (OED, 2nd ed., s.v. “sable,” 1a). The animal’s dark brown, almost black fur was a largely popular fashion item among the upperclass. Sable-trimmed robes were commonly worn by royalty. Due to its black color, the fur was also used as a mourning garment. Additionally, sable furs carried connotations of blackness, evil, the darkness associated with the devil. In Hamlet, Shakespeare uses these different meanings of the word sable to complicate Hamlet’s character and reiterate his own confusion and subsequent procrastination.
The first appearance of the term sable occurs early in Act I when Horatio informs Hamlet that he has seen the ghost of his father, the former King of Denmark. In this instance the word is meant primarily as an indicator of color and rank. Hamlet, curious about Horatio’s vision, asks him to describe the apparition:
Hamlet. His beard was grizzled no? Horatio. It was as I have seen it in his life, a sable silvered. (1.2.240-2)Hamlet’s question, put in today’s words, asks simply if the ghost had a gray beard. Horatio replies in the affirmative- it was black and silver. His answer and choice of the word sable reveals the color of the beard but it also indicates the status of the deceased ruler. Sable, in this context, implies richness, royalty. Shakespeare’s decision to use the word as an adjective- sable silvered- further enforces this notion of wealth. It wasn’t just a black beard with specks of gray, but rather silver and sable- a precious metal and luxurious fur. Thus, Shakespeare gives us this first definition of sable through Horatio’s reply, we will see other variations of the term in Act II.
When Hamlet converses with the players in the second scene of Act II, he recounts the tale of Pyrrhus who murdered Priam, the King of Troy, to avenge his father Achilles’ death. The word sable is used here with connotations of violence and revenge- the blackness associated with the devil- however, there is also a slight indication of grief. “The rugged Pyrrhus, he whose sable arms, black as his purpose did the night resemble” (2.2.392-3). The word arms here could either suggest weapons, arms necessary to fulfill his dark deeds (after all Pyrrhus is later described as “hellish” (line 403)), or the literal clothing that would cover a man’s arms. Both meanings are saturated with grief. Hamlet’s choice of the word sable is poignant in this instance because, like Pyrrhus, he is mourning and avenging a murdered father. Sable, in this example, functions as an emblem of grief as well as a synonym for black or evil. In this scene, Hamlet appears to understand the significance of the term sable. However, when he employs it a second time in Act III, the term’s meanings are confused and seem to be in opposition.
When Hamlet and Ophelia are at the play, Hamlet remarks how cheerful his mother looks even though his father has only been dead for two hours. Ophelia corrects him saying that it has been two months since his father passed to which Hamlet replies: “So long? Nay, then, let the devil wear black, for I’ll have a suit of sables” (3.2.124-5). It is not clear quite what he means by this. A suit of sables would be a black garment trimmed with sable furs. However, it seems that Hamlet believes the suit to not be black, since he chooses it over the black clothes which the devil will wear. The mourning garments and the black purpose of the devil revealed through the term sable seem to be in opposition here even though in Hamlet’s previous account of Pyrrhus they were working together to honor the betrayed patriarch.
The idea that Hamlet confuses the term’s meanings or is unsure what the exact meaning of sable might be reveals the larger instances of confusion and opposition Hamlet experiences in the play as a whole. His inability to act, to decide between the choice of whether to take his own life, flee to England, or avenge his father, is echoed in his inability to fully understand that grief and evil, connotations of the term sable, must work in unison.