Seth Maxon
What Will Will Shakespeare’s Famous Prince Will?
According to The Searchable Shakespeare, the word “will” occurs in Hamlet 171 times. In the last scene alone, it is used fifteen times. Unlike other instances, though, such as the violence in Titus Andronicus, this repetition does not trivialize the word’s meaning. Furthermore, one may assume it is repeated throughout the play merely because it is a very commonly used word of necessity, like “the” or “and.” However, upon closer examination, the word “will” maintains a multifaceted role in relation to the play’s themes of identity, time, and uncertainty.
The Oxford English Dictionary gives no less than seven entries for the definition of “will,” all of which one must take into account when reading the text. These meanings work together to form a complex composite of the emotions undergone by Hamlet and other key characters in the play, such as Laertes, Claudius, Horatio, and the Ghost. For example, in Act I, Scene 1, Marcellus, Barnardo, and Horatio fail to get words out of the Ghost, trying to ascertain the reason for his presence. Subsequently, Horatio suggests they bring the young Hamlet, the deceased king’s son, to get speech out of him: “This spirit dumb to us, will speak to him,” he says (I:1.152). This line displays the dual meaning the word embodies throughout the play, as well as its importance. On one hand, “will” acts as an auxiliary verb to “speak;” what shall be done the future. The word is also significant because it can be used at the start of a sentence to form a question. Will Hamlet kill his uncle? What will happen? As the play is rather obsessed with unknown futures and possibilities, the uncertainty that comes along with this mystery, and the anxiety this uncertainty brings Hamlet, the usage of “will” as an auxiliary verb bodes significant.
On another level, “will” can mean “the desire, wish, longing, liking, inclination, or disposition (to do something).” (OED, 2nd Edition, s.v. “will,” 1a) In this sense, the line cited above can be read differently: The ghost won’t tell Marcellus, Barnardo, or Horatio what he wants, but he will speak his will to Hamlet; i.e. “will speak to him.”
Furthermore, this “will,” one’s desire, is what confounds Hamlet throughout the play, and what he struggles to decipher. He doesn’t know what he wants or what he should do; i.e. he is unsure of his own will. This dual meaning of “will” occurs prominently again in Act 5, Scene 1, when Hamlet and Laertes are fighting over Ophelia’s death, ironically, in her grave. As Hamlet is inside of it to grieve, Laertes ostentatiously jumps into it and embraces his dead sister’s corpse, attacking Hamlet, and blaming his madness as well as his murder of their father, Polonius, for Ophelia’s sudden madness and possible suicide. To this Hamlet retorts that Laertes will “Be buried quick with her, and so will I.” (V:1.276). Not only does this line foreshadow the upcoming death of the two characters in the very next scene (they both “will” be buried), but it also reinforces Hamlet’s death wish; he “wills” it unto both Laertes and himself with the phrase, “and so will I.”
Other definitions given by the Oxford English Dictionary for “will” further augment the significance of the word’s prominence throughout the text. When defined as a desire or wish, “will” is contrasted with power and/or opportunity (s.v. “will,” 1b). Hamlet’s confused will, in many ways, is all he has, or at least all he perceives he has. With his uncle and mother as monarchs, he is powerless, and he repeatedly misses opportunities to avenge his father and thus seize power. Moreover, an obscure definition of the word “will” is given by the OED as “Bewilderment” (s.v. “will” 2). Hamlet’s will and character are profoundly bewildered throughout the play, both by the nature of his father’s murder, his mother’s marriage to his uncle, and the action he should or should not take. This fear of making the wrong decision or taking the wrong action is exemplified with yet another meaning of the word “will,” which is “going or gone astray; that which has lost its way, or has nowhere to go for rest or shelter; straying, wandering, lost, uncertain, at a loss” (OED, 2nd Ed., s.v. “will” 4). The unknown, possibly grave or unintended consequences of his actions have put Hamlet at a loss and uncertain. Thus, he wills, and fears willing, going astray. Finally, there is the “will” which means to bequeath. After his father’s murder by his uncle, it is Hamlet who should have been “willed” the throne of Denmark. It is thus fitting that, facing his own death, Hamlet himself wills the throne to Fortinbras, a noble, decisive monarch, much like his father.
With so much unknown, so many conflicting desires, and so much bewilderment, the questions of Hamlet’s personal will as well as “what will happen” are at the center of both the plot and themes of the play. Indeed, only one “Will” could pen so much intricacy into one little word.