Millicent Bell's
“Hamlet, Revenge!”
By
Shabnam Eftekhari
Hamlet :
Bloody, bawdy villain!/ Remorseless,
treacherous, lecherous, kindless villain!/
Oh vengeance!/ (the end of act II, ii)
To be, or not to be, that is the question:
(III, i, 64-65)
There are more things in heaven and
earth, Horatio,
Than are dreamt of in your philosophy.
(I, v, 186-187)
What Hamlet wants:
• “He that hath killed my king, whored my mother//Popped in
between th’ election and my hopes//Thrown out his angle to
my proper life” (5.2.64-66). Hamlet tells the audience exactly
what he wants in this and at least two earlier scenes.
• He wants
– The crown
– Revenge for the murder of his father
– To somehow restore his mother’s lost virtue
In Millicent Bell's "Revenge," the idea of deception and revenge through
characters is discussed.
 Bell states that right from the beginning, the play shows a deceptive touch through Prince
Hamlet: his father's ghost visits, and announces that he was murdered by his brother, now
the king.
 King Hamlet commands Prince Hamlet to avenge him, and Prince Hamlet's plan begins
through his choice to act insane - clearly a form of deception to everyone around him.
 Bell also points out that King Hamlet was poisoned through his ear, "by which the whole
ear of Denmark is by a forged process of my death rankly abused." Bell says that "of
course the usurping murderer is the supreme example of dissembling; and Hamlet cannot
get over the way 'one may smile, and smile, and be a villain.'"
 Another big point of deception that is brought up in "Revenge" is that everyone is spying
on everyone else. Bell describes this spying as "a hidden witness watching a performance
as though shown in a theater." It is said that the most illusory point of spying in the plot
occurs when Polonious, whom at first sends a spy on his own son, then spies on Hamlet,
and certainly pays his debt for it... death. Bell feels like these are the most prominent spots
in the plot of deception that also involve revenge.
 Bell starts out by commenting “Hamlet is a mystery play,” (Bell, 315) but continues
on to say “concealment and secrecy are essential to its style, but they serve, also, to
reinforce the idea that appearances, like the actor’s role, are deceptive” (315).
 Here Millicent Bell points out through all of the secrets and lies passed around as
well as the large amount of spying is to blame for the constant changing “masks” or
personalities within the characters.
 Using Prince Hamlet as an example, she acknowledges “Hamlet himself continues to
keep it secret, swearing Horatio and Marcellus to silence not only about the ghost but
about his plans to assume a mask himself, to put on an ‘antic disposition’ to hide his
purposes” (315). In this, Bell is able to combine a personality change and secret to
prove her statement.
 In addition to the deception theme, Millicent Bell also emphasizes “Hamlet is
inconsistent, variable, even uncertain himself as to who he is” (319).
 Bell finds Hamlet deceiving himself in the story, not knowing his true feelings from
his “fake” feelings.
 The characteristic of lying and tricking others into believing what you want them to
believe is still relevant.
Bell explains that there is a main theme that drives the whole play from start to finish,
and that is mystery.
 To reinforce this, she brings in the idea of “masks” and also talks about the spying
that goes on throughout the play.
 The “masks” are considered the façade that the character puts out as his/hers identity
and true nature. This occurs when a character is either trying to hide something from
plain view or just trying to be a different person than they actually are for others.
 The main examples she uses are Claudius towards the country and Hamlet acting in a
crazy manner to try and kill the king. With Claudius he is trying to win over the
people even though he knows of his own betrayal towards their country and his
family.
 Bell brings in what Hamlet thinks of this and also gives a great picture of a mask
being worn, “one may smile, and smile, and be a villain
 In the end Bell says that if we are told to put on a mask or persona, does that become
part of us. At what point do we have to be true to our own self and become what we
want to be for ourselves instead of giving “thy thoughts no tongue”.
In the article "Revenge!" by Millicent Bell, the idea of deception is one of unique quality.
 Bell argues that deception is inevitable, and each character in Hamlet displays some
sort of deceptive quality. For instance, "Hamlet is inconsistent, variable, even
uncertain himself as to who he is” (319). This displays how Hamlet cannot decide
who he is, or what sort of identity he wants to hold. This is a vivid representation of
the theme of deception, every time Hamlet makes a new decision he changes his
identity thus deceiving the reader on regards of what his true intentions are.
 Horatio is the one exception to this ideology. He does not display any sort of
deceptive qualities, but in turn it ends up hindering his ability to take the throne. He is
an honest man who will never win, this is a mixed message that Shakespeare is
sending us saying the deception is essential for life, in a way it is inevitable.
 However, deception ultimately leads to one's demise. This is shown in the "To be, or
not to be" (319) speech where Hamlet is deciding whether or not life is worth living.
Because of his numerous counts of deception it has ruined his life. This is one of the
main points Shakespeare has tried to prevail and Bell has vividly recorded.
“To put an antic disposition on...”
• In Act 1, scene 5, lines 171-172, Hamlet tells Horatio that
he will “perchance… put an antic disposition on.”
• Hamlet is telling Horatio that, he may begin to act
strangely, but he will only be feigning insanity.
• He then warns Horatio not “to note that you know aught
of me” (1.5.178-179)--Hamlet is asking Horatio not to
give him away to others by revealing that he is only
pretending to be mad.
Insanity
• In the pagan world, the insane were thought to be touched
by the gods, perhaps even blessed, and were therefore
treated kindly, though they were also a little feared.
• In Shakespeare’s time, insanity was viewed much
differently. Insanity was a punishment for sins, and the
insane were greatly maligned.
Madness
• In choosing to pretend to be mad, in the pagan sense,
Hamlet protects himself from Claudius.
• If Claudius were to harm a mad Hamlet, he might
displease the gods and thus bring harm to Denmark.
• Hamlet buys time by acting mad. He needs time to
discover if the ghost is truthful.
• Shakespeare depended on his audience knowing the
pagan view of madness to explain Hamlet’s decision to
pretend to be insane.
Hamlet’s feigned madness
• Playing the madman grates on Hamlet.
• He is a man of action (1.5) and a warrior (4.4 and 5.2).
• Hiding behind this façade conflicts with everything that
defines his sense of himself.
• It is a hard act to maintain constantly for months. Thus,
Hamlet must explain “I am but mad north-north-west”
(3.2.381) to excuse those times when the façade slips.
Indecisive or a man of action?
Hamlet is sometimes criticized for moping around the
castle instead of just killing Claudius and seizing the
crown. Consider these points:
• To kill the king without cause would be regicide and
would not gain Hamlet the throne.
• Hamlet wants revenge, but he also wants the throne.
• He does take immediate action in choosing to feign
madness to buy himself time.
• He needs the time find out if the ghost is honest and to
prove Claudius murdered his father.
Shakespearean Tragedy
• Shakespeare follows Aristotle’s formula for
tragedy, including catharsis – allowing the
audience to experience the pity, sympathy, fear,
and horror the characters feel.
• Hamlet as a protagonist is a man of inner strength
and greatness, despite his indecision.
• Intrigue, denied love, realistic action, secret
murder, war preparations, drinking, traveling to far
off places all contribute to the excitement of the
play.
Shakespeare’s Tricks
• Anachronism – something that is historically out
of place. Example: Hamlet, a 7th century Dane,
is a student in Wittenberg, a university founded in
1502. Allows audience to identify with characters
– shows Hamlet as a scholar and a skeptic where
ghosts are concerned.
• Imagery – Claudius’s Denmark is associated with
corruption and disease; Hamlet wears an “inky
cloak” of grief; Hamlet associates all women with
“makeup” or artifice – hiding their true faces.
Famous Hamlets
Ethan Hawke, below
Sir Lawrence Olivier,
right
Famous Hamlets
Jude Law,
left
Mel
Gibson,
right
Kenneth
Branaugh,
below
Famous Hamlets
Edwin Booth, left
Richard Burton, above
Works Cited
Bell, Millicent. "Hamlet, Revenge!." The Hudson Review 51.2 (1998): 310-
328. Retrieved from <https://www.jstor.org/stable/3853055 >