THE PERFORMATIVE UTTERANCE IN HAMLET

- A play about a man who could not make real what was found in his mind, but a play about a man who could not make up his mind.

- Hamlet is convinced of his duty, yet he is unable to move that duty from the mental to the real.

- Hamlet is able to speak but not do.

- Certain language does not describe action but acts in being spoken. (What does this mean?)

- Austin divided the performative ability of language into three main forces: the locutionary force, the ability of language to deliver a message, the force of mutual intelligibility; the illocutionary force, what is done in being said, such as denying a request, giving an order, etc.; and the perlocutionary force, what is achieved by being said, the consequences of one's utterance, such as an order being followed (or refused).

 - Those who use performative utterance create new facts in the world in speaking.

- Performative utterance isn't because of what is done with language in the play, but what performative language tells us about characters.

- The central problem of the play is that people represent their feelings and their intentions in ways that are contrary to reality.

- Polonius is a vision of a premodern man, Hamlet is a modern man, Claudius is the man in between them.

- Hamlet's evolution is an evolution not towards action, but faith, closure, and acceptance.