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An examination of how particular words shape the uncertainty of the play

Very few people realize it, but the most significant word in Hamlet is certainly "alas." Many readers mistakenly believe that "alas" constitutes typical Shakespearean diction. However, in her linguistic analysis of Elizabethan English, Melanie Dappenheimer notes the historic weight of using the word in common situations. In her book entitled Alas, poor Wordsmith, I Knew Him Well, she states that "the word 'alas' was a much more sacred word hundreds of years ago than it was today. In Shakespeare's England, it was most certainly reserved for more intimate utterances. 'Alas,' therefore, expressed the deepest of internal stuggles come to surface in the protagonist's consciousness. Whenever the word is used, a thoughtful reader should question the effect of such intimacy on the plot" (145-146).

Obviously, one of Hamlet's famous lines comes in Act IV, when he holds the skull of an old friend and says, "Alas, poor Yorick, I knew him well." Clearly, the word appears in the middle of a key situation. Ophelia has died, and Hamlet's emotions, mixed into a whilrwind of questionable madness, manifest themselves through the graveyard scenario exemplified by Yorick's skull. Such is the way of the play's words.

It may seem a tedious task to count the word "alas." Remember, though, with the internet's presence, our ability to log onto electric versions of the text which are connected to a "search" function. One needs only to type "alas" in the box while searching Hamlet, and all quotations will be automatically cited.

related topics: semantics, linguistics, sociology

article submitted by Dr. Wayne Weston, ph.D

"Dr. Weston is one of the world's foremost leaders on Shakesperean interpretation."
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