Let’s talk about Shakespeare. Next to the Bible, it is difficult to find a more eloquent, prolific, and masterful explorer than the Bard of those themes which we find so interesting at Forging Honor: Masculinity, Self-reflection, and of course, Honor. It would take a lifetime to even begin plumbing the depths of what Shakespeare has to say on these subjects. For the purpose of this reflection, let’s limit ourselves to a single speech from Hamlet – and not the one you’re thinking of.
The “To be or not to be” soliloquy is ubiquitous with The Tragedy of Hamlet. If you’re like me, it’s tempting to reduce the play to that single speech. If, on the other hand, you stick through to the end of one of the longest plays in the Shakespeare canon, you’ll be rewarded with one of the most compelling and revealing works on human nature ever written. The tragic prince wrestles with issues of morality, theology, identity, and duty. One speech in particular in the fourth scene of the fourth act stands out, often referred to as: “How all occasions do inform against me.”
A bit of context: A subplot working in the background of Hamlet is the threat of invasion coming from the Norwegian armies led by the young prince Fortenbras. Fortenbras calls off his invasion against Denmark and instead invades Poland. Hamlet says of the territory that it is “a plot [of land]/ Whereon the numbers cannot try the cause/ Which is not tomb and continent to hide the slain.” In other words, Poland is a territory so small there is not enough room to bury the dead who fought over it.
This conflict is of interest to Hamlet, not for its geopolitical ends but for its philosophical or ethical implications. Ethics, you may remember from high school English class, has been weighing heavy on the young prince’s mind of late. After all, his father has been killed by Hamlet’s uncle who has taken the throne and married Hamlet’s mother, making for very awkward family reunions. Add it to which Hamlet has seen the ghost of his dead father who has revealed the treachery and murder at work in his death, and commanded Hamlet to avenge him so that he can be freed from the torments of purgatory. The tension of the play hinges on whether or not Hamlet will fulfill his duty as a son and kill his uncle in revenge or if he will choose forgiveness and live in guilt-ridden peace. This slowly drives the young prince to madness. In the midst of this Hamlet hears word that Fortenbras with a sizable army has invaded Poland to fight over a worthless piece of land.
“How all occasions do inform against me/ and spur my dull revenge,” Hamlet says on hearing the news. To this point in the play Hamlet has hesitated indecisive about what the moment requires. The invasion of Poland spurs him on in his actions and he finds inspiration in Fortenbras’ attack. “Examples gross as earth exhort me,” he says, “Witness this army of such mass and charge/ led by a delicate and tender prince,” a prince, who he says, “Makes mouths at the invisible event, exposing what is mortal and unsure/To all that fortune, death and danger dare,/ even for an egg shell.” This inconsequential battleground leads Hamlet to ponder the nature of greatness.
“Rightly to be great,” he decides upon reflection, “Is not to stir without great argument/But greatly to find quarrel in a straw/When honor’s at the stake.”
I abhor common English translations of Shakespeare because it tends to suck all the music and magic out of the thing, but perhaps we’d better give it our best shot.
“There are” Hamlet says in other words, “natural examples of how to be great as common and as vulgar as the earth itself, i.e. this enormous army which is led by a prince, much like myself, who thumbs his nose in the general direction of fate and destiny and shows us what is fleeting and finite and shows the beauty of humanity even in his daring to fight over some piece of turf a junkyard dog wouldn’t even use as a toilet.”
See? The music’s gone.
In any event, let’s be clear on what Hamlet is not saying. He’s not saying that to be honorable is to be full of argument, to be an angry person, or to be a short-fused man who can’t control his temper. Hamlet at one point emphasizes his love for Horatio, one of his fellow students in Wittenberg, saying, “Give me that man/That is not passion’s slave, and I will wear him/In my heart’s core, ay, in my heart of hearts/ As I do thee.” The thing that draws him to Horatio is his ability to discipline himself and not be ruled by uncontrolled passions. So we can safely interpret here that Hamlet is not saying men should fly off the handle at the slightest provocation. So what is he saying?
Who can pin the Bard down on anything? I won’t claim to have the definitive answer to interpreting Hamlet’s last soliloquy but this is what I learn from it. If Hamlet is right, then to be great is not to separate life into matters of consequence on the one hand and unimportant things on the other but to take life seriously, not ignoring those areas of life that require us to put our honor at stake.
Moreover there are many more areas of life where our honor might be on the line that we let slide. Hamlet’s call to us is to not let those moments slip by without making the effort. It’s the little things in life, Hamlet seems to say, that prepare us for the big things, and if we fail to fight in the little arenas, how will we be able to stand up to the pressure of the big arenas?
The Bible offers some similar considerations. You will recall what Christ says in his parable in Luke 16, “One who is faithful in a very little is also faithful in much, and one who is dishonest in a very little is also dishonest in much.” There isn’t an area of life in which we can step away or shirk our identity as those washed in the blood of Christ. Our adoption into the family of God is not a nine to five identity, or a shirt to be worn on Sundays and Wednesdays or around some people and not others but is to be present and active in every area of our lives. As Paul says to the church at Colossae, “And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.”
So what is to be learned from Hamlet (at least in this brief moment)? We don’t know what tomorrow will hold, what we will be called to, or what will be asked of us. This is no cause for fear, and it certainly cannot be an excuse for inaction. If enterprises of great “pitch and moment” are not asked of us today they may be demanded of us tomorrow. Today has for itself enough opportunity to practice those traits of honor necessary for the greatest moments of our lives. It is up to us to treat them as such and fight for every inch of the battleground that is our self. Let us strain always forward in that race which is set out for us until we reach that heavenly shore and hear that most holy benediction, “Well done, my good and faithful servant.”
