SOURCE: Jagendorf, Zvi. “‘Fingers on Your Lips, I Pray’: On Silence in Hamlet.” English 27 (1978): 121-28.

In the following essay, Jagendorf evaluates the motif of silence in Hamlet, arguing that it permeates the dramatic action and underscores the play's representation of truth as subjective and therefore open to different interpretations. In particular, he discusses the dumb show, the Ghost's initial speechlessness, and the ambiguity of silent gestures.

Hamlet is the most brilliantly articulate of Shakespeare's tragedies. The sheer flow of speech is overwhelming in its quantity and surprising in its variety. Hamlet and Polonius are both garrulous in different ways; whatever either says about holding their tongue or giving thoughts no tongue, they are both determined, even obsessive, speakers, labouring points into absurdity and giving no quarter to their audience. The richness and variety of the play's verbal style are brought into relief by the characters' awareness (especially Hamlet's...