Meta

For the last three years I have been blogging and I have never been able to write about something in specific. Wait, is this passive? Loquacious? Let’s start again. I have blogged for the last three years, and I haven’t been able to write about this:

My favorite word, or at least prefix of a word, is meta. Metafiction, metacognition, metaphysical, metalogic, metafilm, metatheatre, and metaphor. Metaphor. What is a metaphor? According to definition, a figure of speech in which an expression is used to refer to something that it does not literally denote in order to suggest a similarity. You as readers must be saying, ‘do you want to give me a language lesson?’ Not quite. Maybe if you let me develop my thought, we might arrive to the end of this blog peacefully. Shall I start? ‘Well, you should’ve started one-hundred words ago.’ Dude, if you keep interrupting I’ll never start, ok?

To the other readers, who are in fact interested in my writing, I’m sorry for this delay. Now, I shall continue. My favorite prefix is meta, and if I take into consideration metaphor, metatheatre, and the context referent to Act III scene ii of Hamlet, I might arrive to something. Let’s see. Once again, Shakespeare brings upon us the play within the play. Just as we experienced in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, a play within the actual play we are reading appears, and apparently, reflects much of the thematic present in the actual play. Metatheatre. So, it’s a play within a play, about a play. Oh my god, for a moment I thought I was writing a blog about Slaughterhouse-Five! Anyways, as soon as we read “The play’s the thing, wherein I’ll catch the conscience of the king” (II, ii, 633-34), many different variables come to place. But that’s Act II, and in this act, Act III, we are able to observe how the antagonists (Claudius and Hamlet) coincide in the questioning of the truth.

Besides the consequences brought upon this play within the play, the Hamlet we observe here is quite different than the Hamlet from the previous scene. Before he was unable to control his reactions, and was shown previously by his effortless manipulations of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern. But Hamlet’s introspective, and somewhat bipolar personality, is contrasted with Horatio’s calm perception: “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 heart, / As I do thee” (III, ii, 76-79). After this, we as readers put into question Hamlet’s state of mind. We might infer that he is not insane, given the effortlessness with which he changes between wild, erratic behavior, and focused, sane behavior. While taking with Horatio before the play, he shows indexes of excitement, but as soon as Claudius and Gertrude enter the scene, he begins acting insane. By this, we might deduce he is only pretending to be.

But back to my favorite prefix, the presence of this play is an example of metatheatre. But well, that’s explicit. However, the significance of the play is much deeper. It attacks the “conscience of the king,” which directly alludes to Hamlet’s thematic of thoughts versus action, and also, resembles metaphorically what could’ve been the tragedy before the tragedy: the death of King Hamlet. This metaphor, therefore, taking the form of a play within the play, resembles the play itself, and helps us decipher Hamlet’s personality, which in the end, goes beyond the words in his soliloquies.

I’m done, you see? I had the idea, dude. ‘Yeah, whatever, and it took you almost six-hundred words to develop it.’