Why Hamlet is mad when the wind is
North, North-West?
King Claudius sends
Rosincrance and Guildenstern to test Hamlet’s madness. Hamlet confuses them
with a riddle of Hawk and Handsaw. Hawk has the usage of a fierce man. The word
handsaw appears twice in the 1623 folio. The other in Henry IV, Part
1 describes a hacked sword, which is the key to solve
this crux.
From a man’s hacked sword (“handsaw”), Hamlet can identify
whether he is a fierce man (“hawk”) or a fake like Falstaff.
The assumption of handsaw to be a variant of heronshaw
or heronsew (a young heron) will fail the design of Hamlet’s madness to deceive
others. The same may apply to hawk as a plasterer’s tool to compare with handsaw;
besides that, the usage of a plasterer’s tool is rare and unknown in Shakespeare’s
time.
“North, North-West”
and “Wind is Southerly” in this dialogue may refer to wind gods in Greek mythology.
Similar design appears when Osricke comes to Hamlet, who claims “’tis very cold, the wind is Northerly.” Boreas, Greek god of north wind, represents
rigid and apathy.
Polonius’
comment “there is method” in Hamlet’s madness is a hint to find method in Hamlet’s seemingly mad words.
Dialogue
Hamlet.
[Act 2, Scene 2]
You are welcome: but my Uncle Father, and Aunt Mother are deceived.
Guildenstern.
In what, my dear Lord?
Hamlet.
I
am but mad North, North-West: when the
Wind is Southerly,
I know a Hawk from a Handsaw.
Notes
*Uncle
Father: a forward
transition from uncle to father. Claudius is young Hamler’s uncle. After
Claudius married Hamlet’s mother Gertrude, Claudius moves forward from Hamlet’s
uncle to his father.
*Aunt Mother: a backward transition from mother to aunt. Aunt has the usage of a bawd, prostitute, or lewd
woman. Gertrude marries Claudius “within a month” after her husband’s death.
She is a mother turning backward to a lewd woman.
*deceived: There is no great
genius without a mixture of madness. (“Nullum magnum ingenium sine mixture
dementia fuit.”) Hamlet deceives not only roles in this play but also the world.
If Shakespeare is a great genius, then Hamlet’s mad words should be profound and
logical.
*I am but mad North: North has the usage of
the North Star, a firm unaltered target; or Boreas, the Greek god of north wind,
a symbol of cold, severe, and frightening, such as “Boreas once enrage” in Troilus
and Cressida.
*North-West: Zephyrus or Zephyr, the Greek god of west wind, is a symbol
of gentle, fructifying, and pleasant, such as “gentle as Zephyrs blowing” in The
Tragedy of Cymbeline. North-West may indicate a passage newly discovered in
Shakespeare’s time. People then believed this water channel connected the Atlantic
and Pacific and called it North-West Passage.
*Wind: Wind has the usage of the
air supporting a sail, or a hint on Greek gods of winds. Claudius once asks
Gertrude, “How does Hamlet?” She answers with “Mad as the Seas, and wind, when both contend which is the Mightier,” which suggests
that Hamlet’s madness is linked with the nature of wind. This design is similar
to camel, weasel, and whale.
*Southerly: Notus, the Greek god of south wind, is a symbol of hot,
stormy, and destroying, such as “Southern wind . . . Foretells a Tempest” in Henry
IV, Part 1.
*I know a Hawk from a Handsaw: Hawk has the usage of a
fierce man, valid in the 16th century, such as Dauphin’s “I am a hawk” in The
Life of Henry the Fifth. Handsaw is a tool for dissecting objects. After a
fierce battle, a sword could look like a handsaw as in Henry IV, Part 1:
Falstaff.
I am eight times thrust through the
Doublet, four through the Hose, my Buckler cut through and through, my Sword hacked like a Hand-saw, ecce signum [behold
the proof].
Falstaff’s hacked sword is done by Falstaff himself as a trick, commented by Prince Henry: “What a Slave art thou, to hack thy sword as thou hast done, and then say it was in fight. What trick? what device?”