"See the inmost part of you": Gertrude's literalism, fear of evisceration in 3.4

In Hamlet 3.4, the scene in Gertrude's closet, Hamlet tells her that he will show his mother her "inmost part," and it's clear to the audience or readers that he's talking about her conscience. But she quickly jumps to the conclusion that perhaps he is going to kill her: "What wilt thou do? Thou wilt not murther me? Help, help, ho!" This scene is often played with some violence by Hamlet toward his mother, throwing her on her bed, to help explain why she jumps to this conclusion. But this is not in the stage directions, and perhaps there are other reasons why she jumps to this conclusion.

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With me in the "Rethinking Science and Religion" seminar at Shakespeare Association of America this spring, there were two members who wrote about Renaissance anatomists and drawings of the dissected human body.

This made me think about Elizabethan public executions of Catholics and others, sometimes involving evisceration, showing a person their intestines while still alive.

Many drawings and illustrations of the period show such executions, and also show the Roman Emperor Nero, who allegedly poisoned his mother and watched as an autopsy was performed on her body. [1] Such illustrations dated to various centuries, including those in which Shakespeare lived and earlier.

This may shed light on why Gertrude so quickly concludes in the closet scene (3.4) that Hamlet may be thinking of murdering her:

HAMLET:
Come, come, and sit you down; you shall not budge.
You go not till I set you up a glass
Where you may see the inmost part of you.

QUEEN:
What wilt thou do? Thou wilt not murder me?
Help, ho!
(3.4.23-27)[2]

Hamlet is, of course, speaking figuratively. He wants her to look into her soul. But she takes him too literally.

Too often this is played violently, with Hamlet slamming his mother down in a chair or on a bed. The imposed violence (not in the stage directions) may explain Gertrude jumping to the conclusion ("murder me?"), but in fact, the language itself may explain why Gertrude fears murder. She may take Hamlet too literally when he says he will set her up a "glass" where she may "see the inmost part" of her. (It’s a play with many “too literal” moments and misunderstandings or jests.)

She seems to assume that she is about to be eviscerated, like Catholic traitors and like Essex, drawn, hanged, eviscerated, and shown their intestines while still alive, or like certain Protestant martyrs as illustrated in Foxe’s Acts and Monuments.

Or like illustrations of Nero watching his mother’s autopsy.

Before going to his mother's room, Hamlet says he "will speak daggers to her, but use none" (3.2.429). He mentions Nero but says he doesn't plan to kill his mother. But he does want her to realize what Claudius has done, and what a mistake she has made to marry him.

She says, "O Hamlet, thou hast cleft my heart in twain!"
Hamlet replies: "O, throw away the worser part of it,
And live the purer with the other half!" (3.4.177-9)

He wants her to see her sins and for her to figuratively kill that part of herself, throw it away, not to literally kill her.

She doesn't mean Hamlet has literally cleft her heart in two, and he doesn't mean she should literally throw away the worst half. But it also calls to mind the gospel passage (Matthew 5:29-30), where Jesus says,
29 Wherefore if thy [a]right eye cause thee [b]to offend, pluck it out and cast it from thee: for better it is for thee, that one of thy members perish, than that thy whole body should be cast into hell.
30 Also if thy right hand make thee to offend, cut it off, and cast it from thee: for better it is for thee, that one of thy members perish, than that thy whole body should be cast into hell.

But the exchange also calls to mind how bodies of executed prisoners were literally “cleft in twain,” divided again into quarters to be displayed in different parts of the realm as a warning against treason.

So it may be Gertrude's literalism that makes her cry out for help, and this dooms Polonius, and Hamlet.

This moment also holds a mirror up to Queen Elizabeth:
Queen, would you fear being eviscerated and shown your entrails, as your executed prisoners are?

I'm grateful to the authors of these seminar papers touching on Early Modern Anatomy, which nudged me toward this insight (which many others may have noted already; I may be arriving late to the party). [3]


NOTES:
[1] These illustrations include not only the executions of Protestant martyrs shown in Foxe's Book of Acts and Monuments, and Catholics executed for treason.
Students may notice a reference to Nero in Hamlet shortly before the Gertrude closet scene, and they may look it up online, but the resources that result from such an internet search merely say that Nero allegedly killed or poisoned his mother, and do not include illustrations familiar in Shakespeare’s time showing Nero watching the autopsy of his mother’s body. These are even more appropriate to understand how Gertrude jumps to the conclusion that her son is about to murder her.

[2] All references to Hamlet are to the Folger Shakespeare Library online version: https://shakespeare.folger.edu/shakespeares-works/hamlet/entire-play/

[3] I don't claim to be the first to come to this insight associating "see the inmost part of you" with evisceration and the autopsy of Nero's mother: Only that I have not yet searched for whether others have realized the same thing. Such research would be more suited to a paper submitted to a journal, but not a blog that keeps track of my insights about the play....



COLLAGE IMAGES:
Left: The execution of Hugh Despenser the Younger, as depicted in the Froissart of Louis of Gruuthuse.
Public domain via Wikipedia: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:BNMsFr2643FroissartFol97vExecHughDespenser.jpg

Right:
Emperor Nero at his mother's dissection. Historical illustration from 'Roman de la Rose' by Guillaume de Lorris, showing the Roman emperor Nero (37-68) watching as his mother Agrippina the Elder is dissected. Nero was Emperor of Rome from 54 to 68 AD. His mother was notorious for her ruthless and violent ambition, which led to a power struggle between her and her son. The circumstances surrounding her death are uncertain but it is thought that eventually Nero had her killed. Published circa 1490-1500.
Public domain via British Library and Science Photo Library:
https://www.sciencephoto.com/media/655231/view/emperor-nero-at-his-mother-s-dissection

OTHER BLOG IMAGES here:

HANGING AND EVISCERATION of the Jesuit John Ogilvie, publicly hanged and drawn on 10 March 1615 in Glasgow. Image date: 1675. Source: http://digitalcollections.slu.edu/digital/collection/imagebank/id/215
Author: Melchior Küsel (grabado)-Karel Škréta (dibujo). Public domain via
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/1a/Melchior_k%C3%BCsel-john_ogilvie.jpg

HANGING AND EVISCERATION of Adam Damlip, Protestant martyr, from illustration in Foxe's book of Acts and Monuments, public domain, via https://nyheritage.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/siena/id/390 NERO WITNESSING the dissecting of his mother. From the Jean Sans Peur edition of "De casibus virorum illustrarium" by Giovanni Boccaccio c 1410 (British Library, London, UK). Fair use via
https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Clive-Taylor-3/publication/235882142/figure/fig1/AS:601596912222214@1520443289976/Nero-witnessing-the-dissecting-of-his-mother-From-the-Jean-Sans-Peur-edition-of-De.png

NERO WATCHING the dissection of Agrippina
Georges Chastellain, Miroir de Mort, France 1470.
Carpentras, Bibliothèque municipale, ms. 410, fol. 8v
Public domain/fair use via
https://discardingimages.tumblr.com/post/56166463985/nero-watching-the-dissection-of-agrippina-georges

DRAWN AND QUARTERED FOR HIGH TREASON: Public domain via Wikipedia:
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/03/Drawn_quartered2.jpg


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Disclaimer: If and when I quote or paraphrase bible passages or mention religion in many of my blog posts, I do not intend to promote any religion over another, nor am I attempting to promote religious belief in general; only to explore how the Bible and religion influenced Shakespeare, his plays, and his age.
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