Letter and Mousetrap, Twelfth Night and Hamlet

Letter and Mousetrap, Twelfth Night and Hamlet:

Shakespeare’s comedy, Twelfth Night, and his tragedy, Hamlet, were written around the same time: Certain details of themes, motifs, and plot mechanics suggest a variety of connections (in addition to Hamlet feigning madness and Viola feigning being a young man...).

One of these is the function of the letter that brings about the demise of the steward Malvolio in Twelfth Night, and “The Mousetrap” playlet used by Hamlet to catch the conscience of his monarchs. Both are used to entrap a powerful person, both artifacts of writing (letter) or based on them (playlet).

The letter in Twelfth Night is written in the hand of Maria for how it resembles that of Olivia, so it is like a forgery, but never called that.

Some form of the word forgery occurs three times in Hamlet, spoken by the ghost, Polonius, and Claudius, usually in a metaphorical rather than literal sense [2].

Hamlet on the ship to England finds the letter from Claudius to England, ordering his death, and replaces it with one ordering the death of its “bearers” (Rosencrantz and Guildenstern) [3]. Yet instead of referring to it as a forgery, Hamlet in conversation with Horatio calls the replacement letter a “changeling,” a word for Shakespeare that occurs in Hamlet and four other plays, a reference to folklore about fairies replacing one infant with another not long after birth [4]. This makes Hamlet appear to claim himself to be an agent of supernatural beings instead of a criminal forger.

Both plays have been said to contain possible satire of William Cecil: the steward Malvolio, and the advisor Polonius. “Changeling” could figuratively describe a character who is a satire of a historical figure, satire such as that of which Hamlet speaks to Polonius regarding “the satirical rogue” [5].


INDEX for posts in this series on the TWELVE DAYS of CHRISTMAS in Shakespeare’s time (and possible influences on the plays):
https://pauladrianfried.blogspot.com/2024/12/twelve-days-of-christmas-in-churches-of.html

NOTES: All references to Shakespeare plays are to the Folger Shakespeare Library online versions: https://shakespeare.folger.edu

[1] Maria’s letter is used to trick and bring about the downfall of Malvolio; Hamlet’s “Mousetrap” is used to catch the conscience of his mother and uncle, and to prove that the ghost was telling the truth in claiming that Claudius killed his brother, so that Hamlet could have justification for revenge. By the closet scene, Hamlet wishes to bring about the repentance of his mother, and the damnation of his uncle, although a public confession of guilt on the part of Claudius might have avoided any need to kill him. Hamlet asks the first player if he could learn “a speech of some dozen or sixteen lines” that Hamlet would “set down and Insert” in the playlet (2.2.567-568), probably for the player queen, to catch his mother’s conscience about her hasty marriage.

[2] As indicated by the search engine at OpenSourceShakespeare, roughly a third of Shakespeare’s plays contain some form of the word “forgery,” and more plays have events that could be described as forgeries by analogy, but the word never occurs in Twelfth Night. In some plays it refers to a forgery or false copy or letter, but in others it refers to something like a blacksmith working at a forge:
All's Well That Ends Well (1.1; 4.1),
Coriolanus (5.1),
Cymbeline (4.2),
Hamlet (1.5; 2.1; 4.7)
Henry V (5.0 Chorus)
Henry VI, Part I (3.1, twice; 4.1)
Henry VI, Part III (3.3)
Henry VIII (1.2)
Macbeth (4.3)
Merry Wives of Windsor (4.2)
Midsummer Night's Dream (2.1)
Othello (4.2)
Passionate Pilgrim
Rape of Lucrece (twice)
Richard II (4.1)
Sonnet 137
Titus Andronicus (5.2)
Troilus and Cressida (4.5)
Venus and Adonis
Winter's Tale (4.4)

[3] Hamlet seals the replacement letter with his father’s ring to make it appear it was from Denmark’s king, although Hamlet knows this is a deception, so it is a kind of forgery.

[4] The idea of a changeling, not as literally about fairies but about confused sibling identities, comes up in Twelfth Night and The Comedy of Errors.

[5] The word “satire” or “satirical” occurs only five times in Shakespeare, once each in only four Shakespeare plays and once in a sonnet. This includes Hamlet’s lines to Polonius that begin with “the satirical rogue”:
“...the satirical rogue says here
that old men have gray beards, that their faces are
wrinkled, their eyes purging thick amber and
plum-tree gum, and that they have a plentiful lack of
wit, together with most weak hams; all which, sir,
though I most powerfully and potently believe, yet I
hold it not honesty to have it thus set down; for
yourself, sir, shall grow old as I am, if, like a crab,
you could go backward.” (2.2.214-222).

Instances of the word satire also occur in
Midsummer Night's Dream (5.1),
Much Ado about Nothing (5.4),
Sonnet 100,
Timon of Athens (5.1).


IMAGE: Daniel Maclise (1806–1870).
Scene from ‘Twelfth Night’ (‘Malvolio and the Countess’), 1840.
Tate National Gallery  (UK).
Public domain via https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/ce/Daniel_Maclise_%281806-1870%29_-_Scene_from_%27Twelfth_Night%27_%28%27Malvolio_and_the_Countess%27%29_-_N00423_-_National_Gallery.jpg



~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
YOU CAN SUPPORT ME on a one-time "tip" basis on Ko-Fi:
https://ko-fi.com/pauladrianfried

IF YOU WOULD PREFER to support me on a REGULAR basis,
you may do so on Ko-Fi, or here on Patreon:
https://patreon.com/PaulAdrianFried
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Thanks for reading!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

My current project is a book tentatively titled Hamlet’s Bible, about biblical allusions and plot echoes in Hamlet.

Below is a link to a list of some of my top posts (“greatest hits”), including a description of my book project (last item on the list):

https://pauladrianfried.blogspot.com/2019/12/top-20-hamlet-bible-posts.html

I post every week, so please visit as often as you like and consider FOLLOWING.
To find the FOLLOW button, go to the home page: https://pauladrianfried.blogspot.com/
see the = drop-down menu with three lines in the upper left.
From there you can click FOLLOW and see options.