What does it mean that Hamlet defies augury?
Hamlet refers to scripture often in this part of the scene - “The readiness is all” [2], “the fall of a sparrow” [3]. But augury? What might that have meant to Elizabethan audiences?
Generally, augury is related to the belief in omens and signs, as mentioned by Horatio in the first scene of the play when he speaks of omens in Roman graveyards and in the heavens,
“the like precurse of feared events,
As harbingers preceding still the fates
And prologue to the omen coming on”. [4]
Augury in the story of the founding of Rome involved Romulus and Remus observing birds to determine fate or the will of the gods: The two had survived their great uncle’s attempt to drown them (and are adopted by a she-wolf, perhaps as Laertes is figuratively adopted and manipulated by Claudius?); they argued about where to locate the city. They decided to use augury to settle the dispute, but still argued about the outcome of the augury, and Romulus killed his twin brother Remus in single combat.
This is echoed in the play in perhaps at least two key ways [5]:
1. King Hamlet, “pricked on by a most emulate pride” (1.1.95), killed Old Fortinbras in single combat. Pride was considered the worst of the seven deadly sins; their “emulate pride” found its twin in the other's, like Romulus and Remus.
2. Hamlet was invited to duel with Laertes, apparently single combat for sport, but during which Laertes and Claudius intended for Hamlet to die by poison.
For Hamlet to “defy augury” right before the proposed duel with Laetes may be in part a rejection of the path that Romulus and Remus chose: Hamlet wants to determine his own fate in large part through his own choosing, believing he must “let be” regarding many things that might make him anxious, and that “readiness is all”: He must be ready for a path that Providence (God) will reveal only as events unfold, if he waits in faith, not seeking to predict the future by signs and omens [6].
POSTSCRIPT: Dakin Matthews notices that after speaking of deflying augury (which involved birds in the Romulus-Remus conflict), he paraphrases the biblical quote about the fall of the sparrow (Jesus urging people not to fear or worry about the future).
- This might lead one to realize that Shakespeare (in the character of Hamlet) Christianizes the bird theme, from augury to sparrows:
From rejection of any striving to foretell the future,
to acceptance that God even cares for the sparrows and provides for them.
NOTES: All references to Shakespeare plays are to the Folger Shakespeare Library online versions: https://shakespeare.folger.edu
[1] Hamlet 5.2.233.
[2] 5.2.236-7. See Matthew 24:42-44 in the Geneva translation (most popular in Shakespeare’s lifetime) reads,
42 Watch therefore: for ye know not what hour your master will come.
43 Of this be sure, that if the good man of the house knew at what watch the thief would come, he would surely watch, and not suffer his house to be dug through.
44 Therefore be ye also ready: for in the hour that ye think not, will the Son of man come.
The Bishop’s Bible translation, read in church, reads
42 Watch therfore, for ye knowe not what houre your Lorde doth come
43 Of this yet be sure, that yf the good man of the house, knewe what watche the thiefe woulde come, he woulde surely watche, and not suffer his house to be broken vp
44 Therfore, be ye also redy: for in such an houre as ye thynke not, the sonne of man commeth
[3] 5.2.234. See Matt 28-31 (Geneva transl.):
And fear ye not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him, which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.
29 Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing, and one of them shall not fall on the ground without your Father?
30 Yea, and all the hairs of your head are numbered.
31 Fear ye not therefore, ye are of more value than many sparrows.
See also also the same passage, Bishop’s transl.:
28 And feare ye not them, which kyll the body, but are not able to kyll the soule. But rather feare hym, which is able to destroy both soule and body in hell
29 Are not two litle sparowes solde for a farthyng? And one of the shall not light on the grounde, without your father
30 Yea, euen all the heeres of your head are numbred
31 Feare ye not therefore, ye are of more value then many sparowes
[4] 1.1.133-5. We might note that Queen Elizabeth I was said to have an interest in astrology, but she also made it illegal for people to seek to predict her heir and the day of her death; similarly, Protestantism criticized many Roman Catholic practices as superstitious. To defy augury (reject omens) may simply seem a Christian (and Protestant) tradition of rejecting superstition and apparent pagan practices (some of which found their way into scripture anyway), as in the star that marks the birth of Jesus in one gospel passage [the magi following the star in Matthew 2:1-12], and the opening of the graves of holy people after the crucifixion in another [Matthew 27:51-53].
[5] Two other related points:
a. Besides King Hamlet killing Old Fortinbras in “emulate pride” resembling the brother-murder of Remus by Romulus, Claudius (more cowardly) poisoned his brother, King Hamlet.
b. Claudius compares this murder to Cain killing Abel in Genesis: “It hath the primal eldest curse upon't, / A brother's murder" (3.3.41-42); Hamlet similarly mentions “Cain’s jawbone, that did the first murder!” (5.1.79).
The brother-killing of King Hamlet by Claudius, and of Abel by Cain, are also echoed in the Romulus-Remus tale.
[6] See also:
Plumer, Eric. "'There's a Divinity That Shapes Our Ends': An Augustinian Reading of Hamlet," Augustine and Literature (2006): 63. See p.70 on Romulus and Remus, and subsequent pages, on Hamlet's arc of conversion, similar to Augustine's, from idolizing his father and something like the City of Man, to something like the City of God.
See also
Murray, Margaret Alice, The Witch-Cult In Western Europe: A Study in Anthropology
Oxford / Clarendon Press, 1921: V. THE RITES, p.124; 9. Magic Words, p. 162
IMAGE: Romulus & Remus & Wolf
Duomo, Siena, Tuscany, Italy. Marble mosaic floor: The She-Wolf of Siena.
Licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International, 3.0 Unported, 2.5 Generic, 2.0 Generic and 1.0 Generic license, via https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Toscana_Siena6_tango7174.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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