Then, only moments later, he says, “Things standing thus unknown, shall I leave behind me!” suggesting that he has accepted the fact that he cannot and will not know all things (Hamlet 5.2.345). Hamlet says that he could tell us what has happened, “O, I could tell you – But let it be,” suggesting that he is certain of all events (Hamlet 5.2.337-338).
This is manifested by the contradictions he makes in his speeches. As his death approaches, Hamlet appears both unsure and untrusting of reality, and questioning of its individual interpretation. Because he enlists both of them in the act, it suggests that he, too, remains uncertain of all that has happened and doubts that just one party could portray him accurately. Hamlet knows that Horatio does not know everything that he does (because he did not hear Hamlet’s soliloquies), which is why he asks the audience to make sure Horatio’s depiction is accurate. If he were completely comfortable with what he has based his actions on, then he would not have addressed the audience in this speech. Prior to this point, Hamlet has based his actions on his knowledge of events and circumstances as they have been revealed to him throughout the play. Hamlet’s conscious awareness of the audience has further implications. Shakespeare also comments on the relationship between theatricality and reality by directly involving the audience in the interpretation of uncertain events. Hence, the only accurate representation of Hamlet’s story must come from the audience members themselves. This makes sense because no one else in the play is more aware of the sequence of events than the audience since they are the only ones who have heard Hamlet’s soliloquies. He is asking them to bear witness, to make sure his story is told correctly. This is the first time that he directly acknowledges or addresses the audience. Up until this point, not once in his many soliloquies has Hamlet spoken to anyone beyond himself. Accordingly, “Report me and my cause aright” is not only directed to Horatio, it is directed to the audience as well. In the textual notation, “mutes or audience” is defined as meaning “silent spectators” (Hamlet 1233). However, one interpreter of his story is not enough for Hamlet. Report me and my cause aright.” Here, Horatio becomes the playwright. Hamlet solicits Horatio to tell his story, “Horatio, I am dead, Thou livest. Is strict in his arrest – O, I could tell you – Had I but time – as this fell sergeant, Death,
That are but mutes or audience to this act, You that look pale, and tremble at this chance, In the final act of Hamlet, Hamlet disrupts the narrative by addressing not only the other characters in the scene, but the audience members as well. This is depicted at the endings of both plays through Shakespeare’s involvement of the audience within the framework of the narratives. Consequently, if drama is a representation of real life, then Shakespeare is questioning real life as well. Both plays call into question reality by obscuring the lines between realism and fantasy, reality and theatricality. When placed into the narrative, dreams function in a manner similar to doubt by disrupting reality. Dreams, as part of the fantasy world, exist separate from reality. Doubt disrupts the narrative structure of reality by leaving events unexplained, permitting us to call into question what we consider to be reality. In A Midsummer Night’s Dream, reality is blurred by the prevalence of dreams used to explain magical occurrences. In Hamlet, reality is consistently in question because of the pervasive strain of doubt in the narrative. Both plays examine reality throughout the narrative structure. In the tragedy Hamlet and the comedy A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Shakespeare presents two plays that are very different in context but quite similar in foundation.
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