"The Performative Utterance in Hamlet"

What a very interesting idea Fredrik deBoer had!  I can look at Hamlet's character in a different way.  Hamlet says things in order to tell the audience how he thinks and for dramatic effect because it was a play intended to entertain an audience.  His actions don't always follow what he says throughout the play.  deBoer discussed how Hamlet doesn't necessarily swear that he will avenge his father's death but rather he swears to remember his father's murder.  Even though he swears to remember (technically), we can tell that Hamlet really wants revenge and is planning to seek it upon Claudius.  His words might not be completely correct with his actions but we can still understand what he means.