Satire in Twain

 “To be, or not to be; that is the bare bodkin

That makes calamity of so long life;

For who would fardels bear, till Birnam Wood do come to Dunsinane,

But that the fear of something after death

Murders the innocent sleep,

Great nature's second course,

And makes us rather sling the arrows of outrageous fortune

Than fly to others that we know not of.

There's the respect must give us pause:

Wake Duncan with thy knocking! I would thou couldst;

For who would bear the whips and scorns of time,

The oppressor's wrong, the proud man's contumely,

The law's delay, and the quietus which his pangs might take,

In the dead waste and middle of the night, when churchyards yawn

In customary suits of solemn black,

But that the undiscovered country from whose bourne no traveler returns,

Breathes forth contagion on the world,

And thus the native hue of resolution, like the poor cat i' the adage,

Is sicklied o'er with care,

And all the clouds that lowered o'er our housetops,

With this regard their currents turn awry,

And lose the name of action.

'Tis a consummation devoutly to be wished.

But soft you, the fair Ophelia:

Ope not thy ponderous and marble jaws,

But get thee to a nunnery- go!” (Twain 148-149).

            This quote comes from Twain’s The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, and is a means by which the author conveys satire. The king and the duke are preparing for their next con, and the duke is reciting “Hamlet’s soliloquy” from memory. The only problem is that the duke confuses a number of different Shakespeare quotes when trying to recite Hamlet’s soliloquy. Huck does not realize that anything is wrong with the soliloquy, which adds to the humor.

            To understand the humor and the satire of this scene, the reader must have some understanding of Shakespeare on their own. The way Twain presents this would not hint to the inaccuracy of the soliloquy if you were uninformed about Shakespeare’s work. This is an example of when close reading is necessary to see the satire of Twain.

            On the surface it would appear that the king and duke are well educated due to their understanding of Shakespeare, which goes along the high class façade they are putting on as swindlers. However, closer examination reveals that the king and the duke are wrong in their quoting Shakespeare. This error shows how, just like the swindlers themselves, the soliloquy they come up with is good enough to fool an uninformed person, but does not hold up to close inspection.

            Huck himself is impressed with the soliloquy, and does not see the errors in it. When describing the duke’s performance, Huck says “Then he strikes a most noble attitude, with one leg shoved forwards, and his arms stretched away up, and his head tilted back, looking up at the sky; and then he begins to rip and rave and grit his teeth; and after that, all through his speech he howled, and spread around, and swelled up his chest, and just knocked the spots out of any acting ever I see before” (Twain 148). Huck, who would not have been exposed to Shakespeare, believes the con men and does not suspect anything is wrong with the performance they are putting on.

            It is easy sometimes as a reader to miss the satire or references, especially when reading about a time that you have not experienced yourself. Twain’s use, or rather misuse, of Shakespeare creates a humorous situation for those that know of Shakespeare’s work. It also illuminates the fake nature of the king and the duke; showing how they are obviously swindlers to the reader, even though they are believed by Huck.

Source:

Twain, Mark. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. New York City: Penguin Classics, 2003. Print.