Hamlet's Watch

The opening scene of Shakespeare's Hamlet introduces Hamlet's father--his ghost that is. King Hamlet's ghost appears to a group guarding the castle (Marcellus, Bernardo and Francisco) and to the previously disbelieving Horatio, Hamlet's good friend.Similar to many of Shakespeare's other plays, the first scene of Hamlet appears random and features mainly irrelevant characters, however this first scene provides an insight into the action yet to come.

Throughout the entire opening scene, mentions of time are almost unbelievably frequent. I did say that the opening scene sets the scene for the rest of the play, so you might be thinking to yourself "Time? What's time got to do with it? This is Hamlet, right--isn't it like The Lion King, but with people in it?" If that is indeed what you are thinking, you have reason to think it. Even if you've never read Hamlet before, you are likely to know what its about-- a king is secretly killed by his brother, who then takes over the crown while the king's son tries to plot his revenge. It is in this revenge part that the idea of time kicks in. Hamlet spends half of the play (and this is a long play, folks!) debating whether he should kill Claudius, and if so, when, where, and how. This whole play is about time-- specifically, the right time. The longer Hamlet waits, the harder it is for him to decide, and the harder it is to decide, the longer he waits.

Time is brought up by all the characters present in the first scene:

Francisco

You come most carefully upon your hour.(i.i.iv)

 

Barnardo 

'Tis now struck twelve. (i.i.v)

 

There are constant mentions of their "watch"-- though in this context they are referring to their guard shift, it is no coincidence that they use a word so intertwined with the idea of time.