The Use of Second Person Pronouns in Shakespeare ’ s Tragedy of Hamlet and Macbeth

This article concerns on the use of second person pronouns thou and you in Shakespeare’s Tragedy of Hamlet and Macbeth. Throughout the history of English language, second person pronouns have undergone many changes until they become only one form you. In the earlier period, the distinction between thou and ye was in a matter of the number of people being addressed. However, in early modern English, the use of second person pronouns did not depend only on the number of people, but also on the power and solidarity relations. Dealing with its changes, the use of second person pronouns thou and you in Shakespeare’s plays is interpreted in this article. Results show that Shakespeare’s plays provide a different view of the use of these pronominal forms. Nevertheless, Shakespeare actually follows the rule of pronominal forms dictated by society, yet some cases show inconsistency. The inconsistency refers to the switching between thou and you. It indicates that something emotionally happens among the characters which can be observed through their conversations.


Introduction
Society has built up variations for address toward certain people in certain circumstance.One significant variation is the preference of using pronominal form of second person pronoun you.People are dictated by society to use variations of addressing you depending on with whom they are speaking and where they are holding the conversation.The variations in conversation can reveal the social relationship of the addresser and addressee.Many European languages signify the relationship between second person pronouns and social relationship, such as vous and tu in France, du and thr in Germany, tu and voi in Italia.Present day English, however, does not make a distinction of social relationship in addressing people with second person pronouns.Yet English language in the past did make the distinction.It refers to the fact that one of the most important changes during the history of English is the form of second person pronouns thou and you and its variations.That makes English language said to have a long history until it reaches its standard form as people know it today.This article discusses the use of second person pronouns in two plays in Renaissance period.It uses two prominent Shakespeare's tragedies, namely Tragedy of Hamlet and Macbeth.Furthermore, this article provides the context of situations within conversation, such as the social status of the speakers, the relationship of the speakers, the level of intimacy of the speakers, and the tone of situation.Through observations of the context, it explains when and how to use thou and you.Accordingly, this article would like to answer a question: How are the second person pronouns thou and you used in Shakespeare's Tragedy of Hamlet and Macbeth?

The Stages of the Development of Thou and Ye and Its Variations
According to Baugh and Cable (1978), the period of Renaissance was important because there involved two changes in term of the use of thou and ye.The first change indicated that thou, thy, and thee were disappeared.They stated that in the earliest period of English, the distinction between thou and ye was just in a matter of the number of people being addressed.Thou was used to address one person, while ye was used to address more than one person.The related forms of thou were thy, thee, thine, and thyself , while the related forms of you were ye, yours, your,and yourself.Single forms are marked by the use of thou, thy, and thee.The plural forms were marked by the use of ye, your, and you.The distinction grew up by the thirteenth century.During this period, thou and its related forms were used to address children and people having lower class (inferior).On the contrary, ye and its related forms were used to address people having higher social class (superior).This distinction was influenced by French forms tu and vous in the way of addressing.Then, ye and its related forms were recognized as forms to show either irrespective of rank or intimacy.In the sixteenth century, the singular forms were gone, but they were still used by the Quackers.
The second change was the replacement of you for ye as a nominative case.The distinction occurred between the nominative ye and the objective you.In the fourteenth century, the objective you was used as the nominative, resulting that there is no distinction in the nominative form between ye and you.The use of you as the nominative then gradually replaced ye.In the end of sixteenth century, ye was only used in specific situations dealing with archaic, religious, and literary contexts (Crystal, 1995).In the seventeenth century, you became the accepted form for both nominative and objective form.It signified that thou was disappeared.

The Variations of Thou and You in Renaissance System
Crystal (1995) pointed out that in the Shakespeare time, the use of second person pronouns had many variations.You could be used to address either one person (singular form) or more than one person (plural form).But for addressing one person, there were many alternatives in term of using thou/thee.It was used by inferior people to address superior people and was also used among upper class.By contrast, thou/thee were used by superior people to address inferior people, and were also used by lower class to address each other.Additionally, it was used in literary works in addressing God and supernatural beings.In special cases, a husband might address his wife as thou, and she reply with you.
The preference of using thou and you depended on situations.Some situations could break the rule of convention.When it was used to express intimacy and affection, the use of thou was preferred.The use of you was found when it came to the formal situation as well as to show politeness and distance.Thou could be used even by inferior to superior to express annoyance and hatred.The use of thou to a person of equal rank who expect to be addressed you could thus be easily regarded as an insult.(Crystal, 1995) The Use of Thou and You in Shakespeare's Tragedy of Hamlet and Macbeth Shakespeare's Tragedy of Hamlet and Macbeth are classified as tragedies.Tragedies are kinds of play in which the main character suffers excessive sorrow.Accordingly, the tone of situation is serious and tragic started from beginning until the end of the plays.The setting of these two plays is mostly in the royal palace.It signifies that the conversation takes place among the member of royal palace, such as king, queen, noble, prince, soldier, servant, laborer, and so forth.Therefore, this discussion focuses on the conversation occurs between them.
Generally, Shakespeare uses thou and you form like what the rule of society expects.The rule dictated in the society denotes that the use of thou and you expresses power and solidarity.As stated in the literary review, thou is used to address a social inferior, such as servant and laborer.It is also used among lower class and social inferior.Thou is also used in addressing God and supernatural beings like ghost and witches.You is used to address a social superior, such as king, queen, noble, prince, and so forth to show respect.It is also used among high class and social superior to show solidarity.The use of these pronominal forms in Shakespeare's plays will be explained further as follows.
In Tragedy of Hamlet, thou is used to address an inferior, such as King Claudius to servants and Queen Gertrude to Hamlet, his son.Also, it is used among people of low rank, such as among servants and gravediggers.The form you is used among nobles such as king and aristocracy, Prince Hamlet to Prince Laertes, Laertes to Ophelia, and so forth.Similarly, in Tragedy of Macbeth, thou is used to address an inferior, such as Lady Macbeth to her servant and Banquo to his son, Fleance, and Macbeth to Lady Macbeth, his wife.The form you is used to address an superior, such as Malcom to King Duncan (his father) and Lady Macbeth to Macbeth.
In Tragedy of Hamlet and Macbeth, there are some scenes in which the main characters have to address supernatural beings.In the beginning of the play, Hamlet meets a ghost which introduces itself as ghost of Hamlet's father.The following dialog is the case of the interaction between Hamlet and his ghost father.The dialog shows that Hamlet uses thou rather than you, as he is accustomed to.The scene shows that Hamlet addresses the ghost with thou although the physical appearance of the ghost is his father-like.If it is really his father, Hamlet should address him as you but he does not since it is common to address ghost as thou.

HAMLET.
In another play, Tragedy of Macbeth, there is also an interaction between main character and supernatural beings.In the beginning of the play, Macbeth and Banquo meet three witches on the way home.Macbeth addresses the witches using you since unlike the singular form there is no alternative to address second person pronoun plural of you.Hamlet starts the conversation using you as they are accustomed to in normal conversation.He switches you into thou variation (thee as objective) when the tone of situation changes.He says that Horatio mock him although actually he knows that it is not kind of insult.Hamlet tries to break the coldness since they haven't met for a long time.Horation also realizes that Hamlet is kidding him so he does not feel offended.

MACBETH. Speak
The second case takes place between Hamlet and Queen Gertrude, his mother.In a usual and normal conversation between them, Hamlet uses you to address his mother and his mother replies with thou.The use of thou is common for a mother to show affection to her child.In the following conversation, Hamlet's mother suddenly changes the pronominal form to Hamlet.The scene really shows that the tone of situation changes.Lady Macbeth is angry with Macbeth because he is still in doubt whether to kill the king or not.Lady Macbeth tries to persuade Macbeth to murder the king in order to get the throne.The fact that Macbeth feels unsure makes her really upset.Therefore, she switches you as the usual conversation with Macbeth to thou.In the rest of this scene, Lady Macbeth continuously uses thou whenever she feels upset with Macbeth.

Concluding Remarks
In the history of English language especially in early modern English, there are a distinction of second person pronouns between thou and you.The pronoun you can be used to address more than one addressee (Macbeth to witches, for instance).For addressing merely one addressee, there are many norms related to power and solidarity.The first rule is observed when the addressee is socially equal with the addresser (or it is related with solidarity).The use of you form is required to address someone who is not close indicating a neutral and respect behavior.It also can be used by people of high rank to address one another.Thou form is used to address someone close indicating either intimacy or insult.The second rule is when the addressee is socially unequal with the addresser (or it is related with power).Thou form is used to address an inferior (such as parents to children, prince to servants), while you form is used to address a superior.
In Shakespeare's Tragedy of Hamlet and Macbeth, the rules can suddenly collapse.It is due to the fact that Shakespeare as found in his plays repeatedly switches between thou and you form.It happens whenever the character includes emotions within conversation so that the tone of situation changes, resulting on the switching between thou and you.

Switch between Thou and You in Shakespeare's Tragedy of Hamlet and Macbeth
This scene portrays the Polonius' anger toward Ophelia since she does not want to obey his father's advice to keep away from Hamlet.It raises assumption that Polonius prefers using you rather than thou because of his anger.But in the daily conversation between them, Polonius always addresses Ophelia using you.It can be assumed that Ophelia is regarded as the apple of his father's eyes so that his father treats her like a queen.No matter how anger his father to her, she keeps being addressed with you.It is like an honor for Ophelia.Tragedy of Hamlet and Macbeth is the switch between thou and you.Four cases are chosen and highlighted in this discussion.The first case is the conversation between Hamlet and Horation which is located in the castle.Horation is the close friend of Hamlet who just comes from Wittenberg.
own report.Against yourself: I know you are no truant.But what is your affair in Elsinore?We'll teach you to drink deep ere you depart.
Then it comes to the point that Hamlet's raising tone of intonation really makes his mother upset.Thus she suddenly changes thou into you to address Hamlet.When Hamlet calms himself, she switches back into thou.Therefore, the switch between thou and you is caused by his mother's anger toward Hamlet.The third case is the conversation between Hamlet and his ghost father.In Act I, Hamlet calls his ghost father using thou.Conversely, going forward to the Act III, Hamlet uses you to address his ghost father.In this scene, Hamlet does not seem that he sees ghost, rather he sees his father.The reason of the switching between thou and you is that he is convinced that the ghost is really his father whom he adores very much.The tone of son's affection towards his father embraces this scene.The scene is depicted as follows.The fourth case happens between Macbeth and his wife, Lady Macbeth.In the usual conversation, Macbeth addresses his wife as thou, and she replies with you.In Act I Scene VII, Lady Macbeth breaks the rule as what is seen in the following conversation.LADY MACBETH : Was the hope drunk.Wherein you dress'd yourself?hath it slept since?And wakes it now to look so green and pale.At what it did so freely?From this time such I account thy love.Art thou afeard to be the same in thine own act and valour As thou art in desire?Wouldst thou have that which thou esteem'st the ornament of life, And live a coward in thine own esteem, Letting 'I dare not' wait upon 'I would,' Like the poor cat i' the adage?
HAMLET : Come, come, and sit you down; you shall not budge; You go not till I set you up a glass.Where you may see the inmost part of you.