commencement, compulsive, and conjunctive


The words 'commencement' , 'compulsive', and 'conjunctive' occur only in Hamlet and in Othello, and in both plays they are restricted to a context of great passion. It is tempting to speculate on Shakespeare's associating all these words with the joining force of the Latin preposition 'cum', although in the first two instances the prefix has the intensifying meaning of the Latin word.  

 

Polonius, expressing his views about Hamlet's strange behavior, says that "the origin and commencement of his grief / Sprung from neglected love" (Ham.3.1.177-178), and Iago reassures Roderigo that Desdemona' passion for Othello will soon diminish because of its "violent commencement" (Oth. 1.3.344). 

 

In the case of 'compulsive' the context restriction is more precise since the word occurs near a "cold" word in a context of extreme passion. Hamlet uses "hot and cold" language to express his disgust at his mother's passion for Claudius

 

                                               Rebellious hell,
 83   If thou canst mutine in a matron's bones,
 84   To flaming youth let virtue be as wax
 85   And melt in her own fire. Proclaim no shame
 86   When the compulsive ardure gives the charge,
 87   Since frost itself as actively doth burn,
 88   And reason [panders] will. (Ham. 3.4.82-88)

 

This hot and cold rhetoric is also implicit in Othello's famous lines:

 

453   Never, Iago. Like to the Pontic Sea,
454   Whose icy current and compulsive course
455   Nev'r [feels] retiring ebb, but keeps due on
456   To the Propontic and the Hellespont,
457   Even so my bloody thoughts, with violent pace,
458   Shall nev'r look back, nev'r ebb to humble love,
459   Till that a capable and wide revenge
460   Swallow them up.  (Oth. 3.3.453-460)

 

Claudius, speaking of Gertrude, says to Laertes that

 

14   She is so [conjunctive] to my life and soul,
15   That, as the star moves not but in his sphere,
16   I could not but by her. (Ham. 4.7. 14-16)

Iago allies himself with Roderigo in their joint hatred of Othello:

 

                                                                              I
 365   have told thee often, and I retell thee again and
 366   again, I hate the Moor. My cause is hearted; thine
 367   hath no less reason. Let us be conjunctive in our
 368   revenge against him.  (Oth. 1.3.364-368)


See the entry on 'extravagant' for other verbal links between Hamlet and Othello