Prolepsis and Analepsis in Hamlet

Order
the narration of events outside their logical sequence, normally in

retrospective ‘flashback’ (analepsis), less commonly by anticipatory
‘flashforward’ (prolepsis).
Analepsis (flashback), in motion pictures and literature, narrative

technique of interrupting the chronological sequence of events to interject
events of earlier occurrence. The earlier events often take the form of
reminiscence. The flashback technique is as old as Western literature.
In hamlet there are some flashbacks, as when Horatio tells Bernardo and
Marcellus how Hamlet the father beat Fortinbras in the first scene of the
first act.
Hor.
That can I;
At least, the whisper goes so. Our last king,
Whose image even but now appear’d to us,
Was, as you know, by Fortinbras of Norway,
Thereto prick’d on by a most emulate pride,
Dar’d to the combat; in which our valiant Hamlet,–
For so this side of our known world esteem’d him,–
Did slay this Fortinbras; who, by a seal’d compact,
Well ratified by law and heraldry,
Did forfeit, with his life, all those his lands,
Which he stood seiz’d of, to the conqueror:
Against the which, a moiety competent
Was gaged by our king; which had return’d
To the inheritance of Fortinbras,
Had he been vanquisher; as by the same cov’nant,
And carriage of the article design’d,
His fell to Hamlet. Now, sir, young Fortinbras,
Of unimproved mettle hot and full,
Hath in the skirts of Norway, here and there,
Shark’d up a list of lawless resolutes,
For food and diet, to some enterprise
That hath a stomach in’t; which is no other,–
As it doth well appear unto our state,–
But to recover of us, by strong hand,
And terms compulsatory, those foresaid lands
So by his father lost: and this, I take it,
Is the main motive of our preparations,
The source of this our watch, and the chief head
Of this post-haste and romage in the land.
The second flashback is in Act 1 Scene5 when the Ghost tells the story of
his murder to Hamlet.
Ghost.
Ay, that incestuous, that adulterate beast,
With witchcraft of his wit, with traitorous gifts,–
O wicked wit and gifts, that have the power
So to seduce!–won to his shameful lust
The will of my most seeming-virtuous queen:
O Hamlet, what a falling-off was there!
¿From me, whose love was of that dignity
That it went hand in hand even with the vow
I made to her in marriage; and to decline
Upon a wretch whose natural gifts were poor
To those of mine!
But virtue, as it never will be mov’d,
Though lewdness court it in a shape of heaven;
So lust, though to a radiant angel link’d,
Will sate itself in a celestial bed
And prey on garbage.
But soft! methinks I scent the morning air;
Brief let me be.–Sleeping within my orchard,
My custom always of the afternoon,
Upon my secure hour thy uncle stole,
With juice of cursed hebenon in a vial,
And in the porches of my ears did pour
The leperous distilment; whose effect
Holds such an enmity with blood of man
That, swift as quicksilver, it courses through
The natural gates and alleys of the body;
And with a sudden vigour it doth posset
And curd, like eager droppings into milk,
The thin and wholesome blood; so did it mine;
And a most instant tetter bark’d about,
Most lazar-like, with vile and loathsome crust
All my smooth body.
Thus was I, sleeping, by a brother’s hand,
Of life, of crown, of queen, at once dispatch’d:
Cut off even in the blossoms of my sin,
Unhous’led, disappointed, unanel’d;
No reckoning made, but sent to my account
With all my imperfections on my head:
O, horrible! O, horrible! most horrible!
If thou hast nature in thee, bear it not;
Let not the royal bed of Denmark be
A couch for luxury and damned incest.
But, howsoever thou pursu’st this act,
Taint not thy mind, nor let thy soul contrive
Against thy mother aught: leave her to heaven,
And to those thorns that in her bosom lodge,
To prick and sting her. Fare thee well at once!
The glowworm shows the matin to be near,
And ’gins to pale his uneffectual fire:
Adieu, adieu! Hamlet, remember me.
The play-within-a-play, in the second scene of the third act, even
functions as a flashback as it reveals how Claudius has murdered the late
King Hamlet.
There is another flashback in, act5 scene1, that speak about Yorick the
king's jester and how he used to be with Hamlet.
Ham.
Let me see. [Takes the skull.] Alas, poor Yorick!–I knew him,
Horatio; a fellow of infinite jest, of most excellent fancy: he
hath borne me on his back a thousand times; and now, how abhorred
in my imagination it is! my gorge rises at it. Here hung those
lips that I have kiss’d I know not how oft. Where be your gibes
now? your gambols? your songs? your flashes of merriment, that
were wont to set the table on a roar? Not one now, to mock your
own grinning? quite chap-fallen? Now, get you to my lady’s
chamber, and tell her, let her paint an inch thick, to this
favour she must come; make her laugh at that.–Pr’ythee, Horatio,
tell me one thing.
The last flashback is in the last scene, act5 scene2, when Hamlet recounts
the events that happened on the ship some time after they occurred.
Ham.
Up from my cabin,
My sea-gown scarf’d about me, in the dark
Grop’d I to find out them: had my desire;
Finger’d their packet; and, in fine, withdrew
To mine own room again: making so bold,
My fears forgetting manners, to unseal
Their grand commission; where I found, Horatio,
O royal knavery! an exact command,–
Larded with many several sorts of reasons,
Importing Denmark’s health, and England’s too,
With, ho! such bugs and goblins in my life,–
That, on the supervise, no leisure bated,
No, not to stay the grinding of the axe,
My head should be struck off.
Prolepsis (from Greek, ‘to anticipate’), A figure of speech in which a

future event is referred to in anticipation. For example, a character who is
about to die might be described as "the dead man" before he is actually
dead. The same device can be used in non-verbal media such as film,
where it is also called flashforward.
There is a flashforward in the last scene, act5 scene2, when Hamlet says
to Horatio:
Heaven make thee free of it! I follow thee.–

I am dead, Horatio.–Wretched queen, adieu!–
You that look pale and tremble at this chance,
That are but mutes or audience to this act,
Had I but time,–as this fell sergeant, death,
Is strict in his arrest,–O, I could tell you,–
But let it be.–Horatio, I am dead;
Thou liv’st; report me and my cause aright
To the unsatisfied.
A flashforward because Hamlet is still living and says "I am dead,

Horatio", what he says has not yet happened.
In medias res, (Latin: “in the midst of things”) in narrative technique,

the recommended practice of beginning an epic or other fictional form by
plunging into a crucial situation that is part of a related chain of events;
the situation is an extension of previous events and will be developed in
later action. The narrative then goes directly forward, and exposition of
earlier events is supplied by flashbacks.
The play starts in medias res . Hamlet 's father is already dead , and the
ghost appears to the prince to ask for vengeance .

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Order

the narration of events outside their logical sequence, normally in

Analepsis (flashback), in motion pictures and literature, narrative

Prolepsis (from Greek, ‘to anticipate’), A figure of speech in which a

Heaven make thee free of it! I follow thee.–

A flashforward because Hamlet is still living and says "I am dead,

In medias res, (Latin: “in the midst of things”) in narrative technique,

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