would hamlet say six seven: a study
arguments for:
six seven itself has no actual meaning and originates from a clip of a viral song on tiktok, so hamlet's way of pretending to be "mad" could be repeating something widespread but meaningless, like how he quotes song lyrics and idioms (2.2, 430-432; 3.2, 306-310; 3.2 371-372)
hamlet often uses nonsensical, surreal humor, usually ones that appeal to the youth and confuse the older generation, to cope with his despair (2.2, 190-199; 5.1, 204-207)
he puts on the antic disposition partly to confuse claudius and gertrude, which this absolutely would
i don't think hamlet would ever have gen alpha humor, which is the point. he's changed to the point of being unrecognizable in his madness (2.2, 4-1; 316-321)
polonius would try to find meaning in it and come to an entirely incorrect conclusion
arguments against:
hamlet may not have tiktok or even know of this meme in the first place, because he's said to be a stable and well-liked individual prior to the play (4.7, 18-20)
it's actually rosencrantz and guildenstern who would keep saying six seven until hamlet decides to kill them
