...Hamlet's Soliloquy "To be, or not to be" Hamlet's "To be, or not to be" soliloquy is possibly one of the most famous soliloquy in the history of the theatre. The words of the soliloquy spark a serious debate and questions for Hamlet about the advantages and disadvantages of existence and whether one should take his or her own life. The questions Hamlet faces was “is this life, or death is where life begins”. It seems like a wall to him, and only by getting through that wall, he will know what’s on the other side. Then once he is through to the other side, he is uncertain if there is any chance of him returning to share his experience. He may have had doubts in his mind, about the life he was living, whether it is real and what happens after he dies? Hamlet asks the question of himself whether is it honorable to live life sadly or to end...
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...duty right after midnight. Bernardo calls wondering who is there, to which Francisco replies that Bernardo should tell him who he is first. 2. What is Horatio's initial response to the story of the apparition? Horatio’s initial response is skepticism, as in disbelief. 3. What does Horatio first assume the appearance of the ghost means (1.1.)? He assumes it must mean that there is something wrong with the government. 4. What happens when the ghost appears for the second time (I.I)? Horatio asks the ghost why it had come in the first place and the reason behind such appearances 5. What do we know so far about the nature of the ghost? Do we know yet if it is a "good" ghost? Summarize the circumstances surrounding the first encounter with the ghost. The ghost is Hamlet’s father; one can categorize him as good because he explains to Hamlet the real reason behind his death. 6. Identify Hamlet’s first Soliloquy in Scene 2. What is it that is really bothering him about what has happened since his father's death? How would you describe the tone of his feelings? In his first soliloquy he mourns his father. It is a passionate and startling passage that strongly contrasts to the artificial dialogue and actions that he portrays to his uncle Claudius throughout the remainder of the play. This soliloquy serves to reveal Hamlet’s melancholia and the reasons for his despair in an outpouring of anger, disgust, sorrow, and grief through which he explains how everything...
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...Hamlet's designation of the importance of religion in relation to the importance of the state can be clarified by way of his soliloquies, throughout Hamlet. More specifically, Hamlet’s first, fourth, and sixth soliloquies, raise the question of how Hamlet views his relationship with God in accordance to his relationship with the state of Denmark. It is evident the Hamlet is particularly religious. Although Hamlet does not explicitly discuss his ideas regarding the significance of religion and state in relation to one another, they can be inferred through his decisions and actions throughout the play. Precisely, Hamlet’s actions regarding Old Hamlet’s Ghost and Gertrude’s marriage, in addition to his thoughts regarding Purgatory and suicide, provide evidence for how he understands this relationship to be balanced....
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...George Awtrey English April 16, 2011 Hamlet’s Psychological Analysis William Shakespeare was and still is one of the most renowned play writers of all time. Shakespeare had a talent like no other that allowed him to create plays that entertained viewers of his era and beyond. One of his most popular plays is Hamlet. Because this play was one of his more complex works it is also became of the most analyzed plays as well. The main character, Hamlet, has fascinated readers and audiences for centuries, and one of the first thing to point out about him is that he is indecisive (22 Newell). But even though he is thoughtful to the point of obsession, Hamlet also behaves rashly and instinctively. When he does act, it is quickly with little or no premeditation, like when he stabbed Polonius through the curtain without even checking to see who he was. He seems to step very easily into the role acting crazy, behaving erratically and upsetting the other characters with his careless speech (22 Newell). It is also important to note that Hamlet is extremely laid back and unconcerned with it comes to the state of affairs in Denmark and in his own family. He is extremely disappointed with his mother for marrying his uncle so quickly. He rejects, Ophelia, a woman he claimed to have loved once. At a number of points in the play, he contemplates his own death and even the option of suicide. But, despite all of the things with which Hamlet expresses dissatisfaction, it is remarkable that...
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...Hamlet’s Unwilling Descent into Madness William Shakespeare’s Hamlet contains many instances when a problem of interpretation allows for different stances, but perhaps one of the most prominent questions is Hamlet’s descent into madness and to what degree he controls this madness or if it consumes him. This question is of great importance because it allows the reader to either justify or condemn Hamlet’s actions. In the 1990 Kevin Kline version of Hamlet, Hamlet’s interactions with others and his numerous soliloquies show that his madness is not an act; rather, he cracked under the extreme circumstances of his surroundings. Losing his father and seeing his mother marry his uncle within a few short months took an uncontrollable toll on Hamlet. His heightening emotions and increasing violence show that the film takes the stance that Hamlet cannot control his actions as he succumbs to insanity rather than someone in control of their action. Different versions of Hamlet take many stances on this issue from depicting Hamlet as a plotting mastermind to a man spiraling hopelessly out of control. This film is sympathetic to Hamlet’s plight as it shows his steady and unwilling descent into madness. The numerous violent incidences with his family and his dark soliloquies depict Hamlet as a man lost to his madness. By focusing on his relationships with others, the viewer can see that the interpretive stance does not place the blame on Hamlet but rather his circumstances. For example...
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...murdered king's son's quest for revenge. Its main character, Hamlet, possesses a tragic flaw which obstructs his desire for revenge and ultimately brings about his death. This tragic flaw makes him a tragic hero, a character who is destroyed because of a major weakness, as his death at the end could possibly have been avoided were it not for his tragic flaw. Hamlet's flaw of irresolution, the uncertainty on how to act or proceed, is shown when Hamlet sees a play and the passion the actors had, after Hamlet's third soliloquy, in Hamlet's fourth soliloquy, and in Hamlet's indecisive pursuit in avenging his father's death. First, Hamlet's flaw of irresolution is shown when he sees a play and the passion one particular actor had. A group of players has arrived and Hamlet arranges a personal viewing of The Murder of Gonzago with a small portion of his own lines inserted. Hamlet then observes one portion of the play in which one of the players put on a great display of emotion. Hamlet, besieged by guilt and self-contempt, remarks in his second soliloquy of Hamlet of the emotion this player showed despite the fact that the player had nothing to be emotional about. Hamlet observed that he himself had all the reason in the world to react with great emotion and sorrow, yet he...
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...act 1 scene 2 soliloquy provides an image and insight on Hamlet’s emotional state apart from what Claudius had pointed out. Ham let in his moment of grief and sorrow for his father’s death has grown to contempt for his mother Gertrude and his uncle Claudius. Who have in merely two months of the king's death ran to an, “incestuous sheets!” Hamlet’s emotional and passionate first soliloquy is a striking contrast to the controlled and unnatural conversation that he has been exchanging with Claudius and the court. The primary function of this soliloquy is to reveal to the audience Hamlet’s gloom and despair. With Hamlet’s emotional outburst or outpouring of disgust, anger, and grief, Hamlet without exception says that the world is futile, “rank and gross in nature.”(138) Meaning the world is rotten and corrupt. Shakespeare uses a metaphor of the world as, “an unweeded garden,”(137) which is an allegory of the Garden of Eden. Hamlet’s nature of grief is revealed to be about his mother's hasty marriage to Claudius. In...
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...Module B: Critical Study of Texts In the context of your critical study of Hamlet, to what extent does your response to this section of the soliloquy inform your judgment of this play as a whole? In your response, make detailed reference to Hamlet. The third soliloquy primarily explores Hamlet’s struggle to take action and avenge his father’s death. This inner conflict creates a dramatic tension that is sustained throughout the play and contributes to the textual integrity. The themes of Hamlet’s self-loathing, his resistance to action, and revenge, dominate this soliloquy and recur consistently for the duration of the play. They reveal Hamlet’s weak and procrastinating character which only changes towards the very end when he overcomes his cowardice and takes revenge for his father’s death by finally killing Claudius. The audience’s attitude towards Hamlet develops through the third soliloquy as they are informed to a large extent about what the core of the drama is about. This in turn shapes their judgement of the play as a whole. Hamlet’s self-loathing arises from his frustration in not having avenged his father’s death. This is constant throughout the play because it is the character’s prime focus. His inner conflict of feeling he is incapable of killing Claudius, and then hating himself for it, begins in the first line of his soliloquy, when he uses direct speech to the audience, referring to himself as a ‘rogue and peasant slave’. This juxtaposes the image of his position...
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...Hamlet, the protagonist of the play, makes his first appearance and also, right after an exchange with his mother Gertrude and his uncle Claudius, delivers his first soliloquy which reveals his inner thoughts to the audience. This is where the tension begins to build up; Hamlet expresses his anger and frustration he feels towards his father’s death and the hasty marriage between his mother and his uncle. This introduces Hamlet’s outlook on and attitude towards this series of events, thus establishing a foundation for the course of his future actions. Through the content of the soliloquy, as well as through the use of diction and figurative language, Shakespeare brings out the characterization of Hamlet, establishes the very essence of the play and foreshadows its course by exposing the genuine yet dark thoughts of the protagonist to the audience. As it is Hamlet’s first soliloquy, and thus the audience’s first contact with his feelings, Hamlet exposes little other than his attitude towards this affair; nothing is really revealed about his intentions. It is made clear that Hamlet desires to die, but dares not commit suicide because God forbids it. The audience is then introduced to Hamlet’s reverence for his father and his distaste for his uncle, then his increasing mistrust of women, and finally his vexation at the incestuous marriage between his mother and his uncle. All of this gives the audience an understanding of Hamlet’s character, or, at least, his current state of mind...
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...the most read play and it lives up to expectations, too. Hamlet can be better seen by analyzing Hamlet's soliloquies. The majority of Hamlet's monologues demonstrate Hamlet's self-loathing and even a readiness to bite the dust. The soliloquy "To be, or not to be: that is the question" shows up in Act 3 Scene 1. It is, maybe, one of the best-known soliloquies by Hamlet in the play, which produces significant scholarly investment even today. Hamlet is feeling profound agony and distress in light of his father's passing. It appears that he is not able to acknowledge this partition. He would like to live. Considering suicide, he doubts himself rationally in the event that it is legitimized to live with so much agony and anguish or if finishing his own particular life is the best conceivable choice. "To be, or not to be: that is the question" Hamlet makes this a stride further and works on the supposition that everybody would rather be dead than living, and is alive simply because he has a trepidation of slaughtering himself. Hamlet is no more addressing whether he needs to die, yet just whether or he finds himself able to slaughter himself, on the grounds that murdering himself clashes with his religion. Hamlet’s sadness over his father's demise and his mother's snappy marriage made him wish for death even before he discovered that his uncle killed his father. In Hamlet's first soliloquy, he wishes that his "too too sullied flesh would melt!"(1.2.129), and that "the Everlasting had...
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...Importance of Hamlet’s Soliloquies in Shakespeare’s Hamlet Shakespeare often has his characters speak in soliloquies during the course of his plays. Soliloquies are essential to the presentation of a story through the medium of a play because they provide the opportunity the chance to tell the audience specific pieces of information which cannot be disclosed through normal conversation. In his work, Hamlet, Shakespeare’s title character is shown to speak in seven soliloquies. Each soliloquy advances the plot, reveals Hamlet’s inner thoughts to the audience and helps to create an atmosphere in the play. The first soliloquy which Hamlet delivers gives the audience their first glimpse of him as a character. Hamlet is reflective and depicts the way he views his own position; he tells of his father’s death and then his mother’s quick remarriage. He says, “It is not, nor it cannot come to good” (I, ii, 163), when referring to the marriage of his mother. This gives the audience a hint of foreshadowing because it is the first time when Hamlet mentions the future. This speech also reveals his thoughts further when he says that his mother is frail because she is a woman, while he also admits that he knows he must hold his tongue. During the course of this speech Hamlet makes several allusions to historical figures and this demonstrates to the audience that he is an intelligent young man. One of these allusions is when he compares the love his late father had for his mother to Hyperion...
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...The Importance of Hamlet’s Soliloquies In the Shakespearian tragedy Hamlet, we see the main character, who shares the name of the play, process many of his thoughts and evaluate many different options before he makes each of his decisions through the soliloquies he delivers throughout the play. From the first soliloquy in act 1 to the final one in act 4, many of major events in the play that involve Hamlet are decided through his trains of thought, as well as his opinions on various matters and his methods of dealing with his emotions. In the play, Hamlet’s soliloquies reveal his character by showing three of his most important traits; his indecisiveness, his nobility and his apparent self-hatred. Although Hamlet has many different character traits, and is perhaps one of the most complex characters in any of Shakespeare’s tragedies, the most prominent one is his indecisiveness. He contemplates every one of the major decisions he makes and makes sure that what he is doing is what he thinks is the right thing, and he rarely acts without thinking about it beforehand. Much of this thinking is described in his 7 soliloquies, for instance in the third soliloquy he delivers, he mentions “The spirit that I have seen may be the devil, and the devil hath power T’ assume a pleasing shape. Yea, and perhaps out of my weakness and my melancholy, as he is very potent with such spirits, abuses me to damn me. I’ll have grounds more relative to this” (2, 2, 577) which shows that although the...
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...In Act 3 Scene 1, Claudius notices a shift in Hamlet’s personality. He along with Hamlet’s mother, tries to uncover the meaning of Hamlet’s melancholy behavior. In Hamlet’s notorious “to be or not to be” soliloquy, Hamlet contemplates two extremes: life and death. For the first time in the play, Hamlet acknowledges his own feelings about avenging his father’s murder. Hamlet’s emotions are raw. He is stripped from being the Prince of Denmark and turns into a grieving son. It shows Hamlet in a humane light. Hamlet is conflicted as he wants to do right by his father and also do right by his own moral code.We can all relate in some aspect of wanting to do right by ourselves and also wanting to do right by others. Although Hamlet wants to kill Claudius, Hamlet is terrified...
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...Hamlet's Soliloquy - To be, or not to be Hamlet's "To be, or not to be" soliloquy is arguably the most famous soliloquy in the history of the theatre. Even today, 400 years after it was written, most people are vaguely familiar with the soliloquy even though they may not know the play. What gives these 34 lines such universal appeal and recognition? What about Hamlet's introspection has prompted scholars and theatregoers alike to ask questions about their own existence over the centuries? In this soliloquy, Shakespeare strikes a chord with a fundamental human concern: the validity and worthiness of life. Would it not be easier for us to simply enter a never-ending sleep when we find ourselves facing the daunting problems of life than to "suffer / the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune"? However, it is perhaps because we do not know what this endless sleep entails that humans usually opt against suicide. "For in that sleep of death what dreams may come / When we have shuffled off this mortal coil / Must give us pause." Shakespeare seems to understand this dilemma through his character Hamlet, and thus the phrase "To be, or not to be" has been immortalized; indeed, it has pervaded our culture to such a remarkable extent that it has been referenced countless times in movies, television, and the media. Popular movies such as Billy Madison quote the famous phrase, and www.tobeornottobe.com serves as an online archive of Shakespeare's works. Today, a Shakespeare stereotype...
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...Hamlet’s Struggle with Life and Death In Act III, scene I of Hamlet, by William Shakespeare, the thematic imagery, along with the symbolic use of syntax and diction that Shakespeare uses helps convey Hamlet’s state of mind as troubled and as having a painful view to life which, overall, is subtly expressed with weakness as he talked about death. Death is a major theme in Hamlet and through Shakespeare’s astonishing words in his “To be, or not to be,” soliloquy; it is obvious that Hamlet is conveyed as a troubled character. He is unsure about death. “To be, or not to be, that is the question:” (line 1), proves that Hamlet is troubled because the use of a colon is a sign that he is not only answering his own question, but he is expressing opposing views about life thus leaving him with an unsure decision about suicide. He answered himself by saying: “Whether ‘tis nobler in the mind to suffer/ The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune;” (Lines 2-3.) This imagery shows that Hamlet questions the honor of death, and since he is open to death he does not realize whether it would be honorable to go through the act of committing suicide or if it would be considered a sin. This makes him have a troubled state of mind because he has these two opposing views of death floating in the vastness of his thoughts. The first sentence of his soliloquy finishes with: “Or to take arms against a sea of troubles, / And by opposing, end them.” (Lines 4-5.) Hamlet still questions life and suicide...
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