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Hamlet Act 2 Soliloquy Analysis Essay

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Contemplation of Death; A Soliloquy Analysis In William Shakespeare’s act three, scene one, of hamlet the main character, hamlet, performs his most famous soliloquy, started “To be or not to be”. In the conclusion of act two this soliloquy has more of a rational outlook; he seems to have reverted to a dark state. Hamlet’s contemplates suicide due to the actions that have taken place. Hamlet’s father, the king, has been killed by Claudius, the king’s brother, and overtakes the throne by pushing hamlet out. Hamlet is to avenge his father’s death and kill Claudius. Hamlet at this point is confused on what to do. “To be” is to live and take revenge on Claudius or “not to be” and allow himself to die in not deal with the hardships. The theme …show more content…
Hamlets weakness is later illustrated when he passes up the opportunity to kill Claudius by rationalizing that he has made peace with god, therefore sending him straight to heaven if he is killed. In addition to his proposal of vengeance he also contemplates weather it is better “To die: to sleep; No more; and by a sleep to say we end The heart-ache and the thousand natural shocks That flesh is heir to, 'tis a consummation Devoutly to be wish'd.”(3.1.68-71). If he were to “sleep” he feels that all his troubles would vanish and maybe this would not be such a bad thing. However he says if he “sleeps” he might have disturbing dreams. Hamlet knows what he wishes to do is sinful but his thought process has left him in his state of anxiety. In order to escape his heartache he thinks about …show more content…
Hamlet must make a choice, to be alive and carry out his revenge or to be dead and not worry about his problems. Hamlet drops that only slightly that “Weather ‘tis nobeler in the mind to suffer.”(3.1.68). Interpreting this quote in a different way shows hamlets state of mind. It shows hi is suffering to make a decision in what he must do. He is faced with the uncertainty of any action and he can’t allow his cowerdnes to take hold of him. Hamlet shows his cowardly side by allowing his inner emotions and feelings to take hold of him. He is unable to do anything and that is partly why he calls himself a coward. The only thing keeping him from death is what lies behind death. The "dread of something after death, The undiscovered country from whose bourn No traveller returns, puzzles the will" (3, 1, 78-80) and keeps people from choosing death due to the fear of what lies after death. His entire monologue compares the two extremes: life and death. He analyzes both situations and thinks over it too much. This occurs not only in this speech, but also later in the

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