Hamlet Seventh Soliloquy

In the seventh soliloquy of Hamlet, Hamlet struggles with the mission of revenge thrust upon him by his father’s ghost and the will to action that he lacks. Although Hamlet possesses sufficient reason to pursue his plot of revenge against Claudius, he remains paralyzed by his overthinking tendencies. Awestruck by the conviction of Fortinbras to risk “the imminent death of twenty thousand men” for a measly strip of land, Hamlet realizes that Fortinbras’s forcefulness and courage is the exact ideal toward which he should strive. The seventh soliloquy, therefore, serves as a turning point in Hamlet’s thinking. Hamlet realizes that he must let his obligations to defend his and his father’s honor supersede his human reason.

Although Hamlet is equipped

From here on, he promises to shed his attachment to the words that cause a deed’s “currents to turn awry and lose the name of action.” Hamlet pledges to stop his over-thinking of events and recognizes in himself the strength and means to complete the required act. It is this conviction that sets this Hamlet apart from the Hamlet of the past: he has realized that the death of his uncle is his moral obligation. He must disregard the methodical side of himself and instead adapt the vigor displayed by Fortinbras’s men in order to fulfill his filial duty. His reason, which questions the honor in revenge, in animalistic violence, and in death, must give way to his familial obligations. Hamlet declares, “my thoughts be bloody, or be nothing worth!” He does not say, however, “my deeds be bloody”, emphasizing again his fixed habit of “thinking too precisely on th’ event” instead of simply acting. Hamlet continues on his path of passivity, as he has done at every previous moment to avenge his father’s death. Although Hamlet’s sense of conviction has evolved, it still remains a question as demonstrated in the seventh