Hamlet's First Soliloquy Essay

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The passage that will be discussed is extracted from Hamlet’s first soliloquy. In Act I, scene II Hamlet has just witnessed the untimely marriage between his mother, Gertrude, and his uncle, Claudius. In the brief duration of a month following the death of his father, King Hamlet, he ponders upon the agony that overwhelms him. Hamlet is an intelligent man who is also considered to be a scholar. His faculty of mind urges him to think before he acts and to make his decisions wisely. Hamlet wishes to rid him of his unfortunate fate, which induces the reader to feel pathos towards his character. He recognizes that humankind is created so that they face dilemma and hardship throughout their in various forms. Hamlet is considering the act of suicide but is hesitant due to the order of God declaring such act as an unforgivable sin.
In this soliloquy, Hamlet’s despair, melancholy, and utter disappointment is reflected. He feels betrayed by his mother. Hamlet suspects that something is strange about Gertrude and …show more content…

Hamlet views his father in a respectable manner and looks up to him as one would to a God. In the early days, a king was considered to be God’s appointee. The usurpation of a king would affect all the people of the kingdom. This would also result in the disruption to the natural state and continuation of life.
Shakespeare uses allusion in Hamlet’s soliloquy to exhibit Hamlet’s respect towards his father when he cites: “So excellent a king, that was to this, Hyperion to a satyr.” (I.ii.139-140). Hamlet compares his father to the great Sun God from Greek mythology, Hyperion, while comparing Claudius to a Satyr, a goat like-creature, used as a source of comic relief in plays. The word satyr derives from the word satire, which is a literary component in the form of verse or prose, meaning sarcasm or

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