Hamlet's Fourth Soliloquy

Continuing with the idea of madness is knowing the truth then one can determine that fighting against the falsities would make one even more mad. Emily Dickinson thought this as well in the poem when she wrote, “Demur-- you’re straightway dangerous - And handled with a chain”(Dickinson line 7-8). Dickinson described demurring from the majority would result in one being “straightway dangerous” and “handled with a chain.” Shakespeare shared this idea that people who are considered to be mad are handled differently, and perceived as more dangerous, than those who are not seen as so. Shakespeare shows this idea of danger throughout Hamlet’s fourth soliloquy. Within this soliloquy Shakespeare takes a different approach to illustrating this idea,

unlike his second soliloquy Shakespeare rather himself portrays Hamlet as dangerous. Hamlet expresses how much he wants to kill Claudius, but he has said his prayers so he will go to heaven, “And now I’ll do’t. And so he goes to heaven… A villain kills my father; and for that, I, his sole son, do this same villain send To heaven”(III,iv, line 74-88). Here Shakespeare agrees with what Dickinson wrote and shows it in a way that he actually shows that Hamlet is actually dangerous. Shakespeare describes line 7 of Dickinson’s poem differently than he does to the others. With the idea of, “... Handled with a Chain”(Dickinson line 7) Shakespeare demonstrates this in another part of him play when King Claudius tries to send Hamlet away to England. King Claudius is afraid of Hamlet and chooses to send him to England, “To England send him, or confine him where Your wisdom best shall think”(III, ii, line 202-203). This may not be a soliloquy, but it is Shakespeare describing madness the same as Dickinson. Therefore the reader is able to understand the relation between Shakespeare’s point of view and Dickinson’s point of view. Concluding this thought Shakespeare and Dickinson have an almost identical thought process on what true madness is.