Laertes Monologue In Hamlet

In Laertes’ monologue in Act One, Scene Three of the Hamlet, William Shakespeare presents a man warning his sister about the nature of man, specifically regarding Hamlet, through heavenly imagery, a rhyming couplet and foreboding diction. Shakespeare utilizes these facets of figurative language and structure to speak to unpredictability of human nature and therfore the lack of control man possesses over his destiny. Throughout this monologue, Shakespeare compares man to the “this temple of waxes” and a nature that is “crescent”. By utilizing this heavenly imagery, Shakespeare illustrates not only the specific concerns of Laertes that Hamlet love is only temporary lust, like a burning candle or the cycles of the moon, but this inherent part

of human nature alive in us all. Additionally, though this image of the moon paired with the historical context of the time that humans had no idea how the heavenly bodies moved, Shakespeare develops the lack of control and understanding man has not only over his nature, but the nature of the cosmos. On another structural layer, Shakespeare expands on this lack of control and the fear surrounding through the foreboding diction of “contagion”, “calumnious” and “canker”(42, 43, 46). By pairing this fear inducing foreboding diction with the fear already present in Laertes, Shakespeare brings the emotion outside of the text so that it not only becomes a human condition, but the stem of the fear develops into one as well. Lastly, Shakespeare ends this monologue with a rhyming couplet of “fear … near”, which just on a surface level articulates this unpredictability and lack of control through the meaning of the the words pronouncing the close proximity of the fear. Additionally, on a deeper, structural level, this couplet speaks to the finality of this facet of the human nature by ending all the deep intricacies alive in this monologue and tying them back to the emotions and intricacies in human beings. Although, Shakespeare not only develops this fear to speak to this facet of the human condition, but a honor code perpetuated by the society of his time period. One aspect of this honor code was that males were duty bound to protect the virginity of the women in their lives. Through developing a foreboding tone in his words through the unpredictable heavenly imagery of the moon and the dark diction to instill a fear in Ophelia about Hamlet’s nature, Laertes attempts to fulfill this duty.

In Claudius monologue in Act 3, Scene Three, William Shakespeare illustrates a human being corrupted by his guilty conscious, struggling to atone for his sins. Shakespeare develops this image through religious allusions as well as contrasts between harsh and angelic diction to speaks to the human condition of guilt and corruption eating away at an individual. Several times in the passage, Shakespeare utilizes biblical allusions to baptisms and holy water such as “is there not rain enough in these sweet heavens to wash it white as snow?” to create an image of what Claudius seeks. He wishes to wash off the mental strain that the literal bloodshed of his brother has had on his sanity. Through setting up this character goal, Shakespeare presents a man at war with his present self and is in constant guilty turmoil. By presenting a religious solution, Shakespeare increases the frame of this guilt and human corruption to the entirety of humanity, who he believed was in the domain of God. Further expanding this concept, Shakespeare's present contrasts in diction between angelic diction of “dilded” to the harsh diction of “wicked” the lines between right and wrong that Claudius and all of humanity walks. Through this Shakespeare develops a visual of the wrong nature behind Claudius deads and the dark implications his actions will have on his sanity. Additionally, by transitioning from angelic to dark in the monologue, Shakespeare represents the path of all humanity from the innocence of childhood and baptism to the wrongdoings of humans as they grow older, which causes their souls to be “damned and black”(99).

In Claudius monologue in Act One, Scene Two, William Shakespeare paints a individual struggling between acknowledging his desires and projecting an air of stability in the beginning of his new rule as King of Denmark.

Shakespeare employs oxymorons, personification and contrasting decision to speak to the human condition of fulfilling the need for pleasure as well as order. All through the passage, Shakespeare uses oxymorons like “wisest sorrow”, “mirth in funeral” and “dirge in marriage” to illustrate Claudius struggle between these two facets in his inherent human nature (6, 12). Through pairing an emotional reaction that does not match the event as well as combining two parts of the human psyche that are often at odds, the mind and the heart, Shakespeare clearly illustrates Claudius conflicting mental state. Additionally, Shakespeare utilizes these oxymorons to highlight apollonian and dysnision views of humanity and how they factor into the human existence. Additionally, by exhibiting this mental state through universal emotions and events, such as sorrow, death and marriage, Shakespeare broadens the application of them to the entirety of humanity. In addition, Shakespeare personification of the state as contracting into “one brow of woe” develops Claudius struggle even more by comparing struggled, no feeling entity to a depressed human being. Through this lack of line between the characteristics of a human being and an entire country, Shakespeare creates an image of Claudius experiencing this in his own being. Furthermore, the focus on the whole state of Denmark having this sorrowful reaction again expands this human struggle of Claudius between structure and desire to the entirety of

humanity.