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What impression does this give you of hamlet state of mind
Hamlet's mental state throughout the play
Hamlet's mental state throughout the play
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Shakespeare's Depiction of Hamlet's State of Mind in the Soliloquies
In answering this question I understand Hamlet's state of mind to be
his true moods thoughts and feelings. I understand the context to mean
what is happening at that point in the play. I will consider how a
contemporary audience might react to Hamlets honest thoughts. I will
also examine the language Shakespeare uses for Hamlet to portray his
emotions of the particular moment.
I have chosen to write individually about each of the six soliloquies,
for the reason that I am unable to generalize the answers on such
complex writings. I will briefly discuss what I believe his state of
mind is in order to match his use of language with his emotions.
In the first soliloquy the context is that he has discovered his
mother's betrayal to his dead father. He is intensely depressed,
suicidal and morbid. "O, that this too too solid flesh would melt"
this is vivid imagery showing he wants to fade away. He is very
agitated, distressed, and his anger is mixed with disgust and grief.
"O, God! A beast, that wants discourse of reason, would have mourn'd
longer"
To him life has no meaning. "How weary, stale, flat and unprofitable,
seems to me all the uses of this world!" He is particularly upset by
the short time elapsing between the death of his father and marriage
of his mother and uncle.
The language he uses reveals fixation with the time factor being such
a painful part of his grief. He constantly repeats about the lack of
time between the death and marriage. "But two months dead (140)" "yet
within a month (147)" "A little month (149)" "most wicked speed (158)"
"suc...
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...ught
which quarter'd hath but one part wisdom, and three parts coward (45)"
I think the audience would now expect him to go mad with so much
deliberation. At this point I think they have given up believing that
Hamlet will ever kill anybody.
In conclusion this Elizabethan revenge tragedy does follow the
tradition of the Greek plays but with a delayed revenge. Hamlet's
ghost of his father wants him to kill his uncle and send him to hell,
but by killing someone himself just as his uncle has done this could
send him to hell, which could be a reason for his enormous amount of
delays. Hamlet has a mental conflict as he is unsure of murder because
he is not sure if there is an after life or not BUT all his thoughts
and actions are the result of a conversation with his father's ghost
which is evidence of an afterlife!
On his uncle to make him feel the vulnerability his father felt when he was murdered and taken
he is wasting away his life. He wonders if he is a part of anything special,
In William Shakespeare’s “Hamlet” there are four major soliloquies that reflect the character of Hamlet.
greatly pained at the loss of his father. It is also clear that he is
Strangely enough, only after comprehending that realization was he able to obtain his happiness. He comes to the thought that it doesn’t matter how you die because you’re going
demands that his uncle and his family leave his home. This is when his uncle reveals that he
This soliloquy by Hamlet is where he first devises the plan of the “Mouse Trap” (Act III, scene 2). It begins with Hamlet describing how he has heard that people can be overcome with guilt and remorse of their “malefactions” that they openly proclaim them, when viewing a scene of a play similar to that of their crime. As a result of this Hamlet resolves to set a trap for Claudius, in which he will watch a play that has a scene closely resembling the murder of Old King Hamlet. Hamlet reasons that upon viewing this scene, if Claudius is indeed guilty of Old King Hamlets murder, he will surely show some visible sign. And so Hamlet will “observe his looks … tent him to the quick”. The meaning of these two lines is that Hamlet will watch his uncle closely, and probe his conscious to see if he flinches. By gauging Claudius’ reaction, Hamlet will be able to determine whether or not he is guilty, if this is the case Hamlet states “I know my course.” Hamlet will avenge the murder of his father by killing Claudius. Hamlet then proceeds to describe how the spirit he has seen may be the devil trying to trick him into doing its work. Hamlet concludes that he will “have grounds more relative than this [the spirit]” and that “The play’s the thing” that he will use to “catch the conscience of the king.”
The interpretation of Hamlet’s, To Be or Not to Be soliloquy, from the Shakespearean classic of the same name, is an important part of the way that the audience understands an interpretation of the play. Although the words are the same, the scene is presented by the actors who portray Hamlet can vary between versions of the play. These differences no matter how seemingly miniscule affect the way in which someone watching the play connects with the title character.
Hamlet's obsession with death also fuels his desire for revenge, for instance when he revisits the ghost and he explains how he died. Hamlet, saying, "O my prophetic soul! My uncle'" (1.5.48), realizes that Cla...
He then realizes that not knowing what comes in death is not something he wants to discover just yet, that there is no point in dying so
(Act 1, Scene 2 – Act 1, Scene 5) William Shakespeare was an English poet and playwright, with a reputation as the greatest of all writers in the English language, as well as one of the world's pre-eminent dramatists. Hamlet is one of Shakespeare’s most analysed plays. The play is about Hamlet, Prince of Denmark who hopes to avenge the murder of his father.
Hamlet’s first soliloquy takes place in Act 1 scene 2. In his first soliloquy Hamlet lets out all of his inner feelings revealing his true self for the first time. Hamlet’s true self is full of distaste, anger, revenge, and is very much different from the artificial persona that he pretends to be anytime else. Overall, Hamlet’s first soliloquy serves to highlight and reveal Hamlet’s melancholy as well as his reasons for feeling such anguish. This revelation in Hamlet’s persona lays the groundwork for establishing the many themes in the play--suicide, revenge, incest, madness, corruption, and mortality.
Claudius' soliloquy about his remorse over his murder of Hamlet's father is important to the play because it's the one place where we learn how Claudius feels about what he has done. The rest of the play is all about how Hamlet feels about what Claudius has done, and I think it rounds out the play to get it from a different perspective.
of life and accepts death as a part of it. At the same time, he
Authors and playwrights often use many literary elements to help aid the audience in a further understanding of their play. An element used frequently in the play Hamlet is the soliloquy. Soliloquies hold a significant role in any play. A soliloquy can be defined when a character speaks to themselves, essentially the audience, revealing their thoughts. The function and purpose of these soliloquies in the play Hamlet is for the audience to develop a further understanding of a character’s thoughts, to advance the storyline and create a general mood for the play.