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Can emotions sometimes get the best of a person? Can one ever get too emotional? In William Shakespeare’s Hamlet, multiple ways one can go about characterizing Hamlet. Soliloquy Two and Soliloquy Five characterize Hamlet as a man driven by his emotions showing that one's emotional state can alter one's decisions drastically.
Both soliloquies contain Hamlet's exasperated feelings towards his inaction. In Soliloquy Two Hamlet becomes irritated that he has done nothing for his cause saying that he “can say nothing; no, not for a king/upon whose property and most dear life/a damn'd defeat was made” (21-3). He cannot say that he has tried to seek revenge because he has nothing to show for it. Hamlet, using a simile, goes as far as to compare himself to a whore—“this is most brave/that I, son of a dear king murder'd…must, like a whore unpack my heart with words”--to get his feelings across (36-9). He thinks that all he can do is talk about his plans and not go through with them. Likewise, in Soliloquy Five Hamlet becomes tired of the lack of revenge plans....
In the soliloquy, Shakespeare accentuates the shared characteristics between Hamlet and a submissive servant. Hamlet submits to his cowardice and falls victim to his tendency to reflect on his profound thoughts instead of acting upon them. Additionally, he accuses himself as a troublesome scoundrel. He views himself as a criminal although he had not done anything indictable yet. This metaphor introduces Hamlet’s perception in his current emotional state to the audience.
From the beginning the play, Hamlet is upset about the marriage of his mother to his father’s brother, remarking that Queen Gertrude “married – O most wicked speed: to post / With such dexterity to incestious sheets, / It is not, nor it cannot come to good” (Shakespeare 1.2.156-158). But, it is not until the ghost of Hamlet’s father tells Hamlet that he was murdered by his own brother that Hamlet plans to enact revenge. Throughout the play, Hamlet is shown to be content with the idea that his actions will most likely end in his death. In some of the drama’s most famous lines, Hamlet
From the beginning of the play Hamlet has only been thinking of extracting revenge without acting on it. He wants to take action and is angry he has yet to be fully invested in his own plan.
Shakespeare illustrates Hamlet’s thoughts by showing a huge difference in the communicated thoughts employed in the back to back scenes. In Scene 3, Hamlet concluded the scene with intense feelings of anger and motivation to kill, although he was reluctant to act when he had the opportunity to take down Claudius. Shifting over to Scene 4, Hamlet is much calmer while speaking to Gertrude, but maintains a sense of cruelty and judgment within the words he uses to criticize and compare himself to his mother. In both scenes, Hamlet displays an enormous amount of respect for his father by reminding himself and others of what they have done to wrong the previous
In William Shakespeare’s “Hamlet” there are four major soliloquies that reflect the character of Hamlet.
Hamlet wishes to avenge the murder of his father and rectify this great injustice. The conflict between his desire to seek revenge and his own thoughts of incompetence is the cause of his initial unrest. "Haste me to know't , that I , with wings as swift / As meditation or thoughts of love , / may sweep to my revenge (1.5.29-31). Here Hamlet pleads to the Ghost of King Hamlet to reveal the name of his murderer.
Soliloquy and Revenge in Hamlet The soliloquy is a literary device that is employed to unconsciously reveal an actor's thoughts to the audience. In William Shakespeare's, Hamlet, Hamlet's soliloquy in Act II, ii, (576-634) depicts his arrival at a state of vengeful behaviour through an internal process. Hamlet moves through states of depression and procrastination as he is caught up in the aftermath of the murder of his father and the marriage of his mother to his uncle. The soliloquy serves to effectively illustrate the inner nature of Hamlet's character and develop the theme of revenge.
The quote that is highlighted here is a simile, this is done by using a comparison involving one thing with an additional one and of a different kind. This quote also highly affects the plot. We can see that Shakespeare uses revenge to demonstrate the purpose behind each character. This will show the situations that have caused a sense of obligation a person owes and the duty in which Hamlet must listen to his
revenge he doesn 't seem to care yet is unwilling to enter into the unknown. Hamlet was portrayed as a very toubled man who was going through some very rough times,
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.
The harshness of Hamlet's language of the second soliloquy also helps unravel the conflict occurring in the entire play. Hamlet is undeniably committed to seeking revenge for his father, yet he cannot act on behalf of his father due to his revulsion toward extracting cold and calculating revenge. Such an issue causes Hamlet great internal struggle, as seen in his words. He speaks of "a dam'd defeat" being made.(576). His language is graphic and conveys a violent tone, as in lines 577-580, saying whoever is calling him "villain" is "breaking his pate(head)", plucking off his beard, blowing it to his face, and tweaking him by the nose.
While the actual personality traits and each character’s motivations add more depth to Shakespeare’s overall belief, the language each character incorporates contributes more highly to the conviction – revenge causes one to act blindly in anger. By analyzing Hamlet’s use of language throughout the play, one can tell Hamlet is keen on avenging his father, but no heart or effort is put into the action. Speaking in disgust with himself, Hamlet says “That I, the son of a dear father murder'd, / Prompted to my revenge by heaven and hell, / Must, like a whore, unpack my heart with words, “ (2.2.584-586). Hamlet uses simile to compare himself to a coward and state that he has no...
Furthermore, each soliloquy reveals a personal trait of his character and how he copes with the death of his father/the former king. Hamlet’s first soliloquy is the catalyst for his
Throughout William Shakespeare’s play Hamlet, he uses soliloquies to help express Hamlet’s personal thoughts and feelings to the readers. In Act III, Scene i, Hamlet reaches his ultimate point of emotional devastation and begins to question if dying is better than living. Hamlet is filled with an abundance of frustration and depression, leading him to be confused on how to cope with his life’s hardships. He ponders whether or not it is worth it to suffer through life’s harsh realities.
First, soliloquies help to reveal many vital character emotions key to the plot of the play Hamlet. They help the audience achieve a better understanding of the character’s emotions, feelings, attitudes and thoughts. If soliloquies did not exist, the audience would likely not be able to discover a character’s mindset. This is true for many of Hamlet’s soliloquies. For example, in Hamlet’s “To be or not to be” soliloquy, Hamlet reveals his deep thoughts concerning suicide (III, i, 56-89). In the actual, “To be or not to be” quote he questions whether to exist or not to exist; essentially, he is contemplating suicide (III, i, 56). He contemplates suicide by saying that dying is really only sleeping which ends heartaches and shocks that life gives, “And by a sleep to say we end the heartache and the thousand natural shocks” (III, i, 63-64). The soliloquy also showed the audience his thoughts concerning his father’s death and mother’s remarriage to Claudius. In addition, it further discusses Hamlet’s feelings about revenging his father’s death and how “the law’s delay” (III, i, 72). By Hamlet saying “the law’s delay”, he is essentially t...