Anyone who hasever been through a tragic experience in life knows that depression has different stages. In the Rouge and Peasant Slave Soliloquy Hamlets thoughts shift through these stages as he tries to understand his fathers death and his mothers marriage to his uncle so soon after. Hamlet is in a fragile emotional state and begins a course of self examination. His thoughts and feelings begin to shift and by the end of the soliloquy Hamlet has decided how he will handle the situation, he has come up with a plan to catch the conscience of the king. (II, ii, 568).
The main theme of the soliloquy is that Hamlet feels ashamed that he has taken so long in avenging his fathers death. He realizes this while watching one of the players get so emotional about the death of his characters father; he feels so much for something that is not even real. Hamlet reacts by saying What would he do, / Had he the motive and cue for passion/ That I have (II, ii, 512-514). Hamlet feels weak that he doesnt have the strength to fight for his dead father, while these players are so emotional about fiction; he begins to get down on himself saying Am I a coward (II, ii, 523). He continues to show us that he has a low self-esteem and is clearly still grieving as he goes on to say That I, the son of a dear father murdered, Prompted to my revenge by heaven and hell, Must like a whore unpack my heart with words And fall a-cursing like a very drab (II, ii, 536-539). Hamlet is berating himself that he is not brave enough to do something about the death of his father, throughout the whole play Hamlets thoughts consist of these emotions of self-doubt and depression. These thoughts are what drive him to his next realization.
Hamlets emotions are intended to pull the audience in, to put them in a situation where they can sympathize for the poor prince. And then, Hamlet comes to realize that he has heard that when people who are guilty watch a play, sometimes they can be so affected by it that they will confess their guilt. This is when Hamlet realizes what he can do to avenge his fathers murder The play's the thing/ Wherein I'll catch the conscience of the king (II, ii, 567-568). He will have the players perform a play, and he will make it an emotional play that will deeply affect Claudius. When he watches Claudiuss reaction, he will know for sure that he was the one who murdered Hamlet Sr.
Shakespeare uses variation to and changes in tone to convey how Hamlet is feeling throughout the soliloquy. Hamlet goes from anger, to depression, and then begins to ask questions. All of these are part of the stages of depression, which Shakespeare is showing to us long before they were thought of as such stages. These changes in tone act as an indicator that Hamlet may not be stable emotionally.
By the end of the soliloquy, the audience has been taken through a roller coaster ride of Hamlets emotion filled thoughts, and anger fuelled decisions. It gives everyone a better look at the personality of the young Prince, and gives us a deeper understanding of the reasoning behind his emotions and the reactions to them.
#4 The rogue and peasant slave soliloquy. Hamlet berates himself for his recent behavior. his emotions and thoughts shift rapidly; by the end of the piece hamlet has concocted a plan. to catch the conscience of the king. write an essay in which you examine hamlets expression of self-examination in that soliloquy. analyze hamlets emotional state and his course of self examination by looking closely at the text-words figures of speech and punctuation. Rather than take a deductive approach, tracking each idea, image, and language use, concluding with an observation on the course of hamlets thinking in the passage.
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