Throughout Shakespeares Hamlet, he gives Hamlet seven soliloquys to help the audience gain knowledge of his inner thoughts and ideas. During Hamlets fourth soliloquy, towards the end of Act two, the reader begins to notice his philosophical vies and the constant contemplation of his goal to exact revenge for the murder of his father.
Hamlets fourth soliloquy begins with the exit of Polonius, the players, Guildenstern, and Rosencrantz. The feeling of this speech allows the reader to see, what seems to be, his mental state showing signs of declination. He begins his soliloquy with: Now I am alone. (Shakespeare II.ii.549). This simple yet straight-to-the-point line describes how Hamlet feels and explains the reason for his psychological state. Hamlet knows what he must do and that if his plan for revenge is to be accomplished, he must not let it be known to anyone, except his closest friend, Horatio, that he knows anything about his fathers murder.
Hamlet moves on to speak about the players. He expands on the fact that they can show false emotions so skillfully. Hamlet considers the fact that they go through so many painful and overwhelming feeling for absolutely nothing. He then expands even more on this matter by making an allusion to Greek mythology; more specifically, the Aeneid.
The reason the character Hecuba is referenced in this soliloquy is because of the opposing characteristics that Gertrude portrays. Gertrude, even though it appeared she truly loved Old Hamlet, quickly remarried. Gertrude successfully managed to change the mood of the play from mourning to celebration very fast, leaving the characters that did not so quickly forget the king (Hamlet), stuck in the mournful state. Hecubas grief on the other hand, was profoundly different. When she saw Pyrrhus make malicious sport / In mincing with his sword her husbands limbs, / The instant burst of clamor that she made / (Unless things mortal move them not at all) / Would have made milch the burning eyes of heaven / And passion in the gods. (Shakespeare II.ii.513-18) Hamlet uses this allusion to help show how he believes his mother, Gertrude, should have reacted to the death of her husband. He asks himself how the player can force himself to portray so many horrible feelings only for the sake of depicting Hecuba accurately, but he himself cannot muster up enough courage to kill his fathers murderer.
After Hamlet is done questioning himself about the players and Hecuba, he begins vocally abusing himself. He calls himself a coward for taking so long to kill Claudius. He believes that if he were not a coward, [He] should have fatted all the region kites / With this slaves offal. (Shakespeare II.ii.579-80) He continues cursing at himself, saying that even with heaven and hell urging him to seek revenge, all he has managed to accomplish is stand around cursing like a whore in the streets. Hamlet then suddenly changes modes. The poor, poor pitiful Hamlet, who had just compared himself to a whore, is gone. The reader is now able to see a thoughtful and hopeful Prince of Denmark.
Now that Hamlet is in an encouraging mood, he starts devising a plan. Hamlet comes to realize that the ghost that told him the information about his father could be the devil in disguise, as Horatio warned. Hamlet constructs a plan to test the ghosts information by having the players act out the story according to the ghost. Now that Hamlet has stopped ragging on himself, he was able to think more clearly on the subject at hand. All he has to do now is watch Claudius during the play, and look for an unusual reaction. Hamlet leaves the audience in wonder when he ends his soliloquy by stating that the play is the only way to prove the king guilty.
In conclusion, Shakespeare gives Hamlet many soliloquys to show his inner thoughts and ideas throughout the play. During Hamlets fourth soliloquy, his philosophical vies and constant contemplation of his goal to exact revenge becomes noticeable.
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