Ophelia

There on the pendant boughs her coronet weeds/ Clambering to hang, an envious sliver broke,] When down her weedy trophies and herself/ Fell in the weeping brook. Her clothes spread wide,] And mermaid-like awhile they bore her up… (line 197-201 , Act 4, Scene 7). Shakespeare, by “letting” Aphelia drowns herself, to some extents alleviates the pain of death and pictures a beautiful Aphelia drowned In water with her beauty minded and preserved.

By comparing Aphelia to a mermaid-like figure, Shakespeare gives unreal characteristics to her death and makes it smoother for Aphelia, whose life has been tragic enough. The fact that Aphelia was suffocated under her own dress and that her feminine clothes made her impossible to swim is a metaphor of women’s helplessness at the time being – Aphelia dies without any self- defense or mobility. Shakespeare implies the role of women in society and how being a woman gives Aphelia no chance to react even in death.

At the same time, Aphelia peps singing: Which time she chanted snatches of old lauds/ As one incapable of her own distress/ Or Like a creature native and endued/ Unto that element. (line 202-205, Act 4, Scene 7). Her chanting reminds audience of her madness In Scene 5 and 6, In which she sings songs about men and death. Audience may Identify Aphelion’s chanting as a trace of madness, but also her singing on the verge of death portrays a passive let-go of Life – Aphelia clearly has no Intention of fighting back or even crying out for help. Compared to Aphelion’s conversations with Polonium and

Hamlet throughout the play, it is clear that Aphelia never has any voice or reaction to the events of her life – her madness, her destiny and even her death are caused and retold by others. For several times throughout the play Aphelia is pictured with flowers. At the end of Act 4, Scene 7, her death is again associated with symbolic floral images: Therewith fantastic garlands did she make/ Of cornflowers, nettles, daisies, and long purples/ That liberal shepherds give a grosser name/ But our cold maids do “dead men’s fingers” call them. Nine 193-196, Act 4, Scene 7). Flowers are symbols of Aphelion’s tragic life, being a victim of disruptive events mostly caused by men. Cornflower symbolizes a dream of lover, portraying a dying Aphelia still thinking about Hamlet and his love[l]. Nettles signify her bad luck and tragic destiny; while daisies represent innocent love[2]. The long purples represent Aphelion’s loss in love Wendell at ten same time audience can assume Tanat “a grosser name” raters to sexuality[3].

By calling long purples “dead men’s fingers”, Shakespeare implies the causes of Aphelion’s death as her life is destined by men (Hamlet, Polonium and Alerts); reminding audience of the song which she sings earlier: Larded all with sweet flowers/ Which between to the ground did not go/ With true-love showers. (line 43-45, Act 4, Scene 5). By associating Aphelion’s figure with the presence of flowers, Shakespeare also lets audience know about women’s beauty and fragility as that of flowers: although women are romantic and pretty outside, they are truly somber and vulnerable indeed.

ENG 4U January 14, 2012 Ophelia and her Flowers Flowers; there expected to be over 10 000 different species of this aesthetic plant, and each can have a different meaning. In the play Hamlet, Ophelia, a girl raised by obedience and manipulation, uses these flowers in a fit of madness and their archetypal meanings to express her thoughts, feelings, and hopes towards her once thought as lover, Hamlet. As the play goes on, you can see that more is revealed in her relationship with Hamlet, and that Ophelia isn’t as innocent and virtuous as she portrays.

To begin, in a fit of madness Ophelia begins to give flowers with embedded meanings to recipients who seem most fitting. She states, There’s rosemary, that’s for remembrance. Pray you, love, Remember. And there is pansies, that’s for thoughts. There’s fennel for you, and columbines. There’s rue for you, and here’s some for me. We may call it herb of grace o’ Sundays. O, you must wear your rue with a difference! There’s a daisy. I would give you some violets, but they wither’d all when my father died.

They say he made a good end. (Hamlet IV, v, 199-209) I believe that she gave the rosemary to Hamlet. Rosemary is associated with remembrance between two lovers, (Stabler, 2000) which was once the relationship she believed that they had. She may use this in hope that he has not forgotten about her. Whether or not Hamlet was deceiving her, he definitely once made Ophelia believe that he loved her, and he even states. “I did love you once. ”(Hamlet III,i. 126) What made Hamlet lose his feelings for Ophelia? Of perhaps they were never there.

Ophelia spends a life time of obeying her male-counterparts. They constantly manipulated her into doing or thinking things that were not of character. For example, she never once thought twice about spying on Hamlet for her father, or doing every single small task he asked her to do, or answering each personal question he asked. Who is to say that Hamlet was not manipulating her and taking advantage of her for her body? After going mad, Ophelia can confirm this accusation when she sings. By Gis and by Saint Charity, Alack, and fie for shame!

Young men will do’t if they come to’t By Cock, they are to blame. Quoth she, ‘Before you tumbled me, You promis’d me to wed. ‘ He answers: ‘So would I ‘a’ done, by yonder sun, An thou hadst not come to my bed. ‘ (Hamlet IV, v. 63-71) This song reveals a lot about Ophelia and Hamlet’s relationship. Firstly, “Before you tumbled me,/ You promis’d me to wed” (Hamlet IV, v. 67-68) reveals that she asked that before he got her into bed, he would promise to marry her. This not only reveals that they have engaged in sexual relations, but it also means that he promised to marry her.

He answered, however, “’So would I ‘a’ done, by yonder sun,/ An thou hadst not come to my bed. ‘” (Hamlet IV, v. 70-71) This means that he would have married her, but only if she hadn’t slept with him. (Epstein, 2005) By manipulating Ophelia, Hamlet gets what he wants. Afterwards, Ophelia is left a broken woman with nowhere to go. Hamlet unfairly treats the mislead Ophelia after his promises of love by calling her a whore, when he says, “That’s a fair thought to lie between a maids’ legs” (Hamlet III, ii. 125) he also demands that she should “Get thee to a nunnery” (Hamlet.III, I, 131) which is referring her to a common day whorehouse. His mistreatment of Ophelia may have led to her suicide or her accidental death by drowning. It is almost ironic that Ophelia would have her life ended by water, for water is the source of life and sustenance. Unless Shakespeare was trying to represent that Ophelia was now purified by said water, and in death she could finally be happy. It would also be seen that Ophelia would give the violets to Hamlet as well. “I would give you some violets, but they wither’d all when my father/ died.

They say he made a good end. ” (Hamlet IV, v, 207-209) Violets represent faithfulness in relationships; (Stabler, 2000) it is likely that she is saying that when her father died, her faithfulness towards Hamlet was now non-existent. This kind of behaviour can be justified because Ophelia is put in a horrible situation. Her conflicting loyalties to her father, and her belief of love with the unapproved Hamlet tore her apart undoubtedly. Now, what kind of position could you put yourself in if your boyfriend killed your father?

Respectively, Ophelia begins to sing of death because her world is shattered due to her loss, and her conflicting ideas would more than likely influence her losing her sanity. In conclusion, it can be seen that the archetypal meanings of Ophelia’s flowers can lead to the true meaning of hers and Hamlet’s relationship. Assuming that she wanted Hamlet to have the rosemary and violets, she presented the idea of remembrance of their love, but also the fact that she no longer wanted to be a part of it. This is a huge step for Ophelia because for once, she made her own decision and this would be the peak of her character development.

Of course, this triumph over her personal issues is short lived, because soon after she commits suicide in a stream. This could symbolize her purification and release of any words of harm put against her. ?

Works Cited

1. Epstein, Alex. “By The Way, Ophelia Is Pregnant. ” Craftyscreenwriting. com. Crafty Screenwriting, 2005. Web. 14 Jan. 2012.
2. Shakespeare, William, Barbara A. Mowat, and Paul Werstine. The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark. New York: Washington Square, 2002.
3. Print. Stabler, Sarah. “Hamlet; The Symbolism in Flowers. ” Homewood City Schools Board of Education. HCSBE, 12 Dec. 2000. Web. 17 Jan. 2012.

Based on Margaret Tattoo’s ‘Gertrude Talks Back’ Why yes I do believe I am fair, and I don’t need you to confirm it. Honey you were never invited to my wedding. God has given me one face, and I can do whatever the hell I please with it, thank you very much. Frankly you could do with a little heavy foundation and a wig yourself; it might Just conceal the premature balding and all the frown lines you’ve accumulated from moping. You looked like a tired old man some days. It totally screwed me over.

Get thee to . Clearly you’re the one lacking in morals. I know you were cut about losing your dad, but there was no excuse to go stab mine. You careless little bastard. To be or not to be… Oops, ha, I Just killed Polonium. I beg thy pardon. You may not lay your disheveled, deluded head in my lap. I don’t want the grease stains from what’s left of the hair on your head on my dress. Creep. And I’ve got more thoughts lying between my legs than you were ever able to resolve and brood over in your lifetime.

You were terrible in bed. I’ve got more resolve, you see. Yes, I did kill myself seeing as you weren’t planning on taking your last bow any time soon. Alas my attempt to escape from you and your contemptible sex failed when you and Alerter dived into my grave and started wrestling each other; proving no peace even in death. Men. And now you’re claiming forty thousand brothers could not match your love for me. A far cry from Act 3. Well, Hamlet. I’d say make up your mind, but… It’s already a little late for that.

Emotions

In the play Hamlet by William Shakespeare, the main character Hamlet is seen as a very emotional person. His emotions change all the time throughout the play so he attempts to act crazy so nobody knows what’s going on with him. When he acts crazy to hide his emotions, it affects everyone else but, Hamlet does not realize it. The emotions that he shows in the play are sorrow, anger and guilt. Hamlet shows sorrow after his fathers death, when his mother re married 2 months after the death of his father and he shows sorrow when he finds out that Ophelia died.

In the beginning of the play, you see Hamlet as the only one still grieving over his father while everyone else enjoys the ceremony. The king and Queen do not like him grieving so much so they try to tell Hamlet to move on from it because everyone dies. The Queen confronts Hamlet first and tells him to stop mourning over his father. “Good Hamlet, cast thy knighted colour off… do not for ever with thy vailed lids/ Seek for thy noble father in the dust. ” (1. 2. 69-72) She than tells him that everybody dies. “Thou know’st ‘tis common: all that lives must die/ Passing through nature to eternity. (1. 2. 73-74)

After everybody leaves the ceremony in the castle, Hamlet is by himself and he talks about his father and how he was an excellent king, and he talks about how quickly his mother re married. “… Within a month/ Ere yet the salt of most unrighteous tears/ Had left the flushing in her galled eyes,/ She married, O most wicked speed! ” (1. 2. 155-158) Near the end of the play Hamlet finds out that Ophelia died. While hiding in the graveyard, he hears Laertes talking about her and how she will be an angel. Hamlet is shocked and says “What, the fair Ophelia! (5. 1. 230) Hamlet later comes out of hiding and talks about how much he loves Ophelia and how he would do anything for her. “ I loved Ophelia. Forty-thousand brothers/ Could not with all their quantity of love/ Make up my sum. ” (5. 1. 262-264)

Therefore the Queens actions and death’s of his father and Ophelia bring sorrow to Hamlet. Hamlet shows anger when the ghost that looks like his father told him that Claudius killed him, when he talks to his mother about how wrong it was to move on so quickly and when Laertes chokes him at Ophelia’s funeral.

In the beginning of the play Hamlet is told about the ghost that looks like his father so he follows it until they are both alone. The ghost tells Hamlet that his father was poisoned by his uncle. “…’Tis given out that, sleeping in my orchard. / a serpent stung me; so the whole ear of Denmark/ Is by a forged process of my death… The serpent that did sting thy father’s life/ Now wears his crown. ” (1. 5. 40-45) Hamlets response is revenge. He gets angry and seeks revenge on his uncle. “Haste me know’t, that I with wings as swift/ As meditation or the thoughts of love/ May sweep to my revenge. (1. 5. 33-35) Also in the beginning, Hamlet talks about his mother in anger. He is angry about how quickly she forgot about his father and how quickly she could be with somebody else. “… Heaven and earth! / Must I remember? Why, she would hang on him/ As is increase of appetite had grown/ By what it fed on; and yet within a month-/ Let me not think on’t! Frailty, thy name is woman! ” (1. 2. 144-148). Later on in the play Hamlet is alone with his mother and he points out that she is weak and she didn’t see the mistakes she made. … What devil was’t/ That thus hath cozened you at hoodman-blind/ Eyes without feeling, feeling without sight,/ Ears without hands or eyes, smelling sans all,/ Or but a sickly part of one true sense/ Could not so mope. ” (3. 4. 83. 88) Hamlet than talks about how his uncle is disgusting and his father was a better king. “Nay, but to live/ In the rank sweat of an enseamed bed,/ Stewed in corruption, honeying and making love/ Over that nasty sty! ” (3. 4. 100-103) When Hamlet’s in the graveyard, he hides from the Queen, King and Laertes.

He listens to that is going on and when Laertes talks about how much he’s grieving for Ophelia. Hamlet gets angry. He comes out of hiding and Laertes chokes him. Hamlet threatens Laertes by saying “Thou pray’st not well. / I prithee take thy fingers from my throat,/ For though I am not spleritive and ras,/ Yet have I in me something dangerous,/ Which let thy wisdom fear hold off thy hand. ” (5. 1. 250-254) Therefore Gertrude, Claudius and Laertes’ actions bring anger to Hamlet. Hamlet shows quilt when he’s on the ship to England, when he apologizes to

Laertes and when Horatio tries killing himself. When Hamlet is on the ship to England, he does to speak with the captain and he finds out why they are going to attack a small piece of Poland. When the captain tells Hamlet that they are doing it for honor he starts to feel guilty because he knows he wouldn’t do something like that and he starts to feel guilty about not killing Claudius yet. Hamlet talks to himself after talking to the captain and says, “… Rightly to be great/ Is not to stir without great argument,/ But greatly to find quarrel in a straw/ When honor’s at the stake.

How stand I then,/ That have a father killed , a mother stained,/ Excitements of my reason and my blood,/ And let all sleep, while to my shame I see/ The imminent death of twenty thousand men/ That, for a fantasy and trick of fame,/ Go to their graves like beds, fight for a plot. ” (4. 4. 55-64) In the final scene, just before Hamlet and Laertes fight, the king comes and makes them hold hands. Hamlet turns to Laertes and gives him a big apology. “Give me your pardon, sir. I have done you wrong;/ But pardon’t as you are gentleman. This presence knows, and you must needs have heard,/ How I am punished with a sore distraction. / What I have done/ That might your nature, honor and exception/ Roughly awake, here I proclaim madness. ” (5. 2. 216-222) Hamlet asks for forgiveness for everything wrong he has done to Laertes. He accepts his apology but he says “I am satisfied in nature,/ Whose motive in this case should stir me most/ To my revenge. ” (5. 2. 235-237) At the very end of the play, most people die. Horatio finds out that Hamlet id dying so he tries killing himself by trying to get what’s left of the poison in the cup.

Hamlet stops him and says “As thou’rt a man/ Give me the cup. Let go, by heaven I’ll have’t. / O god, Horatio, what a wounded name,/ Things standing thus unknown, shall I leave behind me. / If thou didst ever hold me in thy heart,/ Absent thee from felicity awhile,” (5. 2. 354-359) Therefore Laertes, Horatio and not being able to kill Claudius right away brings guilt to Hamlet. In conclusion Hamlet experiences a lot of emotions during the play that were mostly caused by the actions of others. If no one died, than Hamlet wouldn’t have the emotions of sorrow, anger and quilt, he would just be miserable.

Also, Aphelia cannot express herself the way the men around her can, reserving he r to a alone of emotions, which, in addition to being left stranded after the men in her life essentially disappear, bursts into her ultimate insanity. Every person with influence in Aphelion’s life are men: Polonium, her father, Hamlet, her lover, and Alerter, her brother. These are the people who most o f the time dictate her decisions for her. In the first scene of the play involving Aphelia, h err lines are not many in number or lengthy by any means.

This is because Polonium an d Alerter spend the bulk of the scene instructing her. Both men discourage her from try gusting Hamlet’s love. Alerter says, “His greatness weighed, his will is not his own. For he himself is subject to his birth. ” (1. 3. 1718) Alerter is saying that Hamlet cannot be devoted to her because his focus has to be on Denmark as the heir to the thro one. He also tells her to protect her virginity, which is a very authoritative statement a ND possibly an uncomfortable command to receive from your brother.

Polonium in the as me scene after Alerter leaves forbids Aphelia from seeing Hamlet again, telling her Ha melt may walk with a “larger tether”(125) than she, meaning her standards are stricter t Han his ND that she cannot partake in his lifestyle. It is now impossible for Aphelia to remain obedient to her father and be true to her love, Hamlet. In act 3, Aphelia prove s this by lying to Hamlet about her fathers whereabouts in a spy trap Claudia and POI onus set up with her. Hamlet recognizes he is under surveillance and ultimately tells O aphelia he is cutting her off.

Aphelia loses her lover Hamlet because of the decision to b e obedient to Polonium, which ironically, is a similar obedience Hamlet has for his own fat her. Being a woman, Aphelia is held to a different standard than the men around err which doesn’t allow her to express herself the way they can based on emotion n. Hamlet plays insanity in a tactic to eventually get revenge, while Alerter storms the ca steel on motives to avenge his fathers death. Aphelia, however, must remain relatively passive.

The rejection of her lover and murder of her father causes insurmountable fee lings of anger, stress, and frustration, and with no avenue for these feelings to escape , she must keep them boiling inside. Eventually, she starts taking these inner fruits actions and sorrows out on herself. Upon ACTA, both Hamlet and Aphelia are fatherless FRR ruder, but these similar circumstances do not call for similar reactions. It woo old be absurd for Aphelia to seek revenge as Hamlet has for the his father. This is La rater’s role as he declares, “only I’ll be revenged most thoroughly for my father. (4. 5. 135136). Being a man, avenging his father is expected, while Aphelion’s expectations ARQ Eire her to remain static on the case even though her feelings for her father are just a s intense as her brother. At this point with the return of Alerter, Aphelia has already boiled over into insanity. Being habituated to the non independent lifestyle subject to the com ands of he men around her, she is at a loss when that authority has essentially Addis appeared. Her father is dead, her brother is away at school, and Hamlet is being export d to England for killing Polonium.

Hijacked of this independence, Aphelia inevitably is led to her own destruction with no turning back. Up to this point Aphelia was reserve deed, only speaking few lines, and mainly those lines were in response to a man. After being instructed to stay away from Hamlet in act 1, she simply responds to end the scene, “I shall obey, my lord . 4. 136). After her madness ensued, she almost seems lie berated from her reserves, and leads the stage. In Act 4, she is the focus of the stage I n scene 5. She sings without embarrassment, says what she is thinking and feels, and everyone listens to her. Unfortunately, though everyone is listening, they are not under standing what she is expressing, only associating her songs and words with her madden Additionally, Aphelion’s madness can be last traced, but not limited to, the dead h of her father. Most of her songs of madness refer to her father, like in act 4, s cone 5, ” Sings. Larded with sweet flowers, which between to the grave did go with truelove meaning she has been crying over the death Of her father . In one Eng Aphelia refers to Hamlet saying, “Quota she, before you tumbled me, you promised me to wed. Meaning Hamlet promised to marry her if she came to bed with him, but the following few lines, “So would I ha’ done, by yonder sun, an thou heads not come to my bed. “(4. 5. 6265) show Hamlets deceitful double standard where he says he would’ve married her if she wouldn’t have come to his bed. Accustomed to the precept that she must be fully obedient to her father polo anus, Aphelia is torn when he commands her to stay away from her lover, Hamlet. This inner strife erodes her mind because she cannot express these conflicting emotion to anyone.

Instead, because of the differences between an honorable lady and a upstanding man of this time period, Aphelia is expected to remain neutral on the events in her life, even after her father is murdered by Hamlet, whom she once loved . Being habituated to the men in her life commanding most of her decisions, Aphelia IS non path of ruin when these men essentially disappear (Polonium her father is dead d, Alerter her brother is overseas, and Hamlet is on his way to England). Accordingly, the e bottled feelings inside her having no reserve any longer, release out all at once, cause Eng her omelet fundamental change and obvious insanity.

Had Aphelia disobeyed her father and given herself to her lover Hamlet, her fathers death may have never coco red, for Hamlet was driven into blinding anger when he was betrayed by her, losing the e last person he had to trust. Though a minor character, Aphelion’s impact is a pope rueful one. Her madness was inevitable and reflective of the situation women of her time were often in, being subject to the male dominance which prevailed. Equality amongst m en and women is important, for a double standard is an impossible one to operate WI thin whilst maintaining a healthy sanity.

In the course of the play, Hamlet has seven long soliloquies. The first of these occurs before he has seen the Ghost. In this soliloquy, Hamlet reveals the grief that has been gnawing at his mind. He wishes that religion did not forbid suicide so that he could kill himself and be rid of this grief. He feels disillusioned with the world. “How weary, stale, flat and unprofitable, Seem to me all the uses of this world”.

He deplores (condemns) the fact that his mother should have remarried barely two months after the death of her first husband. This soliloquy shows Hamlet’s meditative nature. It also reveals his filial attachment to his dead father whom he speaks highly, and his scorn of his uncle to whom he refers in disparaging terms. His references to Hyperion, Niobe and Hercules show him to be well versed in classical literature. We also note his generalizing tendency when says: “Frailty thy name is woman;” Resolution to avenge his father’s murder.

Hamlet’s second soliloquy comes just after the Ghost leaves him, after charging him with the duty of taking revenge upon the murderer of his father. Hamlet resolves to wipe out everything else from his memory and to remember only Ghost’s command. The manner in which Hamlet here speaks of never forgetting into action and carry out the behest (request) of the Ghost. The Ghost’s revelation has stunned him and he refers to his mother as “a most pernicious woman” and to his uncle as a “smiling damned villain”.

We again note his generalizing tendency when he says that “one may smile, and smile, and be a villain”. Self reproach: In his third soliloquy, Hamlet bitterly scolds himself for having failed to execute his revenge so far, he calls himself “a dull and muddy mettled rascal” for his failure, accusing himself of being “pigeon livered”, an ass who “ like a whore” can only unpack his heart with words and “And fall a-cursing, like a very drab”. He refers to his uncle as a “bloody bawdy villain; remorseless, treacherous, lecherous, kindles illain”. He then dwells upon his plan to stage a play (The Mouse Trap), saying: “the the play ‘s the thing Wherein I’ll catch the conscience of the king” In other words, Hamlet now seeks a confirmation of the Ghost’s charge against Claudius. This is rather strange, because it has taken him long to doubt the authenticity of the Ghost’s version. It is obvious that Hamlet is more a philosopher and less a man of action. On the Horns of Dilemma. Hamlet fourth soliloquy, his most famous and most celebrated, is the most philosophical of all. To be, or not to be: that is the question”. Hamlet asks himself whether it is noble to suffer the cruelties of fate silently or to put up a fight against the misfortunes of life. It would be better perhaps “to commit suicide” if death were to mean a total extinction of consciousness. But the fear of what may happen to us after death, make us endure the ills and injustices of life. This soliloquy, more than any other reveals the speculative temperament of Hamlet, his irresolute and wavering mind, and his incapacity for any premeditated action of a momentous nature.

His catalogue of the misfortunes of life once again shows his generalizing habit of thought. This soliloquy partly explains Hamlet’s delay in carrying out his purpose, and shows at the same time the mental torture that he has been undergoing because of that delay. We here see a sensitive, reflective person compelled to face situation with which he unable to cope. Decision to “speak daggers” to his motherIn his fifth soliloquy, Hamlet describes his mood as one in which he could “drink hot blood, an do such bitter business as the day would quake to look on”.

In this mood he can even kill his mother, but he would not follow Nero’s example: “Let me be cruel, not unnatural”. He therefore decides to “speak daggers” to his mother but use none. We can well realize Hamlet’s story resentment against his mother but we also know that the man who has not been able to kill his uncle will be incapable of killing his mother because, apart the fact of her marriage, she has done nothing to deserve that punishment. Evading the responsibility. Hamlet’s sixth soliloquy shows him shrinking from an act for which he has long been preparing and for which he now gets an excellent opportunity.

Hamlet’s reason for not killing his uncle at this moment is that the uncle is at prayers and that by killing him at such a time Hamlet would be sending him straight to heaven. Hamlet decides to wait for an opportunity when his uncle is “drink asleep, or in his rage, or in the incestuous pleasure of his bed, at gaming, swearing, or about some act that has no relish of salvation in it”. Obviously, Hamlet is evading a responsibility which he has fully accepted. His reasoning here is nothing but a piece of casuistry (misleadingly subtle reasoning). Thus Hamlet’s tendency to procrastination is further emphasized in this soliloquy

Self Reproach Again

Hamlet’s last soliloquy is again full of self reproach: “How all occasions do inform against me, And spur my dull revenge! ” Three part of his failure, he says are due to cowardice, and only one part due to wisdom. It is to be deplored (condemned) that he only lives yet to say: “This thing’s to do (meaning his purpose is yet to be accomplished). A man is no better than a beast, if he is content with feeding and sleeping. Hamlet’s dilatoriness is due to “bestial oblivions”, or to “some craven (cowardly) scruple (hesitation) of thinking too precisely on the event”.

Having rebuke himself in strong terms, Hamlet forms the following resolve: “O, from this time forth, My thoughts be bloody, or be nothing worth! ” This soliloquy, once again emphasizes Hamlet’s irresolution and his meditative temperament. His conscience keeps pricking him and urging him to revenge, but a natural deficiency always obstructs him. His generalizing and universalizing tendency too is seen here once again ” What is a man, If his chief good and market of his time Be but to sleep and feed? a beast, no more. ” The idea of delay emphasized by the soliloquies.

Hamlet’s soliloquies are foremost in bringing the idea of his delay to our notice. The stress on delay shows also Hamlet’s preoccupation with his role. His life is one to be lived under the imposition (burden) of a great task which he seems unable to fulfill. Excessively speculative, irresolute, scholarly poetic. The soliloquies of Hamlet undoubtedly throw a flood of light on his character and personality. A soliloquy is a device by which Shakespeare reveals to us the inner working of a character’s mind, the secret thoughts and cogitations (meditations) of a character’s mind, the deepest recess of a character’s soul.

Hamlet’s soliloquies surely serve that purpose. These soliloquies not only reveal that Hamlet is given to excessive speculations and that he is therefore unfit to carry out the task assigned to him, but also unable to understand his reasons for delaying his revenge. Furthermore, these soliloquies show Hamlet’s poetic eloquence. Each soliloquy by him is a masterpiece, not only as regards its philosophic content but also as regards its style and expression. They show Hamlet to be a scholar, a philosopher, and a poet. .

Nothing about his relations with Ophelia in these soliloquies. Introspective as he is, Hamlet is constantly analyzing himself inwardly. He is for even looking into himself, delving into his own nature, to seek an explanation’ for this or for that, and giving vent to his dissatisfaction, discontent, or frustration. In one important respect, however, these soliloquies do not express Hamlet’s mind. In none of these soliloquies does he speak of his feelings or thoughts about Ophelia. While he speaks a good deal about his uncle and, his mother, he says nothing about Ophelia.

The result is that so far as his relations with Ophelia arc concerned, we have to depend only on external evidence. Three powers of the soul dramatized. According to one critic, the first six soliloquies of Hamlet’ dramatize the three powers of the soul – namely , memory; understanding, and will – and show how his memory and understanding are opposed to his will, while the seventh soliloquy is concerned with all three powers of the soul though-“the battle in Hamlet’s mind is never decided at a conscious level.

Over-Analysis of Motives

The soliloquies of Hamlet deepen Hamlet’s tragic character by portraying him as a “thinking” man. His excessive introspection checks action by too curious a consideration of the need and justice of . the action contemplated. The soliloquies contain an over-analysis ·of the motives of the action that is required of him. His mind weighs all that may conceivably be said for and against the course proposed.

Hamlet is a complex character in the play. His character is always changing in some way, and he never seems to be the same person. In some scenes, he appears to be mad, while in others he is perfectly sane. Therefore, a question that has become a major argument for those who analyze the Shakespearean text is : was Hamlet mad or sane in the play?

There are several arguments as to why Hamlet was mad. The first occurrence of his madness is found after his encounter with the ghost, his father. Hamlet appears to be act insanely when he speaks to his friends about what he saw. He speaks “wild and whirling words, “(Act 1, Scene V, lines 127-134). Horatio and the others are mystified when Hamlet talks like they have never heard him before. Another argument for his madness can be supported in his treatment towards Ophelia. When he first encounters her after speaking to the ghost, he is courteous at first, but then suddenly turns against her. He completely denies ever having loved her, attacks the womankind, and orders her to go to a nunnery. If this is not mad behavior, what is?

Another point where Hamlet acts madly is when he had Rosencrantz and Guildenstern killed even though they had nothing to do with the plan to murder his father. Granted they were carrying letters to England with orders to kill him, but they were not aware of what was written in them. The argument can be further supported when Hamlet is in his mother’s chamber. Hamlet alone sees his father’s ghost. Every other time the ghost appeared someone else could see it. During this scene, the argument for Hamlet’s madness can be strongly supported because his mother could not see it. Gertrude even says, “Alas, how is’t with you-That you do bend your eye on vacancy,”(Act 3, Scene 4, lines 133-134). IN that same scene, Hamlet acts violently to his mother. He tells her that she is a whore and to abandon his uncles’ bed. Finally, Hamlet’s madness can be seen in his actions after killing Polonius. Hamlet even tells Laertes that he killed Polonius in “a fit of madness.” When Hamlet is confronted about the murder, he will not tell anyone where the body is and seems very happy about it. These are all strong arguments for Hamlet being mad.

However, one must look at the other side of the argument before making the decision about whether Hamlet was sane or not throughout the play. For example, Hamlet, after meeting the ghost, tells Horatio that he is going to “feign madness” and that if Horatio notices any strange behavior from Hamlet, it is because he is putting on an act. A pattern also emerges on when Hamlet is “mad” and when he is not. Hamlet’s “madness” only manifests itself when he is in the presence of certain characters. When Hamlet is around Polonius, Claudius, Gertrude, Ophelia, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, he behaves irrationally. However, when Hamlet is around Horatio, Bernardo, Francisco, the Players, and the Gravediggers, he behaves rationally.

Several characters also admit to believing that Hamlet is not mad. Even Claudius confesses that Hamlet’s “actions, although strange, do not appear to stem from madness,”(Act III, Scene 1, lines 177-180). Polonius admits that Hamlet’s actions and words have a “method” to them, and there appears to be a reason behind them, and they are logical in nature. A powerful example that supports this argument is Ophelia’s true madness. Ophelia’s insanity and Hamlet’s are entirely different from one another. In fact, Hamlet’s actions contrast them. Ophelia acts mad no matter who is around, and she acts different than Hamlet. Finally, Hamlet believes in his sanity at all times. He never doubts his control over his psyche. He even tells his mother that he is not mad, “but mad in craft,” (Act III. Scene IV. Line 210). Therefore, one can see that this argument is also strong.

It is up to the audience to decide whether or not Hamlet was truly mad or not. However, it seems that the argument for Hamlet being sane is stronger. Hamlet tells his best friend that he is going to pretend to be mad. He never lies to Horatio throughout the entire play, why would he then? Hamlet was a strong actor himself. He even gave excellent advice to Players on acting. Why couldn’t he be a good enough actor to convince those around him that he was mad? Yet it is for one to decide for themselves. Was Hamlet an actor or was he truly mad?