Hamlet Soliloquy
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One of Hamlet's first-act soliloquies (I,v,92-113) is a response to the news that he is given by the Ghost of his father. This response, which does not seem to match the importance of what he has been told, offers insights into Hamlet's character. Hamlet emerges in this speech not as a man of action, but as a man who is unsure exactly what actions he should take. He is horrified by the Ghost's announcement that he had been murdered by Claudius. But this does not move Hamlet to immediate action, which might seem to be the logical response to such information. Instead it seems to present him with a puzzle, something to be thought out and solved prior to taking any action. In this soliloquy, after being told that his father was murdered by the uncle who immediately married his mother, Hamlet is not able to take, or propose, any stronger action than to "set it down / That one may smile, and smile, and be a villain" (I,v,108-9). In this speech Hamlet's indecision is brought out in relation to the problem of revenge and this sets the tone for the rest of the play. At the end of his last speech the Ghost says to Hamlet, "Remember me" (I,v,91). This is an order to Hamlet to restore the proper order of things in Denmark and revenge his father. The Ghost has said, "If thou hast nature in thee, bear it not, / Let not the royal bed of Denmark be / A couch for luxury and damnèd incest" (I,v,81-3). By "nature" he referred to the natural feelings a son would have on hearing that
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her. And the first few lines of the soliloquy sound as though Hamlet is about to announce the vengeance he will take. He calls on heaven and earth, and even hell, as though he is about to swear an oath. But then he reverts to his own condition. He is in shock and calls on his heart and sinews not to fail him. Shock is a natural response at this point--even if it is not what might be expected. But then Hamlet echoes his father and asks "Remember thee?" (I,v,95) and his voice changes from the outraged sound of a person about to swear a violent oath to a tone of intense sorrow. And Hamlet again reverts to discussing his own condition. He assures the "poor ghost" that he will remember him so long as "memory holds a seat / In this distracted globe" and then he repeats the question "Remember thee?" (I,v,96-7). At this point Hamlet has shifted the soliloquy from the problem of what vengeance to take in order to fulfill his father's command to his own difficulty in taking in the news; his heart and sinews might fail him and his mind is distracted.
Then, having established that he is someone who is unlikely to take violent action, he answers the question about remembering his father with metaphors for memory. All these metaphor
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Some common words found in the essay are:
Iv91 Hamlet, Iv111 Throughout, , Iv96-7 Hamlet, Iv103 Hamlet, Iii64 Hamlet, Ghost Hamlet, Iv84 Hamlet, Iii131-2 Suicide, CLIENT Please, remember iv91, remember father, remember iv91 hamlet, father's ghost, iv91 hamlet, / smile smile, sinews fail, own condition, ghost hamlet, violent action, set /, smile villain iv108-9, set / smile, heart sinews, heart sinews fail,
Approximate Word count = 1616
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page)
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