Hamlet's Last Soliloquy Analysis

In Hamlet’s soliloquy in act IV scene iv, he brings up the question of “what is a man?” Hamlet does this while looking upon the over powering army that is lead by Fortinbras. His army was passing through Denmark to fight over an insignificant piece of land in Poland. Hamlet then thinks about his lack of action with his mission to kill Claudius. While he is seeing this massive army marching, going to war over something so insignificant he realizes that he must try to make his “thoughts bloody” (4.4.64). In this soliloquy, we learn that through Hamlet’s inaction he sees himself no better than a beastly animal where he should see himself as a man that takes action into his own hands which, makes him as the same level as the gods.

quick to spot areas which can help him and to exploit them. He is a

After the death of King Hamlet, Claudius marries Hamlet’s mother, Queen Gertrude. Claudius marries Queen Gertrude for the “betterment” of the country. Claudius stated, “I am still possessed of those effects for which I did the murder: my crown, my own ambition, and my queen." (3.3) “My words rise upward, but my thoughts remain below. Words without sincerity never reach heaven. (3.3 101-102). Claudius’s motive was to become king, to become important and powerful. Hamlet was the next in line for King after his father’s death and Claudius did not want that. Hamlet is disturbed that his mother married his uncle and doesn’t mourn her husband’s death. Hamlet sees the overall picture unlike his mother. At first, Queen Gertrude doesn’t see anything wrong with marrying her brother in-law. Claudius murdered King Hamlet by pouring poison in his ear while he was sleeping. Claudius’s actions give Hamlet a reason for his

I Hamlet's second soliloquy, we face a determined Hamlet who is craving revenge for his father. “Ay, thou poor ghost, while memory holds a seat/ In this distracted globe. Remember thee!” Hamlet feels sorry for his father who was unable to repent of his sins and is therefore condemned to a time in purgatory. He promises his father that in spite of his mental state (he is distracted, confused and shocked) he will avenge his death. He holds him in the highest regards because he sees his father as a role model. “Yea, from the table of my memory/ I’ll wipe away all trivial fond records,”. He’ll erase all prior Knowledge and experience and leave only his father’s “commandment”. He will engrave it in the front of his mind to show his

Claudius was the brother of the king of Denmark, Hamlet, and, at the start of the play, King Hamlet has died, presumed naturally. It is soon revealed to Hamlet, King Hamlet’s son, that Claudius actually murdered Hamlet for his crown and queen through King Hamlet’s ghost. Hamlet is then intent on avenging his father, and feigns mad in order to have the freedom to claim self-ignorance of his actions. Throughout the play, Claudius is the the

By so doing it was believed that the sins of the dead person would be

Hamlet is dissatisfied with his inability to kill Claudius, thus allowing him time to rewrite his wrongs. Unable to muster up the courage to carry out his envisions of murdering Claudius, Hamlet calls himself “a dull and muddy-mettled rascal” (2.2.526) that is “unpregnant of [his] cause”. (2.2.527) In both the soliloquies Hamlet stands around dreaming of completing the act, but pushes aside his outraged feelings toward Claudius. Hamlet is mad at himself as he pretends he is unaware of the treason. The soliloquy “what is a man” starts out with “how all occasions do inform against me, and spur my dull revenge!” (4.4.31-32) By “spur my dull revenge” Hamlet is stalling and much like a dull revenge a dull knife would do little to help achieve a stout revenge. This soliloquy also ties in with the

Hamlet, one of Shakespeare’s tragic plays, portrays the story of a young man’s quest to avenge his murdered father and his quest to find his true identity. In his soliloquies, Prince Hamlet reveals to the readers his personal perceptions of the events that take place in his homeland, Denmark, and of which are either indirectly or directly tied to his father’s murder. Many critics and scholars agree that while Hamlet’s soliloquies reveal the search of his identity and true character, his soliloquies universally illustrate man’s search for his true identity.

When analyzing Shakespeare's Hamlet through the deconstructionist lens various elements of the play come into sharper focus. Hamlet's beliefs about himself and his crisis over indecision are expounded upon by the binary oppositions created in his soliloquies.

As the murder is taking place onstage, Claudius becomes perturbed and rises, then leaves the room angrily. Claudius becomes unable to act and hide the knowledge of what he has done inside any longer. The swift exit of Claudius indicates that he finds the murder scene off-putting leading Hamlet to conclude that Claudius murdered his father. The actors and the play being performed onstage exposes the truth of Claudius before he himself speaks a word about the sin he committed. In Hamlet, a play where all of the characters appear to have a mask over

The timing of the marriage causes Hamlet to suspect that Claudius and Gertrude had an affair during her marriage with King Hamlet. Despite this, most Danes see nothing wrong with the marriage and express no suspicions about King Hamlet's death. Because he must expose Claudius's murder of King Hamlet in order to legitimize his own murder of Claudius, Hamlet cannot immediately kill Claudius and explain his motive later, once he is guilty of murder. He must first find proof that Claudius did in fact do wrong that brought about his father's death. Some of Hamlet's opportunities for killing King Claudius are poorly timed, most notably following Claudius's expression of alarm after watching an enactment of the murder of Gonzago.

Claudius’ manipulation takes advantage of surrounding characters’ affection for Hamlet. Paired with Hamlet’s apparent madness, he easily sways them into doing his bidding by feeding them incorrect information, thus influencing their decisions and actions. While innocent characters like Rosencrantz and Guildenstern believe their duty is to simply diagnose the reason for Hamlet’s madness, Claudius uses their care for Hamlet and blind loyalty to plot Hamlet’s death. This along with several other attempts of spying on and murdering Hamlet eventually lead to the deaths of multiple characters including Rosencrantz and Guildenstern. Not only that, but all the while he is attempting to take Hamlet’s life, he is fearing for his own and desperately

In the beginning of Hamlet, the character Claudius is known as the man who took over the role as king to Denmark after his brother, King Hamlet, had died. King Hamlet was also Hamlet’s father and soon after his death, Claudius was quick to marry his own sister-in-law, Gertrude. When getting more into the play, the audience learns the truth behind King Hamlet’s death. Claudius had poisoned and murdered his own brother. Claudius was very manipulating.

Claudius tried to get rid of Hamlet as soon as he realized that Hamlet is looking for an answer. ” England; for like the hectic in my blood he rages, and thou must cure me. Till I know ‘tis done…” (Hamlet 4.3.69-71). Furthermore Claudius acted like he was innocent and that he was disappointed about his brother’s death while having a chat with Hamlet, While in reality he faked his sympathy and innocence just because he was afraid that Hamlet might find out the truth that he killed his

Coming immediately after the meeting with the Ghost of Hamlet’s father, Shakespeare uses his second soliloquy to present Hamlet’s initial responses to his new role of revenger. Shakespeare is not hesitant in foreboding the religious and metaphysical implications of this role, something widely explored in Elizabethan revenge tragedy, doing so in the first lines as Hamlet makes an invocation to ‘all you host of heaven’ and ‘earth’. Hamlet is shown to impulsively rationalize the ethical issues behind his task as he views it as a divine ordinance of justice, his fatalistic view reiterated at the end of scene 5 with the rhyming couplet ‘O cursed spite,/That ever I was born to set it right’. These ideas are