Hamlet's Third Soliloquy

Further evidence of Hamlet's tragic flaw can be found in act III, scene 3. At this point, Hamlet is sure of Claudius' guilt, and has even declared that "Now could I drink hot blood and do such bitter business as the day Would quake to look on." (p. 99 lines 406-408) He comes to find King Claudius alone, and recognizes it as an opportunity to act, but almost immediately talks himself out of action on the bases that the King is praying, and will therefore go to heaven. He decides yet again to delay avenging his father's murder, this time until he can kill the King while he is in a vile condition, such as "When he is drunk asleep; or in his rage; Or in the incestuous pleasure of his bed." (p. 103 lines 89-90) Hamlet has failed to act for so long that the Ghost soon comes back to remind him of his duty.

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

Throughout the play, Hamlet is dealing with conflict within himself. When Hamlet finds that he must take revenge on Claudius, he is unsure whether there is any point in having to kill, to take another human life, and whether he would be able to handle this. Hamlet fights inside himself. Is this right? Is this his duty? He considers suicide again, "To be or not to be, that is the question." Hamlet shows his philosophical nature, and talks himself out of the idea of suicide, fearing the unknown beyond. He is thoughtful and intelligent and not first a man of action.

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.

In act two Hamlet says, “O, what a rogue and peasant slave am I!”(Act 2, Scene 2, Line 482). Hamlet is starting to see that he may have not been acting very well, and that his thoughts of revenge are not the best. He is now talking about how he does not plan to seek revenge on his uncle at all. Rather Hamlet is more upset that he can not get his act together. He is walking around talking, not thinking about anything in particular.

The soliloquy opens with Hamlet cursing himself as a `rogue and peasant slave'. Hamlet expresses an outburst of hatred, linking it to the actor when he describes the actor's passion.

A primary example is in the most famous line of the play when he says “To be, or not to be? That is the question- whether ‘tis nobler in the mind to suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune or to take arms against a sea of troubles, and, by opposing, end them?” This is significant because at this point he contemplates suicide and rationalizes why he cannot kill Claudius. Again, Hamlet is overthinking and rendered incapable of action, whether this is due to his poetic soul or his perception of reality, he destroys 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

As the play goes on, from the Mousetrap play to Hamlet’s uncharacteristic acting (as perceived by those around him) what must be remembered is that Hamlet is only human. His girlfriend, Ophelia has been specifically instructed to not talk to him anymore. He struggles with the death of his father and most likely loses sleep thinking about his meeting with the ghost and whether the ghost of lying or not. He even has to deal with the utter disgust he has towards the King and the Queen, disgust towards the King because he is possibly the man behind his father’s death and disgust towards the Queen which is expressed a number of times for not feeling the slightest amount of grief before marrying Claudius. He is pushed so far so that he contemplates suicide. In his famous soliloquy which begins in “To be or not to be”

In his mature, adult mind, he knows that he must avenge his father, but there lives an innocent child in his conscience who does not want to commit murder; and Hamlet perceives this as cowardice. It seems as though Hamlet is struggling with what he knows he must do, and actually doing it. While instead of pursuing his father’s revenge, he lets his emotions dictate his actions (in this case, his lack of action). So, in self-justification, he tucks away his apprehension and decides to seek proof of Claudius’s murder of Hamlet’s father. Furthermore, Hamlet is beginning to question his identity as a “pigeon-livered coward.” What is more noteworthy, however, is that both soliloquies exhibit Hamlet to be an immature boy, as he speaks on impulses of emotion, rather than logic itself.

Throughout Hamlet, written by Shakespeare, Hamlet’s emotions, actions, and thoughts cause much trouble during the play. Hamlet encounters stages of sarcasm, inanity, suicidal tendencies/self-deprecation, and procreation/indecision which develop not only his personality but the play itself. Hamlet uses sarcasm to express his emotions, pretends to be insane (ultimately leading him to become truly insane), self-deprecates throughout the play due to family events, and procrastinates because he is indecisive. Hamlet encounters many life-altering events throughout the play such as his uncle poisoning his father and quickly remarrying Hamlet’s mother, to accidentally killing Polonius thinking it was Claudius, all the way to debating upon: his own

One of the most common debates about the interpretation of the soliloquy is whether Hamlet is reflecting on the nature of living or considering suicide. The very first line, “to be or not to be, that is the question” (3.1.64) implies that Hamlet is contemplating whether it is better to continue living or to not continue existing. However, as straightforward as the idea is, people debate whether Hamlet is just talking philosophically or if he is seriously thinking about committing suicide. There are some people, like Harold Bloom, that believe he is simply talking philosophically. He claims that “The play's subject … is neither mourning for the dead or revenge on the living. … All that matters is Hamlet's consciousness of his own consciousness,

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

Throughout “Hamlet”, it is evident that Hamlet’s hamartia is his inability to act and his indecisiveness. These flaws are evident throughout many aspects of his life, but are able to be identified as he attempts to avenge his father’s murder. After Hamlet’s father tells him in his ghostly form that he was murdered by his brother, Claudius, instead of simply going to seek revenge immediately, Hamlet makes elaborate plans to decide if Claudius is truly guilty of the murder. This is where his indecisiveness begins. Hamlet vows to his father he will avenge his death in Act I, Scene 5, “So uncle, there you are. Now to my word:” (Line 111). While Hamlet vows this to his father, he does not act on it instantly.

By Hamlet’s third soliloquy he still has not taken action to avenge his father’s death and hates everyone around him, including himself. He begins his soliloquy with the famous line “To be, or not to be?” With this line Hamlet is asking whether is it better to be alive or to be dead. In this soliloquy Hamlet contemplates suicide and discusses the trials of life. He wishes not to have to deal with the hardships of life, but realizes that he is not brave enough to take his own life. Not only is he, like most humans, afraid of the unknown, but he is also afraid of committing a sin and damning his soul. At the end of his third soliloquy Hamlet has yet to do as his father’s ghost told him and Hamlet is still angry with himself for being such a coward.