Shakespeare develops Hamlet's character in relaton to other characters. In this play, Shakespeare develops Hamlet in relation with his Claudius, Gertrude, and his Father throughout Act 1.2. This soliloquy is important to Hamlet's character because it gives a reason for his severe depression. Shakespeare uses weariness, despair, nausea and loathing to create more significant emotions. Hamlet and his mother have a very conflicting relationship, Shakespeare establishes this throughout the soliloquy shows that he's extremely upset with the way his mother mourned his father. In the soliloquy in Act 1.2 Hamlet establishes a relationship of conflict with his mother. Hamlet's anger is caused by his mothers quick remarriage to Claudius and he continuously reprimands her for this throughout the soliloquy. Furthermore, Hamlet describes his mother as weak by saying, “Frailty, thy name is woman” (150). Hamlet describes Gertrude as less than an animal, for even a “beast” …show more content…
The way in which Hamlet describes his mother in this soliloquy reveals that he is a highly emotional man who mourns the death of his father deeply and he excoriates her for this throughout the play. Through his description of his mother and her marriage to Claudius, Hamlet demonstrates why he began the soliloquy wishing he would die, that his “sullied flesh would melt” (133) or that he could commit “self-slaughter” (136). Hamlet's father's death and his mother's remarriage have upset him to the point that he describes the world as “an weeded garden” (139) filled with “things rank and gross in nature” (140). In this soliloquy, Hamlet shows that the relationship between him and his mother is not only conflicting to him, but it is also essential for his character to progress through the play. It gives him power to keep on going and an objective to
Hamlet has also idealized his mother, and it seems like that they have had a close relationship before this incident. Hamlet really loved his mother, and I think he put her on a pedestal. In the play, this delusion that he has about his mother's character is quickly shattered. She, "within a month" (1,2,145) marries Hamlet's uncle who has for some odd reason become king after Hamlet's father's death. Hamlet is sickened and disillusioned by his mother's behavior saying things like "O that this too too sullied flesh would melt" (1,2,129) and "frailty, thy name is woman"(1,2,146). But the realization that he has about his mother also ties into the realization that he has about his father and ultimately
In the play Hamlet by William Shakespeare, the main character is angry and expressed his anger through the medium of allusion. An allusion refers to a mythological person, place, or thing. Many things around the city of Denmark are changing for the worse. Hamlet is angry with his mother because he fills betrayed that she would merry another man after two months of his father’s death. The allusion Hamlet expresses those feeling is when he said, “With which she followed my poor father’s body, / Like Niobe, all tears. Why she ever she –” (1.2.148-149). Hamlet is comparing his mother to Niobe. Niobe is a woman who turned into a stone and weeps for her fourteen children, which Hamlet’s mother only cries for his father for only two months. Hamlet’s expression of his mother shows the reader that she is a gold digger and was not truly in love otherwise she would have grief longer. Furthermore, these lines can only mean that he was the only person who truly care and loved the ex-king of Denmark. Meanwhile the others had already forgotten about him. All in all, Hamlet though that maybe his mother would be more impacted by the death of the King, but instead traded him up for his Uncle. Moreover, Hamlet was in denial that his Uncle was going to be the king and his new father. For him, the only true king was his father and no more. As he said, “So excellent a king, that was to his / Hyperion to a satyr” (1.2.139-140). Shakespeare used this
At the end Act 3 Scene 2 of Hamlet, Hamlet speaks to himself before his meeting with his mother. Not knowing what the conversation is going to be about, he already decides to treat his mother harshly and not submit to her motherly charm. This soliloquy expresses Hamlet bitterness towards his mother while still wanting to respect her. He tells himself to go into the meeting with a cold-heart throughout his whole speech, but he also warns himself not to inflict violence on her. I believed that Hamlet anger towards his mother is more for her willingness to remarry quickly after his father's death than any speculation of her role in King Hamlet's murder.
In the soliloquy it is shown that while Hamlet does not like his uncle he blames his mother for all that has happened especially her weak disposition that caused her to marry Claudius as seen in the line “frailty thy name is women”. In the line Hamlet generalizes all women showing his instability as he does not understand the difference between his mother’s actions and all women. His anger towards his mother is also shown in his comparison of her being “like Niobe all tears” because like the mythological figure Niobe she also mourned however Niobe was turned to stone and kept weaping which suggests that he considers her to be hypocritical because while she cried and mourned she remarried only a month after her husband died. This idea is also shown in the line “a beast would have mourned longer” showing that because of her betrayal he considers her to be an unfeeling animal. Hamlet’s anger builds throughout the soliloquy until he comes to the realization that he cannot reveal his true thoughts to anyone “but break my heart for I must hold my tongue.”
Hamlet displays disillusionment about women throughout the course of the play. This struggle to come to terms with his mother’s second marriage and disillusionment from the pure and angelic women is present from early on. In his first soliloquy, “O that this too too sullied …” (Act 1 Scene 2), Hamlet censures his mother’s moral weakness as a woman (146). His disillusionment is shown when Hamlet uses the image of the Garden of Eden being polluted by the
Hamlet’s inaction due to fear ultimately leads to the death of six characters, including himself. Hamlet’s outward conflict is the death of his father and consequently, his uncle becoming the King of Denmark. Hamlet expresses his distaste of his uncle becoming King when he says, “A little more than kin, and less than kind” (1.2.65). Hamlet implies that his uncle is too closely related to him after becoming his step-father. Moreover, during his soliloquy in Act 1 Scene 2, Hamlet blames his mother for being weak and criticizes her decision to marry someone one month after her husband’s death when he says, “A beast that wants discourse of reason/ Would have mourn’d longer” (1.2.146-7). Hamlet denotes that his mother is less reasonable than an animal as she marries one month after King Hamlet’s death, which is an insult to her intelligence. Furthermore, Hamlet compares the world to “an unweeded garden” (1.2.135) and this displays how he does not want to live in this corrupt world anymore. Hamlet’s inward conflict is his inaction after swearing to the ghost that he would exact revenge for his father’s murder.
The relationship between Hamlet and Gertrude is strained at first. From the beginning of the play to act III, Hamlet is bitter with his mother. He feels this way because it has been less than
Shakespeare’s Hamlet is a tragic play about murder, betrayal, revenge, madness, and moral corruption. It touches upon philosophical ideas such as existentialism and relativism. Prince Hamlet frequently questions the meaning of life and the degrading of morals as he agonizes over his father’s murder, his mother’s incestuous infidelity, and what he should or shouldn’t do about it. At first, he is just depressed; still mourning the loss of his father as his mother marries his uncle. After he learns about the treachery of his uncle and the adultery of his mother, his already negative countenance declines further. He struggles with the task of killing Claudius, feeling burdened about having been asked to find a solution to a situation that was
On William Shakespeare’s Hamlet, after the assassination of his father, Hamlet thinks he is living in a world full of corruption and deceit, where everything is falling apart and everyone is against him. An imminent, exaggerated, and passionate love for his mother is his main feature. Although others argue that Hamlet’s obsession to murder Claudius is strictly to claim revenge for his father’s death, it is Hamlet’s obsessive desire to possess his mother in an unhealthy and, perhaps incestuous, relationship. Hamlet also appears jealous of Claudius, his father-uncle, jealous of him for having Gertrude and for owning the crown. He lives a love-hate relationship with his mother. He is full of anger towards her, but at the same time he
Hamlet’s character drastically develops over the first four acts of Hamlet, and his character development is most evident through the soliloquys he delivers throughout the play. The most character development can be seen from the first soliloquy, to the second, the third, the sixth, and the seventh and final soliloquy. Hamlet’s inner conflict with his thoughts and his actions are well analyzed in his soliloquys, as well as his struggles with life and death, and his very own existence. He begins the play wondering what purpose he has in life now that his father is dead and his mother has remarried to his uncle. After finding out foul play was involved in his father’s death, he is motivated by revenge. Finally, he wonders how he can enact his revenge while continuously overthinking and overanalyzing his actions.
We can see the dramatic differences in Hamlet’s facial expression and tone of voice when he starts to talk about Claudius and his mother. Hamlet is revolted by him, he is “a mildewed ear/ Blasting his wholesome brother.” We can hear the disgust in Hamlet’s words as he describes his malevolent uncle and this shows the distorted relationship between them. Finally he turns to his mother. His words are full of deep hatred and utter contempt for her. He asks her how she could have replaced her perfect husband with this foul man: “Could you
Hamlet, full of tragedy and anger, trying to cope with his father’s death, suffers the consequences in the end. Wrath enveloped his mind and soul controlling his feelings toward his mother and uncle blaming his mother for his father’s death and angry with his uncle Claudius after finding out his uncle murdered his father. Wrath one of the seven deadly sins is held most responsible in this tragic story. Hamlet murdered innocent people out of anger believing it would be Claudius instead of discussing with his mother rationally.
Throughout the play, Hamlet undergoes a painful split between head and heart, caused by numerous family problems. When the prince returns home to pay his final respects to his dear and beloved father, he discovers a most terrible fate. He learns that his noble father whom he had loved so, is not only deceased, but his own uncle is to blame. Hamlet's mother, whom he also loves dearly, is now sharing an "adulterous bed" with the very murderer of her once beloved husband. Initially, Hamlet is driven to a state of ruin by
Hamlet is mourning over the death of his father, he is in a depressed mood. He is mad at his mother Gertrude for marrying his uncle Claudius.
Hamlet is obscure and surprising, and, therefore, confounding because he subverts others’ expectations and never reacts with a predictable response to his own emotions or the expectations of other characters. In addition, it is worth noting that it is not only Hamlet’s curious speech that alienates others. Hamlet’s obsessive pessimism also begins to affect all of his relationships and becomes a large part of who he is as a character. In an otherwise superficial conversation with Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, Hamlet insists that the world has become a prison with “Denmark being one o’ th’ worst” (2.2.265), and he presses the men to explain why they would want to visit him in the place that torments him. Hamlet’s relationship with his mother is also troubling. While he is justified in questioning her decision to marry Claudius before her husband’s corpse has even cooled, Hamlet is sarcastic and demeaning towards her, provoking her to ask “What have I done, that thou darest wag thy tongue/In noise so rude against me?” (3.4.47-48) These brief and often sarcastic interactions with other characters help define Hamlet as a pessimistic character and cause the reader to anticipate that his perceptions of events will be, almost always, clouded with this characteristic darkness of