Claudius
killed Hamlet senior by pouring poison in his ear while he was sleeping. I
believe that Hamlet refers to the death in the soliloquy because lines 61 to 67
just talk about sleep and death. At the beginning Hamlet says, “To die,
to sleep, / No more-and by a sleep to say we end / The heartache and the
thousand natural shocks / That flesh is heir to—’tis a consummation Devoutly to
be wished!”(III.i.61-65). I believe that he is referring to the murder because
he knows that Claudius is watching him. Hamlet talks as if sleep is a way to
escape the pains on the normal world unless you have bad dreams. I think there
is more to it then what he says and that Hamlet senior died while not currently
in this world as Hamlet says. Hamlet is foreshadowing that he knows that
Claudius killed Hamlet Senior before the mousetrap play. This is also Hamlet
making sure that Claudius is thinking about the death during the play because
we see that he is so nervous in the beginning of scene two.
Hamlet is
also referring to Claudius about committing suicide. He is trying to persuade
him to escape from the pains of the world by entering a never ending sleep.
This way Hamlet will get what he wants because Claudius will be sent to hell.
Suicide is the unforgettable sin which will have Hamlet fully avenge his
father. Hamlet speaks about the ease of committing suicide when he says, “When
he himself might his quietus make / With a bare bodkin?”(75-76). I believe that
this is an act that Hamlet is putting on to make him look crazy and sporadic.
This reflects to the mood of the soliloquy because the way Hamlet delivers the
line is calm and sounds rhythmic.
Hamlet
seems to only get mad when he is around Gertrude, Claudius, Polonius, and
R&G. When he is around his friends like Horatio he acts rationally. When he
is alone at the end of act 2 scene 2 Hamlet talks about how he cannot act upon
his thoughts because he doesn’t have the strength to. Hamlet says, “Swounds, I should
take it: for it cannot be / But I am pigeon liver’d and lack gall” (II.ii.572-573).
While he is alone he knows that he cannot act but when putting on an act in
front of Claudius, he becomes a calm and confident person in what message he is
trying to get across. In this scenario he is trying to show that he is
contemplating suicide but calm at the same time. This shows how the calm mood
of the life or death speech is important to delivering the right message to
Claudius and Polonius. We have seen this before where Hamlet is faking to be
man of action when talking to the people he is uncomfortable with.
In act two
scene two, Hamlet is speaking with Guildenstern and calls him out. Hamlet says,
“There is a kind of confession in your looks, which your / modesties have not
craft enough colour” (II.ii.279-280). The fact that Hamlet can see through
Guildenstern’s act is important in act three scene one. Polonius has Ophelia
read a book to disguise any suspicion that Hamlet might have but as we can see,
Hamlet can look through disguises. He would be suspicious at this point because
he is summoned by the queen but is there alone and then finds Ophelia.
Hamlet
also never says I, me or you whereas in any other soliloquy that he has he
refers to himself or others. In the to be or not to be soliloquy, he is never
referring to anyone in particular and talks in general terms. I believe that
Hamlet is in fact aware that he is being watched and that his words are a part
of his act.
@Cameron Rotz: I agree that
Hamlet is completely aware of the situation. That fact that Hamlet asks Ophelia
where her father is creates irony and be a rhetorical question because he knows
where Polonius is. Hamlet is similar
to the movie The Godfather because both pieces ask rhetorical questions to move the
plot line. This happens several times in the movie where characters ask the
location of others. For example, when Michael asks where Frado is and he knows
what he has been up to.
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