Hamlet's Fourth Soliloquy

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Continuing with the idea of madness is knowing the truth then one can determine that fighting against the falsities would make one even more mad. Emily Dickinson thought this as well in the poem when she wrote, “Demur-- you’re straightway dangerous - And handled with a chain”(Dickinson line 7-8). Dickinson described demurring from the majority would result in one being “straightway dangerous” and “handled with a chain.” Shakespeare shared this idea that people who are considered to be mad are handled differently, and perceived as more dangerous, than those who are not seen as so. Shakespeare shows this idea of danger throughout Hamlet’s fourth soliloquy. Within this soliloquy Shakespeare takes a different approach to illustrating this idea,

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