William Shakespeare's Hamlet Act Two, Scene Two

William Shakespeare's Hamlet Act Two, Scene Two

The second soliloquy is divided into three parts:

* Hamlet’s feelings of cowardice and worthlessness for not

fulfilling his own promise after witnessing a scene from the

Player that is filled with passion and emotions ( 560-587).

* Hamlet then comes to realize that he must take action upon

Claudius and with an explosion of anger, plans to do so (588-594).

* Hamlet plans to test Claudius to see if he is really guilty by

adding a scene like the murder of his father into the play

(595-617).

Section 1

1. In his soliloquy, Hamlet conveys a tone of worthlessness. He is

feeling useless and inept, because the Player has performed a scene

with such passion and emotion. Seeing this, Hamlet finds it “monstrous

(562)” that he has not yet fulfilled his commitment of avenging his

father’s murder. The Player is engorged with emotions over a

fictitious character, and Hamlet compares this to his own struggle to

find the strength and courage to murder Claudius. This is seen in the

lines “ but in a fiction, in a dream of passion, could force his soul

to his own conceit…visage wanned, tears in his eyes…(563-566)” and

“And all for nothing! For Hecuba!(568-569)”. Hamlet uses diction to

compare himself with the Player, and portrays himself as a pitiful,

weak, and miserable fool who “lacks gall(589)” to fulfill his

commitment. This is shown in the line “a dull and muddy-mettled

rascal(579)”. Hamlet’s choice of words such as “like John-a-dreams,

unpregnant of my cause(580)” shows Hamlet’s feelings of uselessness

for not being stirred to act upon the revenge he has pro...

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... This is seen in the line “the spirit that I have seen might

be the devil, and the devil hath power to assume a pleasing

shape(610-612)”. I think that this reasoning is just an excuse for

Hamlet’s procrastination as during his encounter with the ghost; he

seemed to be somewhat convinced that the ghost is his father as he

starts to think about revenge. He acts in a hypocritical manner,

taking no actions into his own hands other than the staging of this

play in which he will accomplish nothing. While Hamlet could infer

that Claudius is guilty through the play, it will not put Hamlet any

closer to the fulfillment of his promise and so Hamlet will find

himself at the same position as before. He will continue to whine in

self-pity like a pathetic, rambling child because he has not taken

direct action to fulfill his promise.