Hamlets Soliloquy in the Play Hamlet by William Shakespeare - Essay Example

One can see that Hamlet is completely obsessed with his enormous longing to pay back for his father’s death, to take the role of judge and jury, and to punish his uncle for the sake of justice and his accounts. As a person of the noble class, he defends his honor and the reputation of his royal family:
‘When honor's at the stake. How to stand I then,
That have a father killed, a mother stained…’ (ibid)

On the one hand, he hasn’t already believed the ghost and has significant doubts concerning the fact that his father was poisoned, yet he is already tired of observing the decline of his motherland, held by the stranger, the person of lesser wisdom and talent (than his father had). Furthermore, Claudius threats to take Hamlet’s father’s place in his own and his mother’s lives, as he has become her lover. As an extremely impulsive person, Hamlet sees Gertrude as a betrayer of his father’s light memory. Between the lines of the text one can also read about his anger and despair, and, what is more important, his scorn for people who disregard human values and virtues. Anyway, Hamlet is strong enough to confess to his coward and lack of self-confidence for making any important steps:
‘A thought which, quartered, hath but one part wisdom
And ever three parts coward….’ (ibid)

In this Act, Hamlet, having learned about the courage of Fortinbras’s efforts and his desire to revenge against Denmark because of his father’s murder, committed by King Hamlet. This encouraged Hamlet to launch his plan of vengeance actions in the future. Hamlet, like every rash young person, seeing the enthusiasm of a person in similar conditions, decides to take measures and save the honor not only of himself but of his family and the Whole of Denmark. In the future, looking into Fortinbras’s example of revenge (‘The imminent death of twenty thousand men…’ (ibid))

, he weaves his plan. As Hamlet says, he is not able to think about anything else, but his vengeance and his longing to wash the disgrace out with blood. His obsession will increase and he will leave his dearly loved Ophelia and his bosom pal Horatio, suspecting them of treachery, in modern words it is possible to say that he had a phobia of being slaughtered.

Vengeance forces individuals to act blindly through wrath and ‘saint’ (‘blessed’) anger, rather than through rational motivation. The basis of it is the principle of an eye for an eye, but this theory is not intelligent and wise enough to live by. In his monologue, Hamlet reveals the only important notion: facing ‘official’ deception and humiliation of traditional mores, one should act and combat the most immoral sides of human nature. Read More