Act 1 Scene 2 Essay

Act 1 Scene 2
Hamlet monologue write-up

by:
Alexander Simms

The scene that I have chosen to recite and create a write-up for is the scene in which Prince Hamlet expresses his inner-struggle between faith and depression. With the death of his father not but three months earlier, the news of the incestuous married of his mother and father's brother strikes his with grief and anger. Being already within the tight clutch of depression, a speech delivered by his uncle in which he tell poor Hamlet that it is "unmanly" to grieve for so long, and that he should just suck it up and begin to see his uncle in the same light as his deceased father. This insult of a demand pushes Hamlet to contemplate just how much he values his own life, though most of his speech is anger that seems to fall both upon his Uncle, as well as his Mother. As this is Hamlet's first monologue, Shakespeare uses it to show the audience Hamlet's current mood and overall demeanor. It's meant to show just how grief-stricken he is concerning the death of his beloved father. In this small monologue, Shakespeare uses a flowing change of mood to show Hamlet's "wide" array of emotions, and just how badly they're effecting him. Starting with sadness, he explains how dull the world seems to him now, and how he feels as if he can never do anything useful with the resources the world has provided him. As it progresses, he explains how he is displeased with the fact the God proclaims that suicide, is in fact a sin, though he doesn't dwell on it much. Continuing, he exclaims just how much of a prolific man his father was, though of course a son would speak of his recently deceased father in such a light. He then berates his mother's actions, and just how swift she was to remarry. I shall now begin to break down his lines to show and explain the validity of my points. "O, that this too too sullied flesh would melt. Thaw and resolve its self into a dew." Here our poor boy Hamlet exclaims that he wishes himself, including all his problems and the annoyances that accompany them would simply melt away and cease to be. "Or that the Everlasting had not fixed his canon 'gainst self-slaughter." The "Everlasting" being God, he wishes that God had not proclaimed suicide a sin, so that he may freely take his own life. "O God! God! How weary, flat, stale and unprofitable seem to me all the uses of this world." Oh god, this world sucks! "Fie on't! Ahh fie, tis an unweeded garden that grows to seed; things rank and gross in nature posses it merely. That it might come to this." Okay now Hammy, getting a bit more cryptic. Had to look this one up, but "Fie on't, ahh fie" is simply an expression of disgust or disapproval. With that said, the "unweeded garden" must refer to his life, and how things most "rank and gross in nature" are allowed to plague him. To save my poor fingers the

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