Hamlet - Lack Of Motivation
William Shakespeare's grand tragedy Hamlet is a tale of revenge that coupled with uncertainty and the complexity of action ultimately ends in disaster for all characters involved. In Act IV, Scene IV Hamlet is in argument with himself. He punishes himself for not acting soon enough after encountering Fortinbra's and hearing of his plan to claim Poland. Hamlet is impressed by Fortinbra's motivation to action that Hamlet himself lacks. At the end of his argument with himself he declares, "My thoughts be bloody, or be nothing worth!" to instill a new confidence within himself to execute his fathers revenge. By looking at the language in the passage we can see examples of the inaction/uncertainty theme present in most of Hamlet's inner conversations. This is important because Hamlet's inaction/uncertainty ultimately leads to his downfall. Shakespeare's uses patterns in this soliloquy to illustrate Hamlet's inaction very subtly throughout the passage. Patterns are evident all over the passage in the form of rhetorical questions. The first of these questions is... "How stand I then, that have a father kill'd, a mother stain'd, excitements of my reason and blood, and let all sleep?" (Lines 57 - 60) Overall, in this first question he do
On top of that it relates to Hamlets theme of inaction because, in the context of the whole paragraph on the war, while these men literally drop like flies for the seizure of Poland, Hamlet cannot muster enough will to execute his father's revenge. "Whose spirit, with divine ambition puffed, makes mouths at the invisible event" (Lines 50-51). When he should find natural inspiration to avenge his father's death, he has to look towards another source for inspiration (a large majority of the time), rather than within himself. Hamlet uses symbolism throughout the soliloquy that shows his inaction/uncertainty. Overall, the small bits of imagery Shakespeare uses effectively shows Hamlet's inaction/uncertainty in the passage. Lastly, "My thoughts be bloody, or be nothing worth. First of all, Shakespeare's complex language brings out many metaphors through Hamlets soliloquy that show his inaction/uncertainty. This shows that Hamlet is so self-conscious about his own actions that he has to think about others to find inspiration. The quote "Go to their graves like beds" is a very effective piece of imagery that literally sums up Hamlet's opinion of Fortinbras taking Poland. "Exposing what is mortal and unsure. That in essence he would become nothing more than a beast/savage. The figurative language that Shakespeare uses in the passage are metaphors, similes, and personification.
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