hamlet

             Hamlet by William Shakespeare is a tragic play about a young man who is out to avenge his fathers' "murder". Although very different, these two soliloquies have many things in common.
             In both soliloquies we are able to see Hamlet's insecurity. This is very clear in the 1st line of the first soliloquy, "O, what a rouge and peasant slave am I". In this line, Hamlet's frustration is very clear and how he thinks of himself at that moment is obviously not what he thinks is honorable. However, in the 2nd soliloquy, Hamlet's insecurity tends to be more towards his cowardliness. He has made the decision about killing Claudius but doesn't seem to believe that he has the guts to go through with it.
             Hamlet's comparison of himself with others is present in both soliloquies. In the 1st soliloquy, Hamlet compares himself with the player..for example.. "What would he do had he the motive and (the cue) for passion that I have? He would drown the stage with tears and cleave the general ear with horrid speech, make mad the guilty and appall the free...". Unlike the 1st soliloquy, in the 2nd Hamlet compares himself to a beast. He describes how maybe only a beast would act as he is at this very moment.
             The third comparative aspect, between these two soliloquies, is Hamlet's reference to being oblivious. In the 1st soliloquy he refers to being John-a-dreams (proverbial name for an absent-minded dreamer), while in the 2nd soliloquy he simply uses the phrase "bestial oblivion" (mindlessness like the beasts'). This is noticeable in the quote "Now whether it be bestial oblivion or some scruple of thinking too precisely on Th'event..."
             Despite how different the two topics of the soliloquies might seem, there are similarities and differences that define them. All of the above are just a few of the many that are still left to be looked into.
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hamlet. (1969, December 31). In MegaEssays.com. Retrieved 14:41, May 19, 2024, from https://www.megaessays.com/viewpaper/32586.html