etween what Hamlet feels his course of action should be, and what he actually does. Asking the 1st Player to recite an extract from "Anea's tale to Dido" insinuates that he compares himself to the "rugged Pyrrhus" (II.ii.448). Though it is clear from his self analysis that Hamlet does not consider himself the conventional hero, the analogy here is that of Shakespeare and not Hamlet. That is not the point, as the story still enables the audience to evaluate the behaviour of Hamlet, in contrast with a parallel course of action.
             The 1st Players' speech is also an opportunity for Shakespeare to repeat a key theme of his won plays. The familiar theme of "death of fathers" (I.ii104) is exemplified in the archetypal character of Priam (who had fifty sons). The story of his slaughter therefore portrays the fall of a "father" in the "murder" (457) of a king. His deaths man Pyrrhus, "trick'd" in "total gules", appears as the blazon of a killer. As a type he is like Lucianus, ambivalent, embodiment at once of the murderer and (as son of Achilles) of the avenging hero. In this aspect his vigour is the opposite of Hamlet's inactivity. However, there are elements of Hamlet in the performance of Pyrrhus. This is palpable in the fact that he "stood" with his sword drawn, and temporarily "did nothing" (478), before his "aroused vengeance" (484) re-establishes his antithesis. Comparisons can also be made between his description of the mourning queen; "the instant bust of clamour that she made" (511), and the brief grief of Queen Gertrude, who remarried at "wicked speed" (I.ii.156). Hamlet is dismayed by his mothers' buoyant nature, so soon after
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