Act 5 Scene 5 Analysis
HAMLET
Give me your pardon, sir. I’ve done you wrong.
But pardon ’t, as you are a gentleman.
……
That I have shot mine arrow o'er the house
And hurt my brother.
Since Hamlet somehow knows this fencing fight is not only a simple competition between him and Laertes, Hamlet understands that why Laertes needs to fight with him, which because Hamlet killed Polonius, who is Laertes` father, by accidentally. “I here proclaim was madness.” In terms of anagorisis, Hamlet tells Laertes that the murder was not done by Hamlet`s consciousness, but rather by his madness. In addition, this is the first time in the whole play since Hamlet knows the truth from the ghost and he acts straight, Hamlet convince that he is mad and acts stupidly (killed Polonius) consequently. Hamlet hopes that Laertes can understand it is not Hamlet`s fault or guilty of killing Polonius and removes himself from the responsibility. “If’t be so, Hamlet is of the faction that is wronged.” In terms of metaphor/personification, Hamlet indicates that he is the victim of his mental illness so that he was controlled by it and killed Polonius. “His madness is poor Hamlet’s enemy.” In terms of personification/analogy, for Hamlet, he thinks he is not the one who should be blamed or punished rather his madness should be blamed as Hamlet`s enemy. “Let my disclaiming from a purposed evil Free me so far in your most generous thoughts That I have shot mine arrow o'er the house And hurt my brother.” In terms of analogy, Hamlet hints at Polonius` spying in Gertrude`s closet when Hamlet killed him by using “a purposed evil” and describes Polonius was accidental killed by him by using “I have shot mine arrow o'er the house And hurt my brother”, which “the house” means Gertrude`s closet. Originally, Hamlet thought the guy who hid behind the curtain was Claudius, and Hamlet promised that if Claudius has done something badly, he must kill Claudius. However, he did not know the guy behind the curtain was Polonius instead of Claudius. Plus his madness, he killed Polonius immediately by mistake, which it is the same as shoots a narrow and accidentally hurts Laertes (because Polonius died). Overall, in this soliloquy, Hamlet basically apologizes for how he has hurt Laertes, but agrees to the fight anyway because he is using it as his reason to murder Claudius to get his revenge.
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