Preview

Drama

Powerful Essays
Open Document
Open Document
3841 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Drama
ma
ORIGINAL TEXT: (Act 1, Scene 2)
O that this too too solid flesh would melt,
Thaw, and resolve itself into a dew!
Or that the Everlasting had not fix'd
His canon 'gainst self-slaughter! O God! O God!
How weary, stale, flat, and unprofitable
Seem to me all the uses of this world!
Fie on't! O fie! 'tis an unweeded garden,
That grows to seed; things rank and gross in nature
Possess it merely. That it should come to this!
But two months dead! — nay, not so much, not two:
So excellent a king; that was, to this,
Hyperion to a satyr; so loving to my mother,
That he might not beteem the winds of heaven
Visit her face too roughly. Heaven and earth!
Must I remember? Why, she would hang on him
As if increase of appetite had grown
By what it fed on: and yet, within a month, —
Let me not think on't, — Frailty, thy name is woman! —
A little month; or ere those shoes were old
With which she followed my poor father's body
Like Niobe, all tears; — why she, even she, —
O God! a beast that wants discourse of reason,
Would have mourn'd longer, — married with mine uncle,
My father's brother; but no more like my father
Than I to Hercules: within a month;
Ere yet the salt of most unrighteous tears
Had left the flushing in her galled eyes,
She married: — O, most wicked speed, to post
With such dexterity to incestuous sheets!
It is not, nor it cannot come to good;
But break my heart, — for I must hold my tongue!
SUMMARY:
What is the summary of this Hamlet's First Soliloquy text? Following is the explanation and summary of Hamlet's First Soliloquy.

The first soliloquy of Hamlet falls in the Act 1, Scene II, after the King Claudius and the Queen Gertrude urges Hamlet in the open court to cast off the deep melancholy which, as they think, has taken possession of his mind as a consequence of his father’s death. In their opinion, Hamlet has sufficiently grieved for his father’s death already. Prior to the soliloquy, the King Claudius and Queen Gertrude

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    This soliloquy is the closing part of the second act and points out the inner feelings of the prince Hamlet being affected by the tremendous acting of the player which was full of meaning to him.…

    • 1130 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Shakespeare Major Paper

    • 2842 Words
    • 8 Pages

    In Shakespeare’s Hamlet, Hamlet himself is a difficult character to figure out. With his elegant intensity and reckless but cautious attitude, he is able to keep his readers entertained as the play progresses. Through his irrational decisions, emotional madness and admirable qualities, Hamlet becomes a character with whom readers will continuously empathize. Our first impression of Hamlet sets the tone for the entire play. We are brought to one of the beginning scenes where Hamlet is…

    • 2842 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Research Paper

    • 504 Words
    • 3 Pages

    1. What is the subject of Hamlet’s “To be or not to be” speech? I expect a fully developed answer.…

    • 504 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Hamlet Journal Assignments

    • 3831 Words
    • 16 Pages

    The following are journal entries for our reading of Hamlet. Each entry should be completed after we have finished reading and/or viewing that scene in class. The purpose is to prepare you for class discussion; therefore, you should have something written for each entry before we discuss it in class (even if it’s only a question). See Ms. M with questions ahead of time – don’t expect to be given answers in class! Be sure to cite textual evidence to support all your answers – remember to record act, scene and line numbers.…

    • 3831 Words
    • 16 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Shakespeare’s employment of dramatic struggle and disillusionment through his character Hamlet, contributes to the continued engagement of modern audiences. The employment of the soliloquy demonstrates Shakespeare’s approach to the dramatic treatment of these emotions. The soliloquy brings a compensating intimacy, and becomes the means by which Shakespeare brings the audience not only to a knowledge of secret thoughts of characters, but into the closest emotional touch with them too. Through this, the audiences therefore gain a closer relationship with Hamlet, and are absorbed by him because they are able to resonate with his circumstances, as he is faced with enduring truths of the human condition. Through these, the struggle and disillusionment of life, the world, women and himself are identified.…

    • 905 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    “To be or not to be” can arguably be Shakespeare’s most recognizable quote in all of his work. Hamlet attempts to reason with himself on whether or not death is the only solution to end all life suffering portrays him as both confused and cowardly. In this monologue, Hamlet goes into a tough debate over whether he should end his own suffering by commit suicide, or to step it up and revenge for his father. This solilguy also shows the reader on how Hamlet deals with stress and the lost of love one. In conclusion, he decided to live and fulfill his promise. Indication from this monologue exposed Hamlet’s flaws for lacking of action, being hesitant, and unable to settle his mind. This help lay the foundation…

    • 730 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    English 30

    • 995 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Throughout the play Hamlet, William Shakespeare presents many soliloquies. The character Hamlet for example has a few soliloquies in which he contemplates whether to take vengeance on his uncle or not. Shakespeare is constantly calling attention to Hamlet’s worries and delays. He repeatedly raises the issue of delay in decision making. Even though as the reader, an individual may think it is something he/she imposes on the play, but the play raises the issue itself. In Hamlet’s first soliloquy, Shakespeare shows the first true insight into Hamlet’s contemplative nature and his suppression of the passionate feelings towards Gertrude and Claudius. Hamlet agonizes over his hopelessness in carrying out the deed to avenge his father and is always searching for reasons why he is acting the way he is. No matter how much he…

    • 995 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    ‘Hamlet’ the character, as well as, the play has, very often and rightly, been referred to as a ‘riddle’ by learned critics, and there have always been attempts to solve this riddle. But to endeavor to reach any answer, whether that answer is satisfactory or not is another issue, to the riddle of Hamlet’s character without probing into his soliloquies is a hard pill to swallow. These soliloquies give us an insight into the intentions, thoughts and feelings of Hamlet at different stages of the play, and these are very crucial to the development of his character. His seventh soliloquy is no exception.…

    • 767 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The primary function of the first soliloquy is to reveal to the audience Hamlet's profound melancholia and the reasons for his despair. Hamlet explains, with an outpouring of disgust, anger, sorrow, and grief that everything in his world is either futile or contemptible.…

    • 529 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Hamlet Horatio's Eulogy

    • 653 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Based on Shakespeare’s great novel, Hamlet, this piece is a eulogy written for Hamlet Prince of Denmark, to be presented by the character Horatio.…

    • 653 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Hamlet's First Soliloquy

    • 470 Words
    • 2 Pages

    In the first section of this soliloquy Hamlet is considering suicide but does not follow through with his thoughts because of religious reasons. This is apparent through Hamlet's words, "or that the everlasting had not fixed his cannon 'gainst self-slaughtered!" Shakespeare's use of words such as flat, stale, and weary contributes to a tone of sorrow and sadness. The long, drawn out sentences also create a tone of distress. As an actor performing this soliloquy, I would act out this first section until "...seem to me all the uses of this world!" as a despondent tone.…

    • 470 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Hamlet: What If?

    • 1538 Words
    • 7 Pages

    There are an infinite amount of what-ifs in history. What if the soldier that had Hitler in his scopes actually shot and killed him a bit earlier? What if one party in the Cold War actually attacked and initiated World War III? What if the Titanic steered clear of the iceberg? What if the Mayflower capsized? What if John Wilkes Booth was exposed on his way to Ford’s Theatre? What if the people of Pompeii evacuated the area of the volcano? What if Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin were stranded on the moon, left to starve to death or commit suicide and Richard Nixon had to read his pre-written speech?…

    • 1538 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    He goes on to continue that the player would “drown the stage in tears and cleave the general ear with horrid speech” if he knew what Hamlet’s burden. He is thinking that the player was so skilled that he could have the entire kingdom revolting against Claudius in a five-minute speech than Hamlet has done in two acts of a play! Hamlet is upset and angry with himself because this is so. He has let the vile King out of his sight too many times when he could have taken revenge, but he has failed to do so. Hamlet’s soliloquy reflects this anger at failure theme in Act II, Scene…

    • 734 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Revenge of Hamlet

    • 1380 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Brooke, Tucker. "Hamlet 's Third Soliloquy." Studies in Philology, Vol 14, No.2 (Apr., 1917): 117-22. University of North Carolina Press. Web.…

    • 1380 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Drama

    • 686 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Drama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance.[1] The term comes from a Greek word "dran" meaning "action" which is derived from "to do" or "to act".…

    • 686 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays