Hamlet Analysis

Hamlet begins his soliloquy with the first line “to be, or not to be…” Hamlet is questioning his desire whether to live or to die. However, Hamlet doesn’t directly refer to himself or his choice as it is written in the passive tense, making the question appear more like a philosophical argument. Hamlet lists many sufferings of life through metaphors such as “slings and arrows” to express his “outrageous fortune.” The words “slings and arrows” have military connotations as they are projectile weapons, which represents Hamlets distress as he refers to his suffering as weapons being used to shoot him. Also the term “outrageous fortune” portrays how he feels he is unlucky, Hamlet feels as if nothing can be done about it. Hamlet questions his honour by asking himself if it is better to suffer the pains of life rather than killing himself. This broadens the audiences ideas on Hamlets philosophy and what is going on through his mind, that he is contemplating if he should live or die, and seems to be having a battle with himself. The soliloquy is an example where Shakespeare gives more depth to his characters by showing their ideology.

Another example where Hamlet poses a philosophical question about life is in another soliloquy where he says “What is a man if his chief good and market of his time be but to sleep and feed?” Again Hamlet does not directly refer to himself and expresses the question as a philosophical debate. The meaning of the line is what is a man if all he does with his time is to sleep and eat. The language device Shakespeare uses is a metaphor expressing the mans choice as “the market of his time”. The word “market” suggests the idea that there are a variety of choices that a man can do with his time, but Hamlet refers to sleeping and eating. This relates back to Shakespeare’s style where he develops his characters, making them more dimensional by expressing their deeper thoughts, and in Hamlets case through philosophical questions.


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