An Analysis Of Sullied Flesh In Hamlet

Sullied Flesh is an iconic soliloquy that appears in Act I Scene II of the famous Shakespeare play, Hamlet. Before this point, in a ghost has appeared in the garden and the ghost tends to look like elder Hamlet, Hamlet’s father who had recently been murdered. Then, in scene II, the reader learns that Claudius, elder Hamlet’s brother has married elder Hamlet’s widowed wife. This causes Hamlet to lash out in rage and go into this soliloquy about what he is feeling. Hamlet, a 17 year old boy, is easily consumed by his emotions and does not hesitate to share them throughout the course of the play. Hamlet first expresses his rage by cursing himself and “the everlasting,” otherwise known as God, for deeming suicide a sin. Hamlet is overcome with pity for himself at this point, for good reason. As an actor, I would portray this scene first by looking down at myself in disgust. Making sure to touch my skin as if it was not of the right texture when vocalizing the words, “flesh would melt.” I would continue my pity party into the next few lines, throwing my hand on a Bible to emphasize the words, “O God! God!” These lines would be spoken slowly, possibly with tears to show that I am defeated. After this, Hamlet goes on to discuss how great his father was and how …show more content…
As an actor, when Hamlet says, “it is not, nor cannot, come to good,” I would look straight out into the audience to highlight the foreshadowing he is talking about. Lastly, Hamlet is once again drowning in pity saying that he must break his heart and keep his mouth shut. I would be sure to play up the self pity because Hamlet is going through a terrible tragedy in his life and Hamlet is the type of person that would tweet about how bad of a day he is having if the only thing that went wrong was that the barista got his Starbucks order