Close Reading Of Claudius's Soliloquy

Initially the extract begins halfway through Claudius’s self revelation soliloquy, where he expresses his heavy burden of guilt attained from the murder of his brother. The formal features within the extract assist to the portrayal of underlying characters motives and emotions, as well as connecting relatable lines or words to other parts of the play. The exploration of the two characters are seen through soliloquies, a personal moment which enhances the intimacy between character and audience. Claudius’s soliloquy is imperative for the audience’s understanding of his character, as it is a poignant moment when he first clearly expresses his spiritual conflict, in regards to the prevailing guilt he feels for murdering his brother. The guilt …show more content…
This is emphasised with the sporadic punctuation mid sentences that sets the poetic piece from one thought to another and the reoccurring rhetorical questions, ‘When then? What rests? Try what repentance can –what can it not? Yet what can it, when one cannot repent?’ (3.3.64-66) highlighting his insecurities. Throughout Hamlet, Claudius’s speeches adopt a rhetoric tone. He is a passionate, strong leader, yet through this scene the tone is altered by the question marks. Using the punctuation this way again demonstrates his conflict with himself and highlight the fact Claudius’s mentality is suffering a lapse in confidence and certitude. He is battling with the prevailing sense of guilt and whether or not to pray. However, if he were to pray he would knows that would place him as a hypocrite, as in order to fully repent he would need to rid his life of all the possessions he gained from the immoral …show more content…
Bow Stubborn knees’ (3.3.67-70). The alliteration of ‘bosom black as death’ creates ambiguity, as the connotation ‘bosom’ is generally associated with a woman that is of a nurturing or sexual nature. Therefore, is seems Shakespeare is suggesting that Claudius is not fulfilling his avuncular role, by nurturing and guiding Hamlet but instead by the use of ‘black’ and ‘death’ both dark negative terms implying he is killing the relationship. Alternatively, ‘bosom’ could metaphorically represent Claudius’s heart that has been tainted black from the act of poisoning his Brother. Consequently leaving Claudius with a ‘limed soul struggling to be free.’ An association to ‘limed’ in basic terms is a neutralizer that stabilizes acidic soil, this suggests that under the evil façade the power hungry protagonist has a natural fair side however his ‘stubborn knees’ will not obey his