Act 1, Scene 2 presents the first soliloquy of Hamlet, revealing Hamlet’s inner thoughts to the audience and creating a dejected and bitter tone to reinforce Hamlet’s proclamation of his grief. Shakespeare’s specific diction, punctuation marks and mythological allusions provide a striking contrast to the controlled and artificial dialogue that he previously used with Claudius. Hamlet reveals his profound melancholy in his outpour of anger as he floods his speech with harsh and depressing diction such as “thaw” and the idea that his “flesh would melt.” These words clearly show his desire to melt out of despondency and escape reality as the thought of suicide first begins to contaminate his mind. Existence is a burden, as Shakespeare emphasizes
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This contrasts with the speech of other characters, notably Claudius. Shakespeare creates Claudius’s speech to be smooth and soft through not only enjambment, but also the addition of an extra unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. In another instance, to demonstrate the sorrowful tone, Shakespeare uses consonance in “not...nor…come…good” to stress the “o” sound, intensifying the tone of hopelessness, and grief, and then suddenly slowing the line down to a period. In doing so, Shakespeare points out that it is futile for Hamlet to continue to rant regarding his bitter and depressed state. He can continue to go on “everlasting[ly]” and therefore, Shakespeare rapidly ends Hamlet’s poetic words, causing the reader to confront and understand that his despair presents itself to be continuous and “everlasting.” The disconsolate and bitter tone of the passage is further developed through Shakespeare’s use of …show more content…
He speaks crudely and with disgust, creating far-fetched and exaggerated comparisons to show that his melancholy has thrown him into a disillusioned state of mind. He is blinded by his own depression that he is unable to acknowledge the many imperfections that any man holds, including his deceased father. The reader feels pity and once again a tone of despondency is created at the realization that Hamlet has not accepted his father’s death. Shakespeare then continues to use these mythological references to highlight how far away Hamlet is from reality. Gertrude is seen contrasting Niobe, who epitomizes grief. They are both flawed, and this creates a sense of negativity, and hopelessness at humanity. The punctuation that Shakespeare uses in this instance, “Like Niobe, all tears-why she, even she – O God!” indicate Hamlet falling prey to his emotions as he briefly lapses into his own mind and is therefore, unable to voice his thoughts. He is not able to separate reality from his emotions, as they overcome him and he begins to yell his thoughts. The exclamation mark emphasizes Hamlet’s struggle in maintaining a straight train of
This contrasts with the speech of other characters, notably Claudius. Shakespeare creates Claudius’s speech to be smooth and soft through not only enjambment, but also the addition of an extra unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. In another instance, to demonstrate the sorrowful tone, Shakespeare uses consonance in “not...nor…come…good” to stress the “o” sound, intensifying the tone of hopelessness, and grief, and then suddenly slowing the line down to a period. In doing so, Shakespeare points out that it is futile for Hamlet to continue to rant regarding his bitter and depressed state. He can continue to go on “everlasting[ly]” and therefore, Shakespeare rapidly ends Hamlet’s poetic words, causing the reader to confront and understand that his despair presents itself to be continuous and “everlasting.” The disconsolate and bitter tone of the passage is further developed through Shakespeare’s use of …show more content…
He speaks crudely and with disgust, creating far-fetched and exaggerated comparisons to show that his melancholy has thrown him into a disillusioned state of mind. He is blinded by his own depression that he is unable to acknowledge the many imperfections that any man holds, including his deceased father. The reader feels pity and once again a tone of despondency is created at the realization that Hamlet has not accepted his father’s death. Shakespeare then continues to use these mythological references to highlight how far away Hamlet is from reality. Gertrude is seen contrasting Niobe, who epitomizes grief. They are both flawed, and this creates a sense of negativity, and hopelessness at humanity. The punctuation that Shakespeare uses in this instance, “Like Niobe, all tears-why she, even she – O God!” indicate Hamlet falling prey to his emotions as he briefly lapses into his own mind and is therefore, unable to voice his thoughts. He is not able to separate reality from his emotions, as they overcome him and he begins to yell his thoughts. The exclamation mark emphasizes Hamlet’s struggle in maintaining a straight train of