Why? Hamlet cannot kill Claudius maybe for his uncertainties, perhaps he 's just scared or is it he 's afraid of hurting his mother. This puts Hamlet into a truth seeking madness, one where he seems willing to lose at all cost. Shakespeare is having Hamlet do something that Hamlet will have his charter do in his play later on in the play. This moment will come in Act III when Hamlet thinks he finally got Claudius trapped. Shakespeare reveals one of the most purposeful lines of the play though Hamlet here. “For anything so overdone is for the purpose of playing, whose end, both at the first and now, was and is, to hold, as ‘twere, the mirror up to nature, to show virtue her own features, scorn her own image, and the very age and body of the time his form and pressure(Shakespeare).” The reason why this line means so much for Hamlet is he finally feels he can get that genuine reaction for from Claudius he 's been looking for. This passage from hamlet is significant because it 's going to sum up the play and should be speaking volume to the audience. This line by Shakespeare is going to lay out a couple of really important lessons for the …show more content…
The opening line of the quote is a big start. The opening line set a tone really on and trys to tell that when something is overdone it is an insult to it. That you are not being real to yourself or anyone. “Exaggeration has no place in the theater, where the purpose is to represent reality”(No Fear). The real lesson is to be oneself and not to try to act as someone different because you are just playing with your life. There is a really good example of this in the play. Hamlet is is madness has a very strange encounter with a girl named Ophelia. Before the death of Hamlet 's father Hamlet and Ophelia were in love. This strange encounter with Ophelia is one of Hamlet 's first communication with another person since he decided that he going to start acting mad. Hamlet is going in a sense over act here. He is trying see if Ophelia can be trusted. Instead she does not understand what Hamlet doing and thinks he 's mad in love with her. This is a good way to look at the quote and Hamlet is over doing what he is doing and can not get the reaction the he want from