The Importance Of Hamlet's Speech In 'Aeneid'

In Act 2, scene 2, Claudius invites Hamlet’s childhood friends Rosencrantz and Guildenstern to come to Elsinore because of his apparent concern about “Hamlet’s transformation,” that he may be going mad due to his father’s death and another source (II.ii.5). Hamlet reveals to his friends that he is in a state of despair because of the events concerning his father. Soon, Hamlet’s situation changes from despair and uncertainty finally to what seems to be a plan in progress. His friends announce to him that traveling players have arrived to Elsinore. When Hamlet meets with the players, he insists that one of the players recite a speech from a play. He firstly wishes to hear this speech because this play had only been performed once and he also respects these players greatly.
The speech that one player recites is from the play Aeneid by Virgil. The specific speech recited is one made by Aeneas, a warrior that survived the conquering of Troy, …show more content…
Because of this, Hamlet’s way to solve this internal struggle he is having on deciding to act or not to act, is to have someone else, literally, do the acting for him. His modified version of The Murder of Gonzago with the insertion of his speech is his way of resolving his struggle. He thinks it will bring him relief of trying to figure out how to deal with the death of his father. This model of action is problematic because having someone act for you is ineffective. He is not doing the acting. He believes that this is clever, but in reality, it is almost as ineffective as not doing anything at all, which is what Hamlet is doing simply by only imagining what he could do to avenge his father, but not manifesting any real