Hamlet Evolution
Hamlet evolves during the course of the play. Nowhere is this more visible (and audible) than in his soliloquies. For instance, his soliloquies in Act II, Act II, and Act IV are each distinctively different from one another. This is even evident in the punctuation Shakespeare uses. The number of exclamation points Shakespeare uses in writing Hamlet's soliloquies decreases significannot ly during the course of the play.
In Act II, Hamlet is blaming himself for many problems. He is angry with himself because he has not yet acted on his plan to kill Claudius. He attacks himself for not being as emotional as the actor on the stage.
O, what a rogue and peasant slave am I!/Is it not monstrous that this player here,/But in fiction, in a dream of passion,/Could force his soul so to his own conceit/That from her working all his visage wann'd,/Tears in his eyes, distraction in's aspect,/A broken voice, and his whole function suiting. With forms to his conceit? (II, ii, 490-497)
In this soliloquy, he is questioning how other people become emotional. He asks what Hecuba means to the mere actor on stage, who cried because of her. He wonders what he would do, had the actor had the same reasons to cry as Hamlet had. He says: What's Hecuba to him, or he to Hecuba,/that he should weep for her?/What would he do,/Had he the motive and the cue for passion that I have? (II, ii, 499-502)
He answers his own questions. He says that the actor would "drown the stage with tears" (II, ii, 502) and "cleave the general ear with horrid speech."(II, ii, 503) He does not talk about his mother at all in this soliloquy. He is, however, still disgusted by what has just happened. He hates Claudius and talks about him more in this soliloquy. He says: I should have fatted all the region kites/With this slave's offal: bloody, bawdy villain!/Remorseless, treacherous, lecherous, kindless villain! (II, ii, 521-523)
His diction is very visual and physical. It is quite concrete, and can
In Act II, Hamlet is blaming himself for many problems. He is angry with himself because he has not yet acted on his plan to kill Claudius. He attacks himself for not being as emotional as the actor on the stage.
O, what a rogue and peasant slave am I!/Is it not monstrous that this player here,/But in fiction, in a dream of passion,/Could force his soul so to his own conceit/That from her working all his visage wann'd,/Tears in his eyes, distraction in's aspect,/A broken voice, and his whole function suiting. With forms to his conceit? (II, ii, 490-497)
In this soliloquy, he is questioning how other people become emotional. He asks what Hecuba means to the mere actor on stage, who cried because of her. He wonders what he would do, had the actor had the same reasons to cry as Hamlet had. He says: What's Hecuba to him, or he to Hecuba,/that he should weep for her?/What would he do,/Had he the motive and the cue for passion that I have? (II, ii, 499-502)
He answers his own questions. He says that the actor would "drown the stage with tears" (II, ii, 502) and "cleave the general ear with horrid speech."(II, ii, 503) He does not talk about his mother at all in this soliloquy. He is, however, still disgusted by what has just happened. He hates Claudius and talks about him more in this soliloquy. He says: I should have fatted all the region kites/With this slave's offal: bloody, bawdy villain!/Remorseless, treacherous, lecherous, kindless villain! (II, ii, 521-523)
His diction is very visual and physical. It is quite concrete, and can