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Poetic Analysis Of Hamlet's 'Aside'

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Poetic Analysis Of Hamlet's 'Aside'
This line appears in Shakespeare's tragedy "Hamlet" in Act I Scene 2 line 65 and is spoken as an ‘Aside’ by Hamlet when the new king, Claudius addresses him as "But now, my cousin Hamlet, and my son—" in line 64. Claudius calls Hamlet his 'cousin' and 'son' because after Old King Hamlet, Hamlet’s father, died his brother, Claudius took his throne and married his brother’s widowed wife, Gertrude, making him not only Hamlet’s guardian but also his step-father. In terms of the actual words, with “kin” Hamlet basically means to say that since Claudius has married his mother, Claudius is now more than a relative or “kin” to him because he is now his step-father. Furthermore, Hamlet expresses his disapproval of the marriage by saying that it was not a civilized or "kind" thing to do and foreshadows that it was not out of kindness or actual love that made Claudius marry Gertrude, but lust. Hamlet wishes to emphasize straight away that he and Claudius although related are not at all similar. …show more content…
Even so, Hamlet’s tone is rather wallowing, which is specified in the next few lines where Claudius and Gertrude both comment on Hamlet’s depressive mood and black clothes. Obviously, Hamlet is still mourning his father’s death and the discouraging way his parent’s treat him let the readers sympathize with Hamlet. Also, the fact that Hamlet spoke in ‘Aside’ reflects his mistrust of everyone in Elsinore and loneliness because he feels no one understands his sorrow and disgust nor does he believe that anyone is worthy of hearing

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