Prevailing Themes in Hamlet's Act One
Anguish and Frustration
Hamlet is the only character in act one that seems to be deeply affected by the passing of the last king. In fact, Queen Gertrude and King Claudius are quite jubilant because of their new found love and power together. This greatly contributes to the Anguish Hamlet feels because nobody else can identify with his loss.
Hamlet’s anguish and frustration is clearly highlighted when he says this to himself,
“O God! a beast that wants discourse of reason,
Would have mourn’d longer,—married with mine uncle,
My father’s brother; but no more like my father
Than I to Hercules: within a month;
Ere yet the salt of most unrighteous tears
Had left the flushing in her galled eyes,
She married:— O, most wicked speed, to post
With such dexterity to incestuous sheets!”
As you can tell Hamlet is very heartbroken by his mother’s swift marriage to his uncle. Not only has his father suddenly died but now his uncle his new stepfather is telling Hamlet to get over his loss like nothing happened. This is an example of hamlet’s frustration because everyone in the kingdom has seemingly forgotten the death of their once beloved King; Even Hamlet’s good friend Haratio was able to attended King Hamlet’s funeral because he was going to see the wedding.
The reason why anguish and frustration is detrimental to the development of this play is because it basically describes the way the main character Hamlet is feeling throughout. Hamlet’s emotions are majorly effected by the terrible loss of his father and he cannot seem to come to terms with his loss. The close people surrounding hamlet seem to not comprehend his ordeal making Hamlet exceedingly frustrated and this combination seems to inevitably spell disaster for Hamlet.
Imagine if you lost your father and your mom just married his brother right after how would you feel. If you put yourself into hamlet shoes and realize the sickening loss of losing a parent you can see the tremendous amount of anguish you
Hamlet is the only character in act one that seems to be deeply affected by the passing of the last king. In fact, Queen Gertrude and King Claudius are quite jubilant because of their new found love and power together. This greatly contributes to the Anguish Hamlet feels because nobody else can identify with his loss.
Hamlet’s anguish and frustration is clearly highlighted when he says this to himself,
“O God! a beast that wants discourse of reason,
Would have mourn’d longer,—married with mine uncle,
My father’s brother; but no more like my father
Than I to Hercules: within a month;
Ere yet the salt of most unrighteous tears
Had left the flushing in her galled eyes,
She married:— O, most wicked speed, to post
With such dexterity to incestuous sheets!”
As you can tell Hamlet is very heartbroken by his mother’s swift marriage to his uncle. Not only has his father suddenly died but now his uncle his new stepfather is telling Hamlet to get over his loss like nothing happened. This is an example of hamlet’s frustration because everyone in the kingdom has seemingly forgotten the death of their once beloved King; Even Hamlet’s good friend Haratio was able to attended King Hamlet’s funeral because he was going to see the wedding.
The reason why anguish and frustration is detrimental to the development of this play is because it basically describes the way the main character Hamlet is feeling throughout. Hamlet’s emotions are majorly effected by the terrible loss of his father and he cannot seem to come to terms with his loss. The close people surrounding hamlet seem to not comprehend his ordeal making Hamlet exceedingly frustrated and this combination seems to inevitably spell disaster for Hamlet.
Imagine if you lost your father and your mom just married his brother right after how would you feel. If you put yourself into hamlet shoes and realize the sickening loss of losing a parent you can see the tremendous amount of anguish you