"I have of late,—but wherefore I know not,—lost all my mirth, forgone all custom of exercises; and indeed, it goes so heavily with my disposition that this goodly frame, the earth, seems to me a sterile promontory; this most excellent canopy, the air, look you, this brave o’erhanging firmament, this majestical roof fretted with golden fire,—why, it appears no other thing to me than a foul and pestilent congregation of vapours. What a piece of work is man! How noble in reason! how infinite in faculties! in form and moving, how express and admirable! in action how like an angel! in apprehension, how like a god! the beauty of the world! the paragon of animals! And yet, to me, what is this quintessence of dust?"
The significance of this passage lies in that it holds Hamlet's true feelings about the conditions of his world. It is reflective of the sad state he has been in since his father's death. Hamlet describes the world in a rhetorical exercise that ends in the dismissal of it all being "dust". He acknowledges that the world means nothing to him, and this is a key aspect for the understanding of the entire play.
II;ii (lines 595-613)
"Fie upon't foh! About, my brain!....The play's the thing wherein I catch the conscience of the King."
This is a key passage because it contain's Hamlet's plan to prove what he believes about the true conditions of his father's death. The plan is to put on a play for the King that is similar to the account of the King Hamlet's death from scene I. Hamlet plans to expose the King's guilty conscience by inciting some sort of reaction from him. This will give him the proof he needs to avenge the death of his father.
-Sam Slug
I also thought it was very interesting, Hamlet's methodical reasoning behind organizing the play re-enactment of his father's murder. Hamlet's so worried about the morality of his choices to avenge his father's death and seems all too aware of the possibility that his father's ghost could have just been a devil in disguise. I think this speaks to Hamlet's true moral standing and how deeply he values goodness and righteousness. He does not want to perform the deed for any selfish reasons and he wants to make certain that Claudius really did commit the murder.
ReplyDelete- Tevie Slug
I really liked the first passage, Hamlet's soliloquy about his feelings towards everything. Really what it reminds me of are all of the tweets or posts on the Internet that are like "Ohhhh my life sucks and I don't have a boyfriend and school sucks and everyone is so dumb and they put mustard on my hot dog they know how much I hate mustard and no one cares except you beautiful strangers on the Internet." I felt like Hamlet was doing the same thing, just 16th century style. And, just as it is with teenagers today, I think there could be many different underlying psychological reasons for his "I hate everything and everything hates me" speech.
ReplyDeletexoxo, Cantore Slug