1.2.129-159--+Hamlet

Fiction – Hamlet passage Act1- Scene2(Hamlet's speech)

Author-William Shakespeare Time and circumstances of publication - 1603 Context Act 1 scene 2 WHAT IS GOING ON BEFORE THE SCENE STARTS – Hamlet is talking with his new father Claudius and his mother about his old father's passing away. Claudius tells him that its all right to mourn his father's death, but not for a prolonged time period as he his doing now. He states that is “unmanly” and that “a father lost his father....etc.” It is also told within this passage that Claudius has married Hamlet's mother in only a month's time, which brings Hamlet even more grief.

Synopsis of the scene: briefly tell the story in or two sentences Why is this passage important - This passage is important because it sets up a major theme within the play, which is the mysteries of the afterlife. Does it reveal important details about the character speaking or other character’s not speaking? - Yes, it shows that Claudius is a rotten individual and a shifty character from the start.

Is it important to the plot? If so, what does it do? - This passage is important to the plot because of how it sets up the major theme stated in the above response.

Does it reveal certain themes? - Again, it is stated in the above response....

Does it illustrate motifs that are important.? - Yes, it introduces a major topic on everyone's mind, “what happens when we die? What is the afterlife like? Is suicide wrong?”

Does the passage have a structure? If so explain how it is important. - The passage begins by explaining how Hamlet views the death of his father and then talks about the remarriage of his mother, and then concludes by stating that he should end his life. It is important because it introduces the major theme in the play and backs it up with support.

Create a controlling idea for the commentary: How do the salient literary features the dramatist uses contribute to the reading, interpretation or meaning of the passage? Form + meaning - Shakespeare uses this passage as a way to convey his thoughts on what happens in the afterlife. He states that humans are afraid of the mysteries of the afterlife, so they cling to their lives in order to prolong their realization of what the afterlife is really like. The passage also supports the idea that suicide is the hardest thing to commit to because of how humans are afraid of the afterlife.

Conclusion: Explain how the passage is relevant to the development of the entire play, how it relates to life, human nature or the world. Then apply this idea to your life or world. - The passage is an important part the play, because it illustrates the major theme of the mysteries of the afterlife. So yeah.....I said that multiple times throughout this thang......and yes I said “thang”

1 O, that this too too solid flesh would melt 2 Thaw and resolve itself into a dew! 3 Or that the Everlasting had not fix'd 4 His canon 'gainst self-slaughter! 5 O God! God! How weary, stale, flat and unprofitable, 6 Seem to me all the uses of this world! 7 Fie on't! ah fie! 'tis an unweeded garden,

8 That grows to seed; things rank and gross in nature

9 Possess it merely. That it should come to this!

10 But two months dead: nay, not so much, not two:

11 So excellent a king; that was, to this,

12 Hyperion to a satyr; so loving to my mother

13 That he might not beteem the winds of heaven

14 Visit her face too roughly. Heaven and earth!

15 Must I remember? why, she would hang on him,

16 As if increase of appetite had grown

<span style="color: #86133e; font-family: TimesNewRomanPSMT,serif;">17 By what it fed on: and yet, within a month--

<span style="color: #86133e; font-family: TimesNewRomanPSMT,serif;">18 Let me not think on't--Frailty, thy name is woman!--

<span style="color: #86133e; font-family: TimesNewRomanPSMT,serif;">19 A little month, or ere those shoes were old

<span style="color: #86133e; font-family: TimesNewRomanPSMT,serif;">20 With which she follow'd my poor father's body,

<span style="color: #86133e; font-family: TimesNewRomanPSMT,serif;">21 Like Niobe, all tears:--why she, even she--

<span style="color: #86133e; font-family: TimesNewRomanPSMT,serif;">22 O, God! a beast, that wants discourse of reason,

<span style="color: #86133e; font-family: TimesNewRomanPSMT,serif;">23 Would have mourn'd longer--married with my uncle,

<span style="color: #86133e; font-family: TimesNewRomanPSMT,serif;">24 My father's brother, but no more like my father

<span style="color: #86133e; font-family: TimesNewRomanPSMT,serif;">25 Than I to Hercules: within a month:

<span style="color: #86133e; font-family: TimesNewRomanPSMT,serif;">26 Ere yet the salt of most unrighteous tears

<span style="color: #86133e; font-family: TimesNewRomanPSMT,serif;">27 Had left the flushing in her galled eyes,

<span style="color: #86133e; font-family: TimesNewRomanPSMT,serif;">28 She married. O, most wicked speed, to post

<span style="color: #86133e; font-family: TimesNewRomanPSMT,serif;">29 With such dexterity to incestuous sheets! It

<span style="color: #86133e; font-family: TimesNewRomanPSMT,serif;">30 is not nor it cannot come to good:

<span style="color: #86133e; font-family: TimesNewRomanPSMT,serif;">31 But break, my heart; for I must hold my tongue.

Analysis of the passage

“ <span style="font-family: TimesNewRomanPSMT,serif;">O, that this too too solid flesh would melt” Line 1, solid flesh melting is a metaphor for suicide. <span style="color: #86133e; font-family: TimesNewRomanPSMT,serif;">"His canon 'gainst self-slaughter!" Line 4, Hamlet states how he wishes that God had not made suicide a sin, which is one of the first indications of his thoughts of committing suicide, which later becomes a major part of the play. <span style="color: #86133e; font-family: TimesNewRomanPSMT,serif;">" <span style="color: #86133e; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;">How weary, stale, flat and unprofitable," All of these words refer to suicide. “<span style="font-family: TimesNewRomanPSMT,serif;">Hyperion to a satyr;” Line 12, this comparison of Hyperion to a Satyr is a way to say how Claudius is a God compared to a mythical beast(horse/goat lolz...).

<span style="color: #86133e; font-family: TimesNewRomanPSMT,serif;">Literary devices: <span style="color: #86133e; font-family: TimesNewRomanPSMT,serif;">Allusion-Greek mythology -Hyperion and Satyr comparison, Niobe, Herculues. <span style="color: #86133e; font-family: TimesNewRomanPSMT,serif;">Metaphors-Many, but an example would be “But break, my heart; for I must hold my tounge”. Used by Hamlet to show his distaste for Claudius and his mother's relationship, but he cannot say anything about that. <span style="color: #86133e; font-family: TimesNewRomanPSMT,serif;">Tone - Has an uncertain feeling to it, brought about by the major theme of Mysteries of the afterlife. Kevin W.