Blog #7: Soliloquy 2

Hamlet, despite his criticism of the “monstrous…player[s]” (489) and their artificial emotion, is in fact jealous of this untruthful lifestyle, leading to the creation of his façade.

In this soliloquy, we once again see Hamlet berate himself for his shortcomings.  Throughout the soliloquy, personal pronouns are almost always paired with some sort of self-degradation.  The word “I” is associated with “peasant slave” (488), “muddy-mettled rascal” (506), “coward” (510), “villain” (511), “pigeon-livered” (516), and “ass” (521).  Belittling language like this and personal pronouns are used almost synonymously, as one often represents the other.  But why would Hamlet think so lowly of himself, let alone scold himself?  The soliloquy seems to offer an answer.  Hamlet is merely acting to be the noble prince who avenges his father’s death, when in reality that is not at all what Hamlet represents.  He was “prompted to [his] revenge by heaven and hell” (523), but cannot even do that.  Instead he “must like a whore unpack [his] heart with words / and fall a-cursing” (524-525).  He knows that the promise he made to his father’s ghost was to kill Claudius, but he is unable to do so.  He is conflicted, wanting to carry out the revenge plot but also not wanting the spirit to take advantage of his time of weakness and grief.  Obviously disgusted with his true persona, Hamlet must put on the façade of an honorable son in order to feel any sense of worth.