Blog Response 7

In this soliloquy, Hamlet is acting to himself. He wonders why he cannot feel the passion of the bad actors have in the stage play he just saw, despite all the emotions he should be feeling. He acts melodramatically in order to rouse himself out of his impasse and into action. He exclaims, “O, what a rogue and peasant slave am I!” (II.2.547).  The “O” and the exclamation point emphasize and enlarge the emotion Hamlet is trying to feel. “Rogue” and “peasant” are strong and descriptive words that vividly evoke a certain character. Lastly, Hamlet makes this claim about himself, but the use of “I” at the end of the sentence slightly changes the meaning. It lends the line the feeling that Hamlet is observing himself from the outside, and that he is trying to see himself as a rogue and peasant slave. He does not truly feel that, but he wants to feel it.

Hamlet is impressed and distressed by the power of the emotions that the actors have: “Is it not monstrous that this player here, But in a fiction, in a dream of passion could force his soul so to his own conceit[?]” (II.2.548-550).  The word “monstrous” is a testament to the huge impact that the acting had. The phrase “dream of passion” similarly indicates that the “dream” of the acting was full of emotion. It also has another meaning: Hamlet can only dream of passion, and he wonders how he can create passion like the actor did. Hamlet needs to “force his soul so to his own conceit”, meaning he needs force himself to feel what he should feel. Because Hamlet sees the ability of acting to create real emotion, he acts to himself in order to create emotion. This is symbolized in when Hamlet muses, “The play’s the thing wherein I’ll catch the conscience of the king” (II.2. 602-603).  The play is what will catch Claudius, just like Hamlet acting to himself is what will drive him to kill Claudius.