Hamlet Analysis Essay, Research Paper
Pleading with Hamlet not to follow the Ghost, Horatio asks him to think about what might happen if the Ghost “assume some other horrible form, / Which might deprive your sovereignty of reason / And draw you into madness. Horatio believes that the Ghost is not Hamlet’s father in the form of a ghost, but a spirit in the form of Hamlet’s father. That spirit could instantly take on another shape or lure Hamlet to the edge of a cliff, where the sight of the depth “so many fathoms to the sea” puts “toys of desperation . . . into every brain.” “Something have you heard / Of Hamlet’s transformation”. The King, when he is telling Rosencrantz and Guildenstern to find out what’s wrong with Hamlet, says that Hamlet has been “put . . . from th’understanding of himself.” The King may be just saying this as an excuse to see what he can find out what Hamlet may know about his father’s murder, but Gertrude describes Hamlet as “My too much changed son” , and she probably has Hamlet’s best interests at heart. “I have of late–but wherefore I know not–lost all my mirth”, says Hamlet to Rosencrantz and Guildenstern. After discovering that they are spying on him, he says he’ll tell them what’s wrong with him, to save them the trouble of finding out for themselves. Because of this, it’s hard to tell how to take the famous speech. When he says “man delights not me” is he sincere, or is he playing the melancholy Dane for the benefit of his false friends?
“O, that this too too solid flesh would melt / Thaw and resolve itself into a dew! At the opening of his first soliloquy, Hamlet expresses a longing for a gentle escape from this world. “I do not set my life at a pin’s fee”, says Hamlet when his friends are trying to keep him from following the Ghost. “Into my grave”, replies Hamlet to Polonius’ question, “Will you walk out of the air, my lord?” Apparently the chamber is drafty, and Polonius is inviting Hamlet to go to a warmer room, but Hamlet implies that he’d sooner be dead than go anyplace with Polonius. Moments later, Hamlet makes a comment that sounds similar, but expresses a great weariness with life. Polonius says goodbye with the usual polite words, “My lord, I will take my leave of you,” and Hamlet replies “You cannot, sir, take from me any thing that I will willingly part withal: except my life, except my life, except my life”. Hamlet means that he is very willing to be free of Polonius, and that he is even more willing to be free of his own life
Hamlet is commanded by the Ghost to revenge his father’s “foul and most unnatural murder”. Hamlet promises that when the Ghost tells the story of the murder, his revenge will follow. However, at the end of the scene he doesn’t seem to be in a big hurry. By the time the players come to Elsinore, it’s been a while since Hamlet promised the Ghost that he would take revenge.