Blog #15

Today we finished our class discussion of Hamlet’s first soliloquy. The points that we touched on were very interesting however because this is of course the revered “AP Lit” class these points inevitability lead me to more questions than answers. Of course I thought of no better place to discuss these questions than on my very own blog!

            At the end of class on Friday we were asked to state what we, as readers, thought Hamlet’s state of mind was as he’s giving his first soliloquy. I viewed this question from a purely observational standpoint. I considered the situation that Hamlet was in and based my interpretation on how I would feel in that sort of situation. If my father had just very recently passed away and my mother had just married my uncle, I would be very bitter and angry at the world. So naturally that is exactly what I put on my response to the question of Hamlet’s state of mind.

            However, upon closer reading of this text and of course Mrs. Clinch’s words of wisdom, I came to formulate a decision on Hamlet’s state of mind based solely on his soliloquy and not my personal feelings toward the situation. (I feel this similar process will also help me to “go deeper” within my essays!)

            My real solid conclusion that I came to based on the text alone was that Hamlet viewed himself as weak and helpless. Near the end of the soliloquy he compares himself to Hercules in the same way that he compares his father to his uncle. The parallel that he draws is that his uncle is “no more like my father/ Than I to Hercules”. While this statement is certainly a testament to the reverence that Hamlet places on his father, it is sort of an indirect degradation to Hamlet’s own abilities.

            By saying that his father and uncle are complete opposites, he is also stating that he and Hercules are complete opposites. Hercules is a Greek hero known for his courage and strength. This innate statement expresses to me Hamlet’s extremely low self-worth. Essentially Hamlet expresses in this soliloquy that he feel the complete opposite of courageous and strong. Hamlet feels weak, helpless; he has had no say in the matter of the marriage of his mother and uncle. He has no influence over the death of his father, he is essentially unable to control any of the recent tragedies of his life. This leaves him feeling weak and unable to fulfill his own expectations.