In this particular soliloquy, Hamlet is agonizing over the fact that he has not yet succeeded in avenging the murder of his father. Hamlet is on a ship destined for England, accompanied by Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, when he encounters the Captain under the charge of Prince Fortinbras; the Captain tells Hamlet that the Norwegian and Polish armies are about to start a war over a small patch of land which carries little profit. This information launches Hamlet's soliloquy.
Hamlet wonders why others are able to act when they have little to gain, while he has failed to act with so much to gain. He believes that everything seems to indicate that he should rush toward his revenge, even questioning his humanity in the process, stating:
How all occasions do inform against me,
And spur my dull revenge! What is a man
If his chief good and market of his time
Be but to sleep and feed? A beast, no more.
Hamlet realizes that he has been "think[ing] too precisely on th'event—" and that this overthinking has stalled his actions and guided him toward cowardice. He believes that his honor is at stake in this matter and that greatness evolves from a willingness to fight for that honor, even if you are fighting over nothing:
...Rightly to be great
Is not to stir without great argument,
But greatly to find quarrel in a straw
When honor's at the stake.
Hamlet weighs himself against these standards and finds himself wanting; if Hamlet wants to be great and to fulfill his revenge, he must consider his "thoughts be bloody, or be nothing worth!"
No comments:
Post a Comment