In this soliloquy, we learn the depths of Hamlet's despair at his father's murder and especially his mother's quick remarriage to Claudius, the elder Hamlet's brother. (Remember that at this point in the play Hamlet has no idea that Claudius murdered his father.) Hamlet has just been informed, after frankly admitting that he is still grief-stricken, that he will not be allowed to return to school at Wittenberg. He promises to abide by the King's...
In this soliloquy, we learn the depths of Hamlet's despair at his father's murder and especially his mother's quick remarriage to Claudius, the elder Hamlet's brother. (Remember that at this point in the play Hamlet has no idea that Claudius murdered his father.) Hamlet has just been informed, after frankly admitting that he is still grief-stricken, that he will not be allowed to return to school at Wittenberg. He promises to abide by the King's wishes, and those of his mother. But we see in the soliloquy, his first in the play, that he is not just upset at the passing of his father, but the marriage of his mother "a little month" after his death. Hamlet regards this as "rank and gross in nature" and clearly has little use for Claudius, who is a shadow of what his father was. None of these developments, he says, can "come to good," but he resolves to keep his anger and hurt, which borders on suicidal, to himself. So this soliloquy reveals Hamlet's state of mind before encountering the ghost, which urges him to gain revenge on his wicked uncle.
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