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IOC Commentaries In William Shakespeare's Hamlet

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IOC Commentaries -Hamlet- The extract given befits in Act III, scene 1 of the tragedy “Hamlet” written by William Shakespeare. This extract shows an important moment in the play, when Hamlet, the protagonist, contemplates whether or not to kill himself because his mother married his uncle, after his father’s death. Throughout the soliloquy he is depicted as a complex character who seeks the profound meaning of life, yet he is followed by an inexplicable feeling of not being able to proceed with putting an end to it. Shakespeare uses a great deal of stylistic and literary devices to underscore the main themes of this extract: life versus death and action versus inaction, which, I will be discussing in the following analysis. Hamlet begins his soliloquy with one of the most famous lines in English that is “To be or not to be”. He states the question not to get a response, but rather to pronounce the debate which is going to take place in his speech. The verb “to be” is formed as in infinitive and it is not attached to a specific pronoun or noun. From the first line he seems confused and undecided as he sets the tone for the upcoming monologue. He ponders whether he should live and suffer the hardships of live or die in order to end the pain and the suffering, which is indicated in the following lines: …show more content…

Hamlet is portrayed as being confused and more than that, indecisive. Even though, at the beginning of his speech, he seems as if he is driven by an inexplicable force of determination to actually stop his suffering, as the speech progresses until its final, when he is interrupted by Ophelia, he starts to lack confidence. He makes conscience the blame for why he has second thoughts. The tone of this monologue is deeply determined and disturbed and we can sense perplexity as

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Death seems to be the biggest mystery in Shakespeare’s Hamlet. From the start of the play with the Ghost of Hamlets father appearing to avenge his death, to Hamlet’s most popular “To be or Not to be” soliloquy, and to the plays bloody conclusion; the uncertainty of death seems to always be on our protagonist mind. Death has become a recurring theme throughout this whole play. His thoughts of death range from death in a spiritual matter, the truth and uncertainty in what death may bring, and the question of his own death.

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