Rhetorical Analysis Of Hamlet

In Hamlet by William Shakespeare, Hamlet has to wait until he is alone in act two scene two to be able express just how angry and frustrated he is at the situation he finds himself in. The angry and erratic tone in the first section of Hamlet's third soliloquy coupled with that of a cool and calculating tone at the second section shows how Hamlet is switching back and forth between being an angry and ranting griever to a cold and calculating plotter/wannabe murderer in a quest to avenge his father. Up to this point in the play there has not been any casualties (not taking into account the death of King Hamlet and the death of a relationship between Ophelia and Hamlet). Hamlet is feigning madness while trying to figure out how to switch from

But the second section is a complete change. A change almost as sudden as the conversion from Mr.Hyde to that of Dr.Jekyll. Hamlet changes both the style and tone to describe how he has become calculating and cautious. A prime example of how Hamlet is thinking out his movements is when he states how “[he] heard that guilty creatures sitting at a play have by the very cunning of the scene..[are forced to] [proclaim] their malefactions” (II.ii.576-579). The word malefactions carries with it the thought that Claudius’ crimes against the family are THAT immoral and wicked. It is here that we, the audience, notice just how calculating Hamlet is. His plan to “have these players play something like the murder of [his] father” (II.ii.581-582) serves a double purpose. Like Shakespeare's plays in general, Hamlet gains plausible deniability. If someone were to come at Hamlet he could quite simply say that it was merely a rework of an old play. Or even better he can say that if the play has nothing to do with you, why are you getting angry by it. This point leads to the second purpose of this play within a play tatic. If Claudius were to challenge Hamlet directly and in public, he is forced to either PUBLICLY admit how he poisoned his brother and the incestous act of sleeping with his wife, or If Claudius waits for a private confrontation, he leaves Hamlet with opportunity to commit the assassination/murder now that hamlet “knows [his] course” (II.ii.586) and claudius was in fact guilty of the murder of King Hamlet. AT this point of the speech, Hamlet finally considers how the spirit of his dead father could also be a demon. It is not until now that he realizes that “The spirit [he saw] May be a devil, and [that] the devil hath the power t’assume a pleasing shape” (II.ii.585-587). It is here that the audience makes the connection that one of the MANY problems Hamlet is facing he has no clue as to if