Hamlet Act 1 Scene 2 Analysis

In his play “Hamlet”, William Shakespeare had implied that although distress and despair can come in many forms, it can ultimately lead to suicide or hardships throughout the rest of one’s life. This theme is the most prevalent through the speech that Hamlet gives in Act 1 Scene 3. In this scene Hamlet describes things that he finds to be troublesome and disgraceful towards the king. These things include how quickly his uncle and mother married, and how no one besides Hamlet is mourning over his father’s recent death. These two things are very well discussed throughout this soliloquy.           

To describe this he uses the emotion of Hamlet’s father’s death to help set the tone of Hamlet’s personality through the play. In this soliloquy Hamlet describes his feelings toward what his uncle and mother have done. To describe this he uses the phrases “But two months dead- nay, not so much, not two-“and “ Would have mourn’d longer- married with my uncle”. These two quotes show how emotional Hamlet is getting while his uncle and mother do these terrible deeds. These quotes also help to set the scene that no one besides Hamlet is still mourning due to the recent marriage within his family. These two points help out in describing Hamlet’s general feelings throughout the play. Finally they also help Hamlet build up his hatred for his uncle, but all together these terrible deeds force Hamlet to consider if death is the easiest way out of this horrific situation. With the thought of “self-slaughter” Hamlet must find a way to calm down. With all of the backstabbing from Hamlet’s family it might seem to be the easiest way for Hamlet to end these terrible deeds from happening, but he later finds that it was a good choice to not follow through with this plan.        

This theme of “distress and despair can come in many forms, but it can ultimately lead to suicide or hardships throughout the rest of a life” can describe Hamlets attitude through most of the play.