Hamlet Act 2 Quotes

“He raised a sigh so piteous and profound as it did seem to shatter all his bulk and end his being” Ophelia to Polonius about Hamlet
“More grief to hide than the to utter love” Polonius to Ophelia about Hamlet
“Doubt thou the stars are fire; Doubt that the sun doth move; Doubt truth to be a liar; But never doubt I love” Polonius reading a letter from Hamlet to Ophelia
“Though this be madness, yet there is a method in’t-“ Polonius about Hamlet
“You cannot, sir, take from me anything that I will more willingly part withal-except my life, except my life, except my life.” Hamlet
“the earth, seems to me a sterile promontory; this most excellent canopy, the air—look you, this brave o’erhanging firmament, this majestical roof fretted with golden fire” Hamlet
“What a piece of work is a man! How noble in reason, how infinite in faculty! In form and moving how express and admirable! In action how like an angel, in apprehension how like a god! The beauty of the world. The paragon of animals. And yet, to me, what is this quintessence of dust?” Hamlet
“I am but mad north-north-west. When the wind is southerly I know a hawk from a handsaw” Hamlet
Hamlet is a multilayer character composed of traits that changes throughout the play. The first, trait is melancholy which was formed when his role model and father died causing him to no longer want to live. The second, trait is Hamlet’s indecisiveness to take action because he does not fully believe in the ghost’s story, his conscious would not allow of him to kill someone else, and his constant need of overthinking of every little detail causing him not to take any action. The final trait for Hamlet is that he becomes enlightened when he realizes that he cannot run from his fate and needs to accept it. These traits are shown in the play and describes what Hamlet is going through as he tries to get revenge for his father’s killer. When Hamlet was first introduced into the play he was in his a depression because his father had died making him feel as if he is all alone. Hamlet was broken hearted over the death and did not want to go on living, and says, “Oh that this too solid flesh would melt itself into dew! Or that Everlasting had not fix’d his canon ‘gainst self-slaughter” (Shakespeare 1.2.129-31). Hamlet is suicidal after the death of his father, but would not do it because he would be damned in purgatory. Now he is stuck in a world in which he does not want to live in. Two months after the death of King Hamlet I his mother, Gertrude, married his uncle Claudius without a second thought, Hamlet says, “A beast, that discourse of reason would have mourn’d longer” (150-51). Hamlet’s depression developed more deeply because his father was the greatest person he ever met; when his mother, Gertrude, married Claudius young Hamlet felted betrayed because feels as if Gertrude has moved on from Hamlet I because of her lust. Rosencrantz and Guildenstern came to spy on Hamlet. When they were talking about Demark, Hamlet says, “Why, then, ’tis none to you, for there is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so. To me it is a prison” (2.2.246-47). Even Hamlet is suicidal he will never go through with it because he does he would be failing his father to allow him escape from his endless suffering, and he is afraid of the punishment because he fears his punishment would be far greater than his father’s. Now Hamlet is trapped in a world without his father. In the beginning, Hamlet is a shell of his former self and cannot control his own emotions and has to hide it.Charles Boyce explains this more on is article “Hamlet” that what the cause of Hamlet’s depression was. When Hamlet was first introduce he was “in the early stages of grief, the ordinary aspects of existence seem absurdly thin and weak, inappropriate to the mourner’s overwhelming sense of pain and loss” (Boyce 2). Hamlet’s depression was created from his father’s early death causing him to neglect the advice of his family. Furthermore, Hamlet’s personality is far from the normal and does not the model of a man during this time period. Daryl W. Palmer agrees and states that Hamlet does not fit the original model of the strong northern man. Hamlet was devastated by his father’s death but “Hamlet acts too little and thinks too much. Claudius makes the obvious point that the prince has given in to ‘unmanly grief'” (Palmer 9). Hamlet’s over analysis causing to constantly think of how his father could die at a young age causing him to grieve for a longer time. Hamlet now was given chance to help his father “In his giddy mood, Hamlet half¬ embodies his newfound purpose” (Palmer 11). Hamlet was able to overcome his melancholic because by his dead father’s orders because now he has a purpose to help his father rest in peace. Hamlet was now over his depression but yet knows how difficult killing Claudius is going to be and will not be able and if he does not take action he will never help his father. Hamlet’s drive to get revenge for his father allowed him to get out of his melancholic state but was met by his inability to take action when has an opening. In Hamlet’s third soliloquy as Claudius and Polonius were spying on Hamlet, Hamlet says, “Thus conscience, does make cowards of us all” (Shakespeare 3.1.84). Hamlet is stating how because how everyone is afraid of the consequences on committing suicide or killing in general, but hinting to the audience why he does not kill Claudius right away. Hamlet has the perfect chance to kill Claudius when he was praying in the church but said, “A villain kills my father; and of that, I, his sole son, do this same villain send to heaven” (3.3.77-8). Hamlet delayed on killing Claudius, because Hamlet would rather kill him when he has done something corrupted making him to suffer in purgatory instead of his father. After Hamlet had escaped from the pirates and was heading back to Demark. He saw Fortinbras army go and defeated a country just because he was bored and Hamlet says, “A though which, quarter’d hath but one part wisdom and ever three parts coward” (4.4.41-44). This realization of Hamlet’s inability to get revenge for his father was made known by Fortinbras who goes to war to get over his boredom. While he thinks of plans to kill Claudius but never commits to it. Hamlet is no longer indecisive over his father’s death, but because on how he acts he will never get anything done.Harold C. Goddard’s article, Hamlet’s Hesitation states that Hamlet is in a conflict trying to deal with the Christian side of himself, not to take a life and his desire for revenge of his father killer. Hamlet delay’s stems from him just being a weak person but “He staggers from passion to apathy, from daring to despair” (Goddard 1). Hamlet cannot get revenge for his father because it goes against who he is. Hamlet also waits to kill Claudius because he cannot believe the ghost’s story. Bradley pointed this out on Hamlet and why he waits to get his revenge. Hamlet cannot go and kill Claudius right way because, “How would he prove the charge? All that he had to offer in proof was—a ghost-story! Others, to be sure, had seen the Ghost, but no one else had heard its revelations” (Bradley 3). Hamlet needs proof to kill Claudius because he needs to make sure that this not a trap made by the devil to kill an innocent man. Continuing if Claudius was innocent Hamlet would be in purgatory and would suffer forever. Hamlet is also delayed from his need to over think things which causes, “his own inability to understand why he delays, this emerges in a marked degree when an occasion like the player’s emotion or the sight of Fortinbras’s army stings Hamlet into shame at his inaction” (Bradley, 11). Hamlet was put shame because he of Fortinbras because he over thinks things he will never get anything done. Hamlet’s delay is from killing Claudius because his religion, Christianity, forbids it, he needs proof so he does not die in the process of killing him, and because of how he overthinks everything he can never take action. In the final act not only has Hamlet realized that everyone in life cannot be controlled but he was able to overcome his faults and becomes enlightened. In the graveyard scene Hamlet sees his old jester, and says to Horatio, “Alexander died, Alexander was buried, Alexander returneth to dust; the dust is earth;” (Shakespeare 5.1.189-91). Everyone in this world no matter how noble a person is, no matter what he has done, everyone will return to earth. Hamlet now knows that even he would end up like this in a matter of time. Hamlet was dying of poison from his fencing with Laertes and was now talking to Horatio and said, “We defy augury: there is a special providence in the fall of the sparrow” (5.2.189-90). Referring to the Christian Theodicy Divine Plan that everything in this world happens of a reason, human events is prescribed. In Hamlet’s final he says, “The readiness is all: since no man has aught of what he leaves what is’t to leave betimes? Let be” (192-93). Hamlet now has realized his death was inevitable and has accept. He also states that not just him but everyone needs to be ready when it is their time to die so they can live a life without regrets. Hamlet has stop delaying on killing Claudius, because he has realized his going to die killing him and cannot escape it.In the article, “Readiness in All: Hamlet” Maynard Mack describes Hamlet has someone who understand that no man can do everything and sees his faults. Hamlet when saw his old jester skull his personality changed, “We must recall that at this point Hamlet has been absent from the stage during several scenes/which warn us to be on the watch for a new phase in the development of the character” (Mack 10). Hamlet has because he had time to think of his inability to do anything. Hamlet in the final act realizes that his inaction to do anything has hurt many of his beloved friends and family, “Now, he has learned that there are limits to the before and after that human reason can comprehend. Rashness, even, is sometimes good” (Mack 10). Hamlet learn that because of him being in a depression, delaying on killing Claudius has hurt too many people. However, because he realizes his faults he is able to overcome them in the end and find happiness, “The battle that stands first a¬mong all battles in the human imagination because of its symbolic quality” (Goddard 8). Hamlet was able to get his happiness by overcoming his battles on killing Claudius without going against his morals. Hamlet was able to overcome his hesitation to kill Claudius he was able to accept that fact that he was doing can never be reasoned with. Hamlet has that despite he is a philosopher, a Christian, and a compassionate man he still completed the task of his father and he can rest peace.The battles that Hamlet had overcome to revenge for his father’s killer was difficult but he did because he was able to get out of his melancholic state brought up from his father death. Hamlet found his reason to be able to kill Claudius without destroying his sanity in the process. Finally he accepted his fate and was able to find happiness before he died. Critics, writers, and everyone else all agree that Hamlet was an amazing play, and they enjoyed seeing how Hamlet would be able to overcome his faults and get revenge for his dead father. Throughout the play Hamlet has matured and is no longer a whiny prince but an enlightened scholar. dfszlkfs