“A Rogue and a Peasant Slave”, Hamlet, II, 2, 506-556: A Soliloquy Study

English IV AP / Mrs. Ramos

Although it isn’t the most famous soliloquy in Hamlet, the Act II soliloquy is considered by most actors to be the most eloquent in the drama.

Spend some quality time looking back through the soliloquy (p. 54-56) for the elements listed below. Mark them in your booklet.

The soliloquy is marked with:

  • self-realizations
  • self-directed insults
  • changes in tone
  • peaks of rage
  • short moments of profound depression
  • incredulous questioning
  • the seeds of a plan

The central question is—WHY is he treating himself this way? WHAT is causing this violent display of emotion? Come to some conclusions (a paragraph or two) about:

1)the emotions you see in the soliloquy (use quotations as well as your own commentary)

2)your ideas about the answer to why Hamlet is treating himself this way and what could be causing the violent emotions he is displaying in the soliloquy

KEY ALLUSION:

Priam was the King of Troy during the Trojan War andHecuba, his wife, mourns Priam’s death violently. In Euripedes’ play, Hecuba, Priam is killed by Neoptolemos (Pyrrhus, son of Achilles) during the Trojan War. The story goes that, as Troy was being sacked by the Greeks, Priam and Hecuba took refuge with their family in the shrine of Zeus. Together, they were made to watch Neoptolemos / Pyrrhus mercilessly murder of their son, Polites, on the altar of Zeus.

Then, Hecuba watched painfully as her husband, Priam, was pulled through his son’s blood toward the altar, restrained by his hair, and run through with a sword. She called desperately to him and scratched at her Greek captors as they twisted the sword that ended Priam’s life.

Hecuba is allowed to live, but she is enslaved and removed from Troy. She is said to have either jumped over the edge of a Greek ship and drowned herself or turned into a bitch (literally, a female dog) by the gods.

Pyrrhus ended up as King of Epirus and was engaged in another famous battle to which we still refer today. He won two important victoriesagainst the Romans but lost most of his advisors and men in the process. He is ultimately defeated by the Romans when he has no more means to obtain soldiers while the Romans have a nearly endless supply. Pyrrhus gives a name to the term “Pyrrhic victory” which refers to a victory that comes at such a great cost to the victor that he might have been better off without the win.

In Euripedes’ drama, Hecuba says, “A free man?—There is no such thing! All men are slaves; some, slaves of money; some, of chance; others are forced, either by mass opinion, or the threatening law, to act against their nature.”

By referencing Hecuba in the Act II soliloquy, what comparison is Shakespeare’s Hamlet drawing for the more literate in the audience? How does Hecuba’s quotation (above) connect with Hamlet in the Act II soliloquy?

Priam Attacked by Neoptolemos (c. 480 B.C.E.), reproduction of an image on vase

(The figure in Neoptolemos’/ Pyrrhus’ left hand is Astyanax, Priam’s grandson whom Neoptolemos / Pyrrhus also kills. Some legends show that after he kills Priam, Neoptolemos / Pyrrhus batters his body with the body of Astyanax.)