Hamlet Annotated Passage
Melissa Laffin
January 16th, 2012
(I, ii, 131-161)
O, that this too too sullied fresh would melt
Thaw and resolve itself into a dew, [1] [2]
Or that the Everlasting had not fixed
His canon ‘gainst self-slaughter! O God! God! [3]
How weary, stale, flat and unprofitable,
Seem to me all the uses of this world!
Fie on it, ah fie. ‘Tis an unweeded garden,
That grows to seed. Things rank and gross in nature
Possess it merely. That it should come to this! [4]
But two months dead – nay, not so much, not two – [5]
So excellent a king, that was, to this
Hyperion to a satyr, so loving to my mother [6]
That he might not beteem the winds of heaven
Visit her face too roughly. Heaven and earth,
Must I remember? Why, she would hang on him,
As if increase of appetite had grown
By what it fed on. And yet, within a month –
Let me not think on it – Frailty, thy name is woman – [7]
A little month, or ere those shoes were old
With which she followed my poor father’s body,
Like Niobe, All tears – why she, even she –
O, God, a beast, that wants discourse of reason
Would have mourned longer – married with my uncle,
My father’s brother, but no more like my father
Than I to Hercules. Within a month, [8]
Ere yet the salt of most unrighteous tears
Had left the flushing in her galled eyes,
She married. O, most wicked speed, to post
With such dexterity to incestuous sheets!
It is not nor it cannot come to good.
But break, my heart, for I most hold my tongue. [9]
Annotations
Strategies Craft of Writing Resonating
[1] – Resonating - O, that this too too sullied fresh would melt Thaw and resolve itself into a dew – The opening to the soliloquy reminded me of how when things get hard we feel the need to cave in on ourselves and make our inner beings seem smaller in order to hide from our problems. As a natural occurrence as humans we try to outdistance ourselves from our problems, when in reality we should be trying to stand up and fix the problems immediately. This is depicted in media and real life by children running from a bully, a married couple sleeping in separate rooms after a fight or people running from their fears instead of facing them. It provides an example of the amount that people are afraid of fear.
[2] – Watch the narrator - O, that this too too sullied fresh would melt Thaw and resolve itself into a dew – Shakespeare has used a very strong opening sentence to Hamlet’s soliloquy to give reader’s a captivating view of how strong Hamlet is despairing in the situation he’s in. His father’s death and his mother marrying his uncle has really unsettled him and we’re drawn by the power in his words to believe he’s truthful and that he himself believes what he’s saying. He’s been so put down the awful events in his life that he wishes he could melt away into nothing or just take himself out of the situation. As reader’s we sympathize with Hamlet and as a reflection to this pain we assume him to have no reason to lie and accept his words as truthfulness; human nature compels us to show empathy to those who are wounded in Hamlet’s case he’s wounded emotionally and mentally. Using the narrator to draw people fully into the novel is a great tactic to snare readers into reading further into the novel or in this instance play to follow the story of the narrator or character being narrated.
[3] – Resonating - Or that the Everlasting had not fixed His canon ‘gainst self-slaughter! O God! God! – While reading this it reminded me of assisted suicide because here Hamlet is referencing a law made against committing suicide. Since it’s such a huge controversial issue around the world I figure everyone can connect with the line in the play. Even just regular suicide is influenced by religion, peers and the media and it always makes big news headlines when it occurs. It seems strange to think that such a tragedy can be seen as big news because to those families and people greatly affected its heartbreaking and extremely personal. As we can see with Hamlet he’s keeping his thoughts entirely to himself and he feels alone, perhaps if people didn’t feel so cut off from the rest of the world less suicides happening would be a result.
[4] – Make Movies - Fie on it, ah fie. ‘Tis an unweeded garden – That grows to seed. Things rank and gross in nature Possess it merely. That it should come to this! - While reading this part of the passage I began to imagine a twisted and uncared for garden. I imagined large twisted trees with cobwebs that help to ensnare the thoughts of people and dying plants to embellish the loving care that the garden is lacking. While picturing a garden we can see the similarities the garden has to the situation Hamlet’s living in. Shakespeare has craftily used a garden to symbolize the evil that is encompassing Hamlet’s life and how he feels uncared for since his mother has married his uncle and his father died. He feels deserted and reader’s can connect to these feelings and begin to understand the story and the character Hamlet better too.
[5] – Resonating - But two months dead – nay, not so much, not two – This reminded me of how time seems to fly by and how people can feel lost in time. Especially over a death or a strong emotion effecting situation time passes while people are consumed with grieving, sadness, anger, etc. It’s like your grade 12 year in high school, you wait your entire life to reach that stage in life and when you finally arrive you want it to slow down (this is my time situation right now). Time is used hugely throughout the media with the use of time machines, slow motion and even flashbacks; time is represented everywhere and we never know when it’ll go faster, slower or stop altogether. It’s a large unsolvable mystery that’s been surrounds and controls everything but in itself is completely uncontrollable.
[6] - Metaphor - So excellent a king, that was, to this Hyperion to a satyr, so loving to my mother – Shakespeare has used a metaphor to compare Hamlet’s feelings toward his uncle and his father. Showing the contrasting differences between Hamlet’s feelings toward both males create a plot line that readers can continue to follow throughout the story. Using Hamlet’s affection and love for his father to separate the true and raw emotions being experienced in the situation. This gives emotion and feeling to the story and creates a real life situation that readers can sink their teeth into.
[7] – Symbol - Let me not think on it – Frailty, thy name is woman – Shakespeare has used frailty as a symbol for a woman. This adds the historical opinion of women into the story. Including the idea that women are smaller, weaker and more fragile than men gives a reference into the lifestyle of both genders. Shakespeare has given present day readers insight into the struggles of what it meant to be a woman and how men judged and looked upon females in that time period. Although today the opinion of women is mostly equal to that of men it shows how much has changed between historical times and present day, giving the fictional piece of writing a realistic twist.
[8] – Simile - My father’s brother, but no more like my father Than I to Hercules – Shakespeare has used a simile comparing Hamlet’s uncle and father but uses it to show the contrast between them instead of comparisons. This creates an illusion that the uncle and father were very differently viewed by Hamlet and gives the readers something to think about while they read. The use of a contrasting simile gives a character analysis that Claudius (Hamlet’s uncle) was nothing like the man that Hamlet’s father was. This gives a villainous feel towards Claudius and Hamlet’s dislike for his uncle tends to rub off on the reader. It gives readers a biased approach to the character of Claudius because we don’t get to judge him based on what we know because we hardly know anything about Claudius except negativity at this point. This foreshadows that Claudius’ character plays a negative role that will continue to downward spiral throughout the story.
[9] – Watch how the character changes - But break, my heart, for I most hold my tongue – In the beginning of the passage we see a strong willed, fiery and spirited young man who has dealt with a lot of grief recently. As the passage continues on who we see his thoughts play out and how his grief seems to steadily climb and turn to rage. At the end of the passage though we see a different side to the character, Shakespeare has crumpled Hamlet into a broken spirit inside his shell to show a different side to the character. The fact that his mother so quickly moved on from his father’s death is certainly hard for Hamlet and he wears the pain upon his personage to show the depth of pain he has within him. The fact that he feels like he can’t share his thoughts with others makes him seem vulnerable and independent. Shakespeare has played with Hamlet to show how his emotions influence him and how quick he is to jump from emotion to emotion by the lightest transition of thought. This gives reader’s insight into the impulsiveness behaviour of the character and foreshadows how Hamlet may act later on in the play.