“Oh that this too too solid flesh would melt, thaw, and resolve itself into a dew.”
- Act I, scene ii, said by Hamlet to himself
In this first soliloquy, we are introduced to Hamlet’s mind for the first time. In the royal court, he is clearly depressed, obviously over the loss of his father and the unlikely remarriage of his mother to his uncle. Still, the intensity of his sadness and grief is not explained to us until we hear this first line.
Essentially, Hamlet is saying that he wishes he were dead, which is about as intense of an emotion as I could imagine. However, I don’t know how literally we are supposed to take Hamlet’s words. There have been many situations when people have said things similarly to this, often in jest. For instance, a student overcome with stress due to a sudden outpouring of assignments from all his or her classes might shout in despair, “Will someone just shoot me now?” This student is clearly not looking for someone to really take up firearms against him or her; this is just an exaggeration of emotion.
But if you do take the words of Hamlet literally, he doesn’t say he wishes he were dead, but rather just gone. To evaporate away seems like a nice thought as a form of escape. I know there are many times in my own life when stress is so overwhelming that I wish I could just float away and disappear for a short time. For, as anyone who has studied the water cycle knows, evaporated water vapor needs to fall again at some time. However, the time needs to be right in order for this precipitation to fall. After a brief period of relaxing evaporation, I think we could all return peacefully to our lives when we feel the time is appropriate to do so. Perhaps Hamlet is just looking to get away from everything for a while. Given his situation, I don’t think any of us can blame him.
1-LINE ESSAY
Wow! This is the greatest assignment ever!
Don’t get too excited yet. You are not writing one line; you are analyzing one line – from Hamlet to be exact.
Your task is to choose any one line from Shakespeare’s work and interpret it in your own way. What does it mean? What is the character trying to say? Can you connect to it in any way? Provide YOUR feelings.
Each team will be given a different act to work with (to prevent repetition), and you may choose any line within that act. (With the exception of my example found on the other side of this sheet.)
Please write an essay of a minimum of 300 words. Again, it should be your ideas and your ideas only. I want to know what YOU think.