Hamlet’s second soliloquy (2.2)
Now I am alone. O, what a rogue and peasant slave am I! (555)
Is it not monstrous that this player here,
But in a fiction, in a dream of passion,
Could force his soul so to his own conceit
That from her working all his visage wann'd,
Tears in his eyes, distraction in's aspect, (560)
A broken voice, and his whole function suiting
With forms to his conceit? and all for nothing!
For Hecuba!
What's Hecuba to him, or he to Hecuba,
That he should weep for her? What would he do, (565)
Had he the motive and the cue for passion
That I have? He would drown the stage with tears
And cleave the general ear with horrid speech,
Make mad the guilty and appall the free,
Confound the ignorant, and amaze indeed (570)
The very faculties of eyes and ears. Yet I,
A dull and muddy-mettled rascal, peak,
Like John-a-dreams, unpregnant of my cause,
And can say nothing; no, not for a king,
Upon whose property and most dear life (575)
A damn'd defeat was made. Am I a coward?
Who calls me villain? breaks my pate across?
Plucks off my beard, and blows it in my face?
Tweaks me by the nose? gives me the lie i' the throat,
As deep as to the lungs? who does me this? (580)
Ha!
'Swounds, I should take it: for it cannot be
But I am pigeon-liver'd and lack gall
To make oppression bitter, or ere this
I should have fatted all the region kites (585)
With this slave's offal: bloody, bawdy villain!
Remorseless, treacherous, lecherous, kindless villain!
O, vengeance!
Why, what an ass am I! This is most brave,
That I, the son of a dear father murder'd, (590)
Prompted to my revenge by heaven and hell,
Must, like a whore, unpack my heart with words,
And fall a-cursing, like a very drab,
A scullion!
Fie upon't! foh! About, my brain! I have heard (595)
That guilty creatures sitting at a play
Have by the very cunning of the scene
Been struck so to the soul that presently
They have proclaim'd their malefactions;
For murder, though it have no tongue, will speak (600)
With most miraculous organ. I'll have these players
Play something like the murder of my father
Before mine uncle: I'll observe his looks;
I'll tent him to the quick: if he but blench,
I know my course. The spirit that I have seen (605)
May be the devil: and the devil hath power
To assume a pleasing shape; yea, and perhaps
Out of my weakness and my melancholy,
As he is very potent with such spirits,
Abuses me to damn me: I'll have grounds (610)
More relative than this: the play 's the thing
Wherein I'll catch the conscience of the king.
Is it not monstrous that this player here,
But in a fiction, in a dream of passion,
Could force his soul so to his own conceit
That from her working all his visage wann'd,
Tears in his eyes, distraction in's aspect, (560)
A broken voice, and his whole function suiting
With forms to his conceit? and all for nothing!
For Hecuba!
What's Hecuba to him, or he to Hecuba,
That he should weep for her? What would he do, (565)
Had he the motive and the cue for passion
That I have? He would drown the stage with tears
And cleave the general ear with horrid speech,
Make mad the guilty and appall the free,
Confound the ignorant, and amaze indeed (570)
The very faculties of eyes and ears. Yet I,
A dull and muddy-mettled rascal, peak,
Like John-a-dreams, unpregnant of my cause,
And can say nothing; no, not for a king,
Upon whose property and most dear life (575)
A damn'd defeat was made. Am I a coward?
Who calls me villain? breaks my pate across?
Plucks off my beard, and blows it in my face?
Tweaks me by the nose? gives me the lie i' the throat,
As deep as to the lungs? who does me this? (580)
Ha!
'Swounds, I should take it: for it cannot be
But I am pigeon-liver'd and lack gall
To make oppression bitter, or ere this
I should have fatted all the region kites (585)
With this slave's offal: bloody, bawdy villain!
Remorseless, treacherous, lecherous, kindless villain!
O, vengeance!
Why, what an ass am I! This is most brave,
That I, the son of a dear father murder'd, (590)
Prompted to my revenge by heaven and hell,
Must, like a whore, unpack my heart with words,
And fall a-cursing, like a very drab,
A scullion!
Fie upon't! foh! About, my brain! I have heard (595)
That guilty creatures sitting at a play
Have by the very cunning of the scene
Been struck so to the soul that presently
They have proclaim'd their malefactions;
For murder, though it have no tongue, will speak (600)
With most miraculous organ. I'll have these players
Play something like the murder of my father
Before mine uncle: I'll observe his looks;
I'll tent him to the quick: if he but blench,
I know my course. The spirit that I have seen (605)
May be the devil: and the devil hath power
To assume a pleasing shape; yea, and perhaps
Out of my weakness and my melancholy,
As he is very potent with such spirits,
Abuses me to damn me: I'll have grounds (610)
More relative than this: the play 's the thing
Wherein I'll catch the conscience of the king.
rogue ] Useless vagrant.
peasant ] A person of little integrity (see The Taming of the Shrew 4.1.113).
player...Hecuba ] This passage is often very difficult for
students, and standard annotations leave them wanting. So it is best
paraphrased:
Is it not horribly unfair
that this actor, pretending to feel great passion, could, based on what he has
conceived in his own mind, force his own soul to believe the part that he is
playing, so much so that all the powers of his body adapt themselves to suit
his acting needs, so that he grows agitated ("distraction in's
aspect"), weeps, and turns pale ("wann'd")? And why does he
carry on so? Why does he pretend until he truly makes himself weep? For Hecuba! But why? What
are they to each other?
Hamlet wishes he could arouse his passions so.
Hecuba ] Trojan queen and heroine of classical mythology.
Earlier in 2.2 Hamlet asks the First Player to recite a monologue retelling
Hecuba's response to the death of her husband, King Priam. The Player tells us
that Hecuba's grief was profound and "Would have made milch the burning
eyes of heaven/And passion in the gods" (505-6). The contrast between
Gertrude and Hecuba should be noted. To Hamlet, Hecuba has responded
appropriately to her husband's death, while Gertrude has not.
cue for passion ] The reason for strong feelings.
Make mad the guilty ] "By his description of the crime he
would drive those spectators mad who had any such sin on their conscience, and
would horrify even the innocent" (Kittredge 68),
amaze ] Plunge into confusion.
muddy-mettled ] Dull-spirited.
peak ] Moping about; languishing, unable to act.
John-a-dreams ] A nickname for a dreamer.
unpregnant ] "Pregnant" here does not mean "with
child", but rather, quick or ready. Thus to be "unpregnant" is
to be unable to act quickly.
pate ] Head.
swounds ] God's wounds.
pigeon-liver'd ] In the Renaissance, the gentle disposition of
the Dove was explained by the argument that it had no gall and thus no capacity
to feel resentment or to seek revenge. The liver also was seen as the body's
storehouse for courage.
region kites ] The birds of prey in the region, circling in the
sky, waiting to feed. If Hamlet were not "pigeon-liver'd" (583) he
would have long ago fed Claudius to the hawks.
kindless ] Unnatural.
drab ] A whore.
scullion ] A kitchen helper, either man or woman but usually a
woman. It was a term used to show contempt. One should note that in the second
quarto, scullion was actually "stallyon", which means a male whore.
Scholars are still undecided on the matter, but scullion is the more generally
accepted of the two.
proclaim'd their malefactions ] Announced their evil deeds.
blench ] Flinch.
Source: http://shakespeare.about.com/library/weekly/aa061500b.htm
[The link no longer works.]
2.2 Soliloquy Assignment (1)
Write an explication
(one page, 300 words) of this soliloquy. An explications is not a paraphrase or
a summary, but explains and explores a text thoroughly. You will explain what
Hamlet is saying and how he says it. (What the text says and what it does.)
When explaining “what Hamlet is saying,” remember that the soliloquy is a tool that Shakespeare uses to show Hamlet’s mind at work. Ask yourself “what does this reveal about Hamlet?” and “how does what he says fit into the work as a whole?” Deal with the surface and the depths.)
When explaining “how he says it,” pay close attention to the language (particular word choices, sentence structure, etc.) and imagery (including figurative language, such as metaphors). Ask yourself “what does how he speaks and the language that he uses reveal about Hamlet?"
**********************
2.2 Soliloquy Assignment (2)
First clip: 2.2 soliloquy, directed by Kenneth Branagh, Hamlet played by Kenneth Branagh (1996)
Second clip: 2.2 soliloquy, directed by Franco Zeffirelli, Hamlet played by Mel Gibson (1990)
Third clip: 2.2 soliloquy, directed by Michael Almereyda, Hamlet played by Ethan Hawke (2000)
Fourth clip: 2.2 soliloquy, directed by Gregory Doran, Hamlet played by David Tennant (2009)
Fifth clip: 2.2 soliloquy, directed by Laurence Olivier, Hamlet played by Laurence Olivier (1948)
Which performance of the 2.2 soliloquy best jibes with your explication of the soliloquy? Be insightful. Be specific. Also, make sure that while supporting your position that you discuss all of the performances (by comparing acting and directing choices that embody your vision of the soliloquy to ones with ones that do not, or by discussing acting and directing that, although successful and interesting, are simply not as rich and compelling, etc.). I'm looking forward to reading these because of how passionate and thoughtful you were in class about your act one scene two preferences.
Both due Monday, November 14
When explaining “what Hamlet is saying,” remember that the soliloquy is a tool that Shakespeare uses to show Hamlet’s mind at work. Ask yourself “what does this reveal about Hamlet?” and “how does what he says fit into the work as a whole?” Deal with the surface and the depths.)
When explaining “how he says it,” pay close attention to the language (particular word choices, sentence structure, etc.) and imagery (including figurative language, such as metaphors). Ask yourself “what does how he speaks and the language that he uses reveal about Hamlet?"
**********************
2.2 Soliloquy Assignment (2)
First clip: 2.2 soliloquy, directed by Kenneth Branagh, Hamlet played by Kenneth Branagh (1996)
Second clip: 2.2 soliloquy, directed by Franco Zeffirelli, Hamlet played by Mel Gibson (1990)
Third clip: 2.2 soliloquy, directed by Michael Almereyda, Hamlet played by Ethan Hawke (2000)
Fourth clip: 2.2 soliloquy, directed by Gregory Doran, Hamlet played by David Tennant (2009)
Fifth clip: 2.2 soliloquy, directed by Laurence Olivier, Hamlet played by Laurence Olivier (1948)
Which performance of the 2.2 soliloquy best jibes with your explication of the soliloquy? Be insightful. Be specific. Also, make sure that while supporting your position that you discuss all of the performances (by comparing acting and directing choices that embody your vision of the soliloquy to ones with ones that do not, or by discussing acting and directing that, although successful and interesting, are simply not as rich and compelling, etc.). I'm looking forward to reading these because of how passionate and thoughtful you were in class about your act one scene two preferences.
Both due Monday, November 14
This soliloquy shows Hamlet’s annoyance towards himself for his cowardice instead of formulating a plot that will avenge his father’s murder. We can really see his irritation and fury towards himself when he calls himself “pigeon-liver'd and lacks gall…” By giving himself aspects of a coward, we can see how angry Hamlet is with himself for not accomplishing anything that will give him the satisfaction of revenge. However, Hamlet’s anger quickly transitions towards his uncle, calling him a “bloody, bawdy villain! Remorseless, treacherous, lecherous, kindless villain”. Also, he seems to be scolding himself when he says “Why, what an ass am I! This is most brave, That I, the son of a dear father murder'd, Prompted to my revenge by heaven and hell, Must, like a whore, unpack my heart with words, And fall a-cursing, like a very drab”, meaning that heaven and hell have urged him to take action to against his father’s villainous murderer (who deserves punishment since he is so evil and treacherous) and he’s just moping around like a whore. However, Hamlet’s anger transitions back to himself, as he, once again, scolds himself to “A scullion! Fie upon't! foh! About, my brain!” meaning he has to pull himself together and suppress his anger in order to concentrate and come up with a plan for revenge. Suddenly, Hamlet has a revelation “I have heard That guilty creatures sitting at a play Have by the very cunning of the scene Been struck so to the soul that presently They have proclaim'd their malefactions;” This means that Hamlet has heard that guilty people at a play will become so affected by the actors’ work that they will confess their crimes out loud, so Hamlet plans to “For murder, though it have no tongue, will speak With most miraculous organ. I'll have these players Play something like the murder of my father Before mine uncle: I'll observe his looks; I'll tent him to the quick: if he but blench, I know my course… the play 's the thing Wherein I'll catch the conscience of the king.” This means that Hamlet will have the players put on a play that will depict something similar to the murder of his father, with his uncle in the audience. If Claudius shows any sign of guilt, then Hamlet will know that Claudius really did commit murder since “The spirit that I have seen May be the devil: and the devil hath power To assume a pleasing shape; yea, and perhaps Out of my weakness and my melancholy As he is very potent with such spirits, Abuses me to damn me: I'll have grounds More relative than this:” meaning that Hamlet thinks the ghost might have been the devil, who wanted to trick Hamlet into bringing himself damnation. Also, if his plot succeeds, Hamlet will have more proof of Claudius’ guilt to work with. As Hamlet gives us the details of his plan, we can see him think and ponder, thus showing us more of his cleverness and wit. Also, at the end, we can sense some of his excitement toward his plot as he says “… the play 's the thing Wherein I'll catch the conscience of the king.”
ReplyDeletePersonally, I felt that the Tennant version of the soliloquy best depicted my explication of the soliloquy. The power that is apparent when he calls himself a coward and starts scolding himself shows that he really is furious with himself. Also, when he speaks to the camera, Tennant’s performance shows us that Hamlet is crazy with anger that he has done nothing to take vengeance on his uncle, a “bloody, bawdy villain! Remorseless, treacherous, lecherous, kindless villain”. In addition, when Tennant comes up with an idea to prove his uncle’s guilt, we can see his face light up and hear his voice become tinged with excitement. Overall, I felt Tennant’s performance resembled my explication of the soliloquy the best over all of the other versions. Branagh’s version shows the power of Hamlet’s anger adequately throughout most of the soliloquy, but it lacks his excitement when he comes up with a plot to expose his uncle’s guilt. Gibson’s version lacked a lot of the anger and emotion evident in Tennant and Branagh’s performances; however, his use of environment (when he runs up the stairs in a rage) compensates for this a little. Hawke’s version lacked emotion overall, but it adequately showed us how the play (or in this case, movie) Hamlet prepared in order to prove his uncle’s guilt. Olivier’s version vividly expresses Hamlet’s excitement of his plan, but lacks most of the soliloquy. Therefore, we do not see how he would depict Hamlet’s anger towards himself or his uncle.
ReplyDeleteHamlet’s second soliloquy shows ranging emotions from anger to sadness but digs deeper than these two flat emotions and shows contemplation and mixed feelings throughout. The passage starts out with Hamlet pitying himself but quickly shifts to self loathing. Quotes like “O, what a rogue and peasant slave am I!” show that he is trapped by his own limitations of emotion and conscience. Even though he wants to act out and avenge the king he is having trouble taking action. This soon transitions to anger at himself for being weak and he calls himself, “pigeon-liver'd and lack gall” to express the disappointment and anger he feels towards himself. He also compares himself to a whore who carries heavy words without any action. This first part of the soliloquy explains Hamlets character very well by showing the contemplation, and insecurity about himself and others that is present throughout the text. After this contemplation is finished there is a dramatic change and Hamlet focuses on anger towards the present king, or Claudius, as well as the early stages of devising a plot. By using anger towards Claudius, calling him a "bloody, bawdy villain!” Hamlet is able to overcome his confusion about revenge and develop a plot. Rather than go about this by just murdering Claudius and calling it even Hamlet chooses to use a clever tactic to find out if he really is guilty. He decides to use the players who he so adores to evoke a hint of what Claudius has done. This plan shows the wit that Hamlet is always expressing and almost takes pride in which may be another sign of insecurity. He always wants to assert that he is the clever one by outdoing other characters or confusing them with clever words. This soliloquy ties many of Hamlets tendencies together by using mixed emotions to make the point.
ReplyDeleteThe Branagh and Gibson scenes were most like my description and interpretation of the actual soliloquy. I believe that the Branagh scene most accurately captured the anger that was present in the dialogue by using physical actions and verbal effects. This was an important theme but did not cover all the emotions present. Gibson did a good job showing emotion and contemplation through facial expressions and manorisms. Also in this scene you see Gibson watching over what is happening and showing that he is separate from Claudius and his mother. While both these scenes fit best with my interpretation they both lacked the excitement that Hamlet has at the end of his soliloquy. The Olivier version presented the most excitement while showing nothing else. For this reason I don’t think that any of these scenes are complete but each one does well on a certain aspect of the necessary emotions of Hamlet. If I had to pick one scene that best fit I would choose the Branagh scene.
ReplyDeleteIn Hamlet's second soliloquy, he expresses various emotions. They range from anger and self-pity to confusion and disappointment. He begins talking after his friends and the players leave. He uses clever wording to explain that he is self pitying himself. Hamlet isn't putting enough effort into avenging his fathers’ death as the actor did in the scene. He says, "O, what a rogue and peasant slave am I! Is it not monstrous that this player here, but in a fiction, in a dream of passion, could force his soul so to his own conceit that from her working all his visage wanned, tears in his eye, distraction in his aspect, a broken voice, and his whole function suiting with forms to his conceit-and all for nothing! For Hecuba!" How is it that a scene from a play can have more emotion and effort than Hamlet’s reality? This makes Hamlet feel bad for himself. He questions himself by saying, “Am I a coward?” He is angry with himself for being weak. Hamlet is not living up to what his father asked of him; instead he is letting time go on without any action. After line after line of Hamlet’s self pity, Hamlet feels like he is letting Claudius rule over his life. Then, he thinks of Claudius and his emotions start to change. He’s now angry and shows it by insulting the new king. Hamlet calls king a “Bloody, bawdy villain! Remorseless, treacherous, lecherous, kindles villain!” Hamlet is no longer confused. I agree with Winslow, his anger towards his uncle clears his confusion. It not only does that, but it also gives him a reason to further his rant. He gets deeper into his plot. He will stage the scene similar to what happened to his father, to see if his uncle is guilty. He knows he is guilty, instead of just killing him right away; he is being clever and creative by staging this play. It would be smart to have everyone watching, turned against his uncle. Rather have everyone know first than just have the uncle die as mysteriously as his dad. Hamlet now is very worked up on this plan. He feels empowered because he has seen his father’s ghost, his anger towards his uncle and pain towards his mother. It all mixes together and I fear it will turn Hamlet mad. If he doesn’t act soon, the knowledge will kill him from the inside.
ReplyDeleteHamlets second soliloquy shows similar emotions to that of his first soliloquy. Anger and sorrow are the common elements, but this second one introduces a few other factors, juxtapose, indecision, and exposure. In the first soliloquy, Hamlet makes small comparative references to his mothers mourning length to that of a beasts. In this second soliloquy, he compares his mothers mourning to Hecuba's mourning, showing that both are humans therefore their mourning should correspond with one another. Throughout lines 559-594, Hamlet has focused his emotions from his mother, onto himself. In some way Hamlet feels partially responsible for his fathers murder, and now he is forced to keep his findings to himself. Only he knows how his father was killed, and who killed him. From lines 600-613 Hamlet is explaining that eventually the truth about his fathers murder will emerge. "For murder, though it have no tongue, will speak with most miraculous organ." This is a powerful line in my opinion because Hamlet is saying that an act of murder is meant to be silent, but when it talks, all is revealed. The act of exposing his uncle, will sound like a "miraculous organ" with deep echos of truth bouncing off every wall.
ReplyDeleteOnce again I aim towards the version in which Tennant plays Hamlet. I feel that he showed rage when necessary, and movements which showed his emotions. The Branagh version in my opinion shows too much rage. He bursts out into outrageous screaming fits that I don't feel is necessary. While reading the soliloquy, I could sense Hamlets emotions shifting, but Branagh just seems to have one emotion, and one only, anger. Going back to when I said Tennant shows anger in the right areas, this causes the audience to connect with the character, by reacting how most people would react to a confusing shift of emotions. When Tennant mentions the part of his Uncle being exposed to what he has done, he is content, and almost seems as though he can't wait for the truth to reveal its self. Hamlet should feel relieved that soon he will not be the only one who has gone mad by knowing the truth. In Tennants first video, I didn't like the fact that he was looking directly to the camera, but in this scene I think it works to the soliloquy's advantage. This soliloquy asks questions, and by asking the audience, it causes us to find an answer.
ReplyDeleteOut of all the versions of soliloquies, Branagh and Gibson's best match my view of the scene. They way each of them presented their emotions clearly. The way I saw it, Hamlet was very disturbed after his friends and the players left. He was confused how the players acted out the scene. Branagh's version was my favorite because not only did he execute the emotions exactly as i pictured them, but he recited the entire speech. In the Gibson version, he started on the second page. I feel like to fully understand the soliloquy; we need to hear the whole thing. The Hawke, Tennent, and Oliver versions were not half as effective. I did not feel like it lived up to Shakespeare's expectations. I really don't like the Hawke version where Hamlet is reciting the speech inside his mind. Personally, I think it’s better to hear it being acted out. It is creative though how angry he is even in his own thoughts. The other two versions are just boring and I don’t enjoy either of them. They don’t represent Hamlet’s emotions well enough. Emotions are key to this soliloquy. Without them, the entire scene isn’t as good.
ReplyDeleteHamlet is extremely frustrated with himself in his second soliloquy, as well as upset still by the betrayal of his uncle and mother. He says, “Like John-a-dreams, unpregnant of my cause, and can say nothing; no, not for a king, upon whose property and most dear life a damn'd defeat was made,” which shows that the fact that he hasn’t done anything yet to avenge his father is tormenting him and makes him feel like he’s an unworthy son. On top of all that, Hamlet is still brooding on what Gertrude did to him by marrying Claudius so soon after his father’s death even though his father’s ghost told him to leave her alone, and it appears as if he’s starting to see the original plan for revenge in a twisted way because it seems as if he wants to make his mother pay more than he wants to get back at his uncle. This is vaguely apparent when he talks about Hecuba, whom the actor felt so strongly about while he was acting. Hamlet is comparing Hecuba to Gertrude, and while Hecuba mourned for in Hamlet’s eye a reasonable amount of time, Gertrude did not and this fact makes him loathe his mother even more. Hamlet grows increasingly angry at his inability to react to his uncle’s actions, even going so far as to call himself a whore because he’s all talk about revenge and no action, which proves that he is not only deeply disturbed by his father’s death, but maybe he believes that the fact that he isn’t trying to avenge him makes him just as guilty as his uncle. In the end he decides to put on a play to trick his uncle into showing some remorse over the murder of his brother in order to confirm that he truly did kill him, an act that shows he is hesitant to do anything
ReplyDeleteIn Hamlet’s second soliloquy, readers are able to fully grasp his own self-loathing and the tremendous amount of animosity he is feeling. The previous mention of suicide and intense depression that Hamlet had in his first soliloquy I do not believe is quite as existent anymore because as he progresses into this soliloquy, you are able to see how he has become much more focused on anger and it seems that it has become directed more toward Claudius rather than his mother. This animosity can be seen when he refers to Claudius and states, “Bloody, bawdy villain! Remorseless, treacherous, lecherous, kindless villain!” It is interesting how the focus of his frustration is shifted after the ghost has come to him and I think this helps to display just how much of an impact the ghost has had on him. This overpowering hindrance with Claudius soon develops into his incessant need for revenge on the man who is believed to have murdered his own father. However, trust for the ghost that has come to Hamlet is not present which leads to why the form of revenge he cleverly develops will prove the guilt Claudius must possess if what the ghost says he did is true. Throughout the soliloquy, the frustrations Hamlet has with himself for not reacting to the situation of avenging his own father and making his murderer pay for what he did, even after being approached by the ghost, is something that makes Hamlet see himself as nearly worthless. This is displayed when in the beginning of the soliloquy he states, “Oh, what a rogue and peasant slave am I!” This type of language connects back to the first soliloquy because of hatred he may be feeling toward himself, but like I previously said, the focus is shifted toward the irritation and resentment he has for Claudius and the actions he will be taking to prove his guilt.
ReplyDeleteI still like Branagh ‘s version best because in this part I feel he goes from reasonable to a little crazy in a short amount of time, and Branagh does just that, going from upset to frustrated to furious to insanely calm. David Tennant’s version was good too, the reason being there was also frustration and madness shown in a more dramatic way. And again, I love the set and the costume design. Tennant moves around more and shows more emotion with his hands than Branagh. So in reality, I like both Branagh and Tennant’s versions just as much but for different reasons, but if I had to chose I would choose Branagh because I felt like his performance was more chilling. While the version with Mel Gibson as Hamlet was definitely filled with anger and a fair share of madness, there was no transition from the two, which made the soliloquy seem much less sinister than the Branagh version, and I think Gibson acts a bit more childish than he should. Plus, it was cut short and the words didn’t have quite the same effect. The version with Ethan Hawke as Hamlet was again, cut too short for me. And Hawke’s voice doesn’t change. He sounds depressed throughout even though I feel there should be some anger and frustration portrayed. And finally, Laurence Olivier’s performance. Now, I don’t know about anyone else but I definitely didn’t get the impression that Hamlet was overly joyful when he decided to trick the king with a play, which meant the pirouette of joy and triumphant music was confusing to me. That’s not taking into account the fact that there was basically no soliloquy, it was just the last rhyming couplet. True, the rhyming couplet is suppose to sum up the whole speech, but I think it was way to brief. If I hadn’t read the story I would have had no Idea how Hamlet had gotten to that conclusion.
ReplyDeleteI believe that Branagh’s version of Hamlet’s second soliloquy agreed best with my explication because of the tremendous amount of anger portrayed throughout the entire performance. I had thought that this anger had been what built up to Hamlet being able to achieve his plan for revenge and that is was the most important emotion he delivered; Branagh did the best job of showing this anger. He achieved in getting his true animosity and need for revenge depicted but without getting too caught up in it as I thought Tennant did. While Tennant did show great emotion, I believe that some of his movements and body language sometimes took away from the true feeling that Shakespeare may have intended rather than enhance it, as I’m sure he had intended. I enjoyed Gibson’s performance because he was also was effective in displaying Hamlet’s true frustrations with Claudius, but it did not include the entire soliloquy and I thought that necessary parts may have been excluded. In Olivier’s version he only includes the very last line of the soliloquy which meant that it certainly did not achieve any of the anger that I had thought was such a crucial part to being able to see Hamlet’s anger. While he said this line he also made a joyous movement and spun around and I did not think that this fit in with Hamlet’s emotions of dissatisfaction at all. In Hawke’s version it lacks much emotion and any hint of true anger is difficult to be seen in the fairly mellow way that Hawke is speaking. Anger is surely not something that was focused on this version. Because Branagh was able to portray his outrage in the clearest and most meaningful way it matched by explication best and it displayed each point that I had made.
ReplyDeleteOpposed to the first Soliloquy, Hamlet is angry with himself rather than his mother and his uncle. Hamlet’s self loathing is obvious when he says “O, what a rogue and peasant slave am I!” Hamlet is calling himself a useless person of little power. The soliloquy began with this line to introduce the blame he is putting upon himself for not yet doing anything to put an end to Claudius. I found this quote very powerful: “Yet I, A dull and muddy-mettled rascal, peak, Like John-a-dreams, unpregnant of my cause.” Hamlet is calling himself a dull-spirited dreamer; he feels unable to act upon anything. He mopes about, slowly deteriorating. When Hamlet says he is “unpregnant” it means he is unable to act quickly with his plan to reveal Claudius as a murderer. Hamlet’s anger towards himself quickly moves towards Claudius. Hamlet calls Claudius a “Remorseless, treacherous, lecherous, kindless villain!” It is true that Claudius is kindless, meaning unnatural. He murdered his brother, married his brother’s wife, and then took his brother’s throne. Upset about his father’s death and extremely angry with his uncle, Hamlet derives a plan to reveal his uncle’s secret: “I'll observe his looks; I'll tent him to the quick: if he but blench, I know my course. The spirit that I have seen may be the devil: and the devil hath power to assume a pleasing shape; yea, and perhaps out of my
ReplyDeleteWeakness and my melancholy, As he is very potent with such spirits, Abuses me to damn me: I'll have grounds more relative than this: the play 's the thing wherein I'll catch the conscience of the king.” Hamlet’s plan is to watch Claudius very closely. If Hamlet notices Claudius flinch when his deceased brother is mentioned, he will know that Claudius is guilty of murder. Hamlet understands that the ghost he has seen may be a devil taking the shape of his father so he is keeping the secret to himself for now. If Claudius really is guilty, the truth will be revealed: “For murder, though it have no tongue, will speak”
David Tennant was my favorite. Tennant became violent during this soliloquy when he ripped the security camera off the wall. It gave the feeling that what he was saying was meaningful and personal. Also, it showed that Hamlet was completely alone when he was saying these things. Much the first soliloquy, Tennant’s body movements were very exaggerated and full of passion. This lets the audience know that his emotions are just as large as what he is physically motioning with his hands. Tennant looks directly into the camera again, which creates the feeling that he is talking directly to you and it makes you really listen to what he is saying. He looks kind of crazy towards the end of the soliloquy, which is awesome since Hamlet was clearly feeling crazy at the time. Tennant did a good job of portraying Hamlet’s emotions. Mel Gibson was my second favorite. It portrayed Hamlet’s anger very well. Gibson was getting even more violent than Tennant, which made his soliloquy really believable. He also yelled a lot which showed the resentment that Hamlet was feeling towards Claudius and the self loathing he was feeling towards himself. I think Mel Gibson makes a good Hamlet. Ethan Hawke didn’t really catch my attention because there was no emotion in his voice. It was flat and melancholy; it lacked passion. I agree with Meryl when she said that Branagh’s screaming fits were a little over the top. I didn’t feel the shift between self loathing and anger towards Claudius. As for Oliver, the background music sounded happy and didn’t fit the scene at all. Also, he seemed overly joyful, not at all angry.
ReplyDeleteHamlet’s soliloquy was very much similar to the first in the sense that Hamlet is still dealing with his inner conflicts. This man still views himself as a coward “Yet I,
ReplyDeleteA dull and muddy-mettled rascal, peak Like John-a-dreams, unpregnant of my cause, And can say nothing—no, not for a king, upon whose property and most dear life A damned defeat was made.” He refers to himself as a rascal that has done nothing to justify his father’s death. We see these same conflicts in the first soliloquy when he sees no purpose for his own life. Hamlet is ashamed of what he has, or more, what he hasn’t done. His disappointment in himself quickly turns to anger, and that is something we do not see in the first soliloquy. Hamlet is constantly talking about his father in this soliloquy, and really gets the message that Hamlet sees himself as a bad son. We also see the same struggle of dealing with the mother and uncle’s marriage. We see this through the comparisons of Hecuba. It is clear that Hamlet is still bitter about the current situations he is in. I also noticed that we as a reader find Hamlet struggling with his adored father’s wishes to leave his mother alone. The same issues that we have seen keep appearing through out the first two scenes, and I think this soliloquy was a big indication of what is to come.
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ReplyDeleteThis second soliloquy starts off by revealing how much of a coward Hamlet sees himself as, referring to himself as a "peasant slave" and "pigeon-liver'd" and "lack gall". He compares the way his mother is dealing with the death of her husband to Hecuba, who appropriately mourned and grieved the death of her husband, and becomes angry at his mother for marrying his uncle, within a month of the King's death. Yet, he starts to ask himself "Am I a coward? Who calls me villain? breaks my pate across? Plucks off my beard, and blows it in my face? Tweaks me by the nose? gives me the lie i' the throat, As deep as to the lungs? who does me this?" becoming angry at himself, once again, for being a coward and not taking action; then transitions to being angry at Claudius. Again he becomes angry at himself by saying "Why, what an ass am I! This is most brave, That I, the son of a dear father murder'd, Prompted to my revenge by heaven and hell, Must, like a whore, unpack my heart with words, And fall a-cursing, like a very drab”, comparing himself to a whore for not doing what he should be doing, planning revenge on Claudius. Hamlet is still not yet sure whether the spirit that appeared to him was the devil, using the shape of his father, or his actual father; using it as an excuse for not having planned revenge.
ReplyDeleteBranagh's version of the 2.2 soliloquy best matches my interpretation of how Hamlet would act. When he enters the room to be alone he starts off with a low tone indicating the disappointment in himself. As Hamlet starts to get angry, Branagh starts to raise his voice and begins scolding himself. This version of the soliloquy reveals Hamlet's emotion try powerfully; physically and orally. Gibson did a good job showing Hamlet's anger orally but lacked it physically. I like how Zeffirelli has Gibson looking out the window at his mother with his uncle.
ReplyDelete1.Both closing an act with a scene of Hamlet reflecting on his own failure to deal vengeance as well as on his reflecting itself and introducing the plot in the same instance for the next act, Shakespeare creates Hamlet’s soliloquies to have dynamic import for the play’s inattentive audience and for Hamlet’s character development. a) it restates a detail of an interaction b/w Hamlet and Player I only with more attention paid this time. b) it states Hamlet’s reasons for this interspersed with curses and self-condemnations from Hamlet. 2. Hamlet is reflecting, not scheming, having already done the deed, and here condemning this reflection in ln 614-5, calling the practice whorish. 3. in this reflection, Hamlet first calls himself weak, and here enumerates the merits of p[lay acting as being a shadow and an intensified version of reality. ln 589-93, “[the actor {“but in a fiction, in a dream of passion” ln 579}] would drown the stage with tears/ and cleave the general ear with horrid speech/ make mad the guilty and appall the free/ confound the ignorant and amaze indeed/ the very faculties of eyes and ears.” 4. play acting can better accomplish what Hamlet’s own churlishness cannot. 5. Hamlet seems to want to justify his demand of the players, saying that, where he is lacking, he can hire in his stead to do a better job, the shadow and intensified reality which is not reality that is pretense and acting. a) ln 577-9 “O what a rogue and villian slave am i/ is it not monstrous that this player her/ but in a fiction...[is wicked good at seeming genuine]...etc. [he’s so great]...” b) “the spirit that i have seen/ may be a devil” ln 627-8(meaning he must verify its reliability]) ln617-21 “[...] I have heard/ that guilty creatures sitting at a play/ have, by the very cunning of the scene/ [...]proclaimed their maleffections.” 6.this solo reveals about Hamlet’s character that he’s introspective and he’s uncertain. 7.the stage is more real to people than even reality. 8. the absurd little line “ Now i am alone” confused me becuase i couldn’t fit a voice with it, but i guess that it is just like an introduction to the fact and to the introspective tone. 9. lines 598-603 (“am i a coward...i should take it”) baffled me again because they do not have a strong flavour, and at one point i thought that by saying this, Hamlet was comparing himself only to the false reality of acting, and so was concluding the opposite of what he was saying (that he’s a lousy poltroon); but i now have to say that this is not the case because this does not fit into my next point, that he now (not before in the 1.2 soliloquay) includes himself in the corruption. 10. just as pretend executes what reality does not, people (characters) in reality dream and engage in fictitious narrative to create that pretend where they cannot/wont engage in the dire consequences of reality/ reality dreams and pretend conducts. 11. the whole shebang is just a spiel about Hamlet’s own self-loathing and disillusionment with self and new comparison with his uncle, unlike he has done before, carefully avoiding direct comparison, only comparing both to his father. a) ln 607-9 “Bloody, bawdy villain!/ remorseless, treacherous, lecherous, kindless/ villian!” b) the whole time he calling himself a whorish poltroon. 12. what needs any production capture about Hamlet’s 2.2 soliloquay? this following list condenses it all: Hamlet’s a) speculative/introspective tone/ ire b) admiration for players c) own self-loathing + traumatizing inclusion in the world’s corruption.
ReplyDeleteHowever much i'd like to say it's Tennant, just because the acting was striking, and just as Tennant made sense of everything--alas it was all in a different light. the ire spawned inspiration without aid of inclusion in sullied existence/comparison to cluadius even when the whole closes an act as reflection after Hamlet’s already concocted the plan. this interpretation is the easiest, but is not true to the situation--is it true to Hamlet’s character? so Gibson won this time hands down. what was left in tact was fantastic; Gibson played a Hamlet furious at self, aimed all at Claudius’ remaining life while the whole is also all fresh realization in the wake of his plan’s birth, rather than parading as the scheme's actual birth; what it lacks is only what was cut--comparison to Claudius and admiration of the Players.
ReplyDeleteIn Hamlet’s Act 2 scene 2 soliloquy Hamlet is stressing over the assignment that his father’s ghost gave to him. He is not so much stressing about whether or not he should do it, but why he hasn’t yet. This soliloquy is very similar to his first one, with self-loathing, (“Oh, what a rouge and peasant slave am I!”) and his reoccurring anger towards his mother despite being told by his ghost/father that he should only focus on exacting his revenge on his mother.
ReplyDeleteWhat the text does is shows us Hamlet’s train of thought. First he feels sorrow and condemns himself for his lack of action. Then he compares his Mother to Hecuba, the mythological wife of Priam. Hamlet feels that Hecuba mourned appropriately and his mother did not. The passage further shows his resentment to his mother and himself. He says that he has so much more reason to mourn than anyone else, and that it would “melt the stage in tears” and “cleave the general ear with horrid speech”.
Then Hamlet turns his ire towards his Uncle. He asks himself who “plucks off my beard”, an allusion that Claudius has stolen Hamlet’s masculinity, and he calls Claudius a “Remorseless, treacherous, lecherous, kindles villain!” And he falls into more self-pity, saying that all he can do is “unpack his heart in words” and he cannot act upon it. But then he starts to think of a plan; he decides that he cannot completely trust the ghost, so he will lay a trap in the form of a play where he “will catch the conscience of the king.”
The entirety of the soliloquy is written so we can better understand Hamlet’s thought process and his inner torment. For Hamlet, this is a personal inspiration speech, one that convinces him to take action and to stop just mourning.
Gibson's version was the best in my opinion followed by Branagh. Gibson's emotional state best fit my impression of what Hamlet was feeling during the play and his tone of voice and his explosive, yet contained anger seems to me the most believable. However, he did not use the full version of the soliloquy, and the lack of the full text makes his version lose points in my eyes. Branagh's version was good, but his emotions did not line up with the lines the way I pictured them in my head.
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