"Hamlet" ( William Shakespeare )

Paper Summary:

One of Hamlet's first-act soliloquies (I,v,92-113) is a response to the news that he is given by the Ghost of his father. This response, which does not seem to match the importance of what he has been told, offers insights into Hamlet's character.

From the Paper:

"One of Hamlet's first-act soliloquies (I,v,92-113) is a response to the news that he is given by the Ghost of his father. This response, which does not seem to match the importance of what he has been told, offers insights into Hamlet's character. Hamlet emerges in this speech not as a man of action, but as a man who is unsure exactly what actions he should take. He is horrified by the Ghost's announcement that he had been murdered by Claudius. But this does not move Hamlet to immediate action, which might seem to be the logical response to such information. Instead it seems to present him with a puzzle, something to be thought out and solved prior to taking any action. In this soliloquy, after being told that his father was murdered by the uncle who immediately married his mother, Hamlet is not able to take, or propose, any stronger action than to "set it down / That ..."

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