Hamlet Blog #1

So for the past week in AP Lit we have been digging deeper and deeper into Hamlet. We have gotten through scenes one and two; there is a distress in the kingdom because the late King Hamlet’s ghost is walking around and Norway is threatening to invade Denmark for the revenge of Young Thortenbroth’s father, so everybody is on edge. In the second scene Hamlet is first introduced along with his mother and his uncle, who have just gotten married (incest) and Hamlet is not happy about it. The primary focus for the past two days in class has been Hamlet’s first soliloquy in scene two. This soliloquy puts Hamlet’s true feelings in perspective: first of all he is still grieving for the loss of his father (whom he admired greatly) and everyone has moved on and mocks him for his unmanly stature to the situation, and secondly he is disappointed at his mother’s behavior and believes that if she had loved his father truly she would have mourned longer instead of going off and gallivanting with her husband’s brother. My question is; is Hamlet in the right to still be feeling great disappoint to the unfortunate occurrences that has happen to him and how will come of the depressed state that he is in currently?

So one of the factors that contribute to Hamlet’s depressed state is the death of his father. His father’s death has been a catalyst to what Hamlet believes is the fall of the kingdom. Once his father died Denmark is now in danger, Hamlet is now questioning his mother’s love toward his father, Hamlet’s uncle is taking over the kingdom, and Hamlet isn’t socially able to communicate his feelings with anyone because his people mock him for being a sissy and crying over his father’s death. One of the key elements to Hamlet at this part of the book is that he takes in all of his problems and deflects all of his problems into harming himself. A key line in the soliloquy is when he wishes that God hadn’t made suicide a sin; and contemplates killing himself just to get away from his defiled family issues and his father’s crumbling kingdom. Another thing that contributes to Hamlet’s grief is that he is completely alone in his mourning process. He is socially ostracized by his mother and uncle because they think he is acting unmanly because he still is upset about his father’s death. This put Hamlet in a state of confusion and challenges his mother’s true love for his father. He claims that if she really loved him she would have mourned longer and wouldn’t have married his uncle. Hamlet

After giving the question in the first paragraph some thought, I believe that Hamlet’s behavior is completely acceptable in a time like this. Everyone else is in the wrong. There are multiple theories to why Hamlet’s actions are acceptable. The characterization of Hamlet is very important in the first soliloquy because we now know his emotion stand point and how he relates socially with his people.