Hamlet's Soliloquy Is Touted As Term Paper

To die, to sleep: perchance to dream:" He is doomed to a sleep that is plagued by fear and reprisal, to seek out revenge for worldly actions against him. Hamlet knows that if he were to die today he would likely be doomed to walk the halls, as his father dreaming of the day that he was killed and the betrayal that ended his life, "ay there's the rub; / for in that sleep of death what dreams may come." Hamlet knows that reaching out to seek the sleep and dream of death he would be dooming himself to an eternal seeking of revenge, not unlike that of his father who reached out to him in death to tell his story of betrayal and exact revenge upon the wife (mother) and brother.

The soliloquy reveals that Hamlet is mortal, that he is afraid of the un-avenged death and that he is now willing to let himself die in an act of avenging his father. He is also clearly willing to take the eternal scorn that will likely be waged against him in life and death with regard to the wrong he did to the fair Ophelia. In this passage he is more honest with his feelings about Ophelia than at almost any other time in the work. He has previously lamented that the fair Ophelia has been used, as he has to try to cover the story of his father's death, by allowing those who follow to live on without revenge. He takes responsibility for his actions against her, knowing that he and others have caused her death and that this was only one of the possibilities of her place in the intrigue of the situation.The passage reveals that Hamlet is done being afraid of death, of the fearful dreams of eternity, he is willing to take actions that will hasten his won death walk, hoping to do so in such a way that what he laments is his own action towards the fair Ophelia, rather than the actions of others toward him and his father. Hamlet reveals that he, like Ophelia has been a pawn in the game of others and that if he can exact revenge than he can go on to live in eternity with the remembered sins against Ophelia.

The soliloquy is likely the most analyzed of all passages in this very moving and eternal work. Shakespeare's portrayal of the mortal Hamlet, the thinking man is clearly displayed in this short passage. Shakespeare's eloquence regarding, Hamlet's humanity and the willingness of Hamlet to live with his actions, even to eternity if he has to, to exact revenge upon those who betrayed his father is startling and insightful. Hamlet must make a choice, and in this passage is the precipice of his thoughts. He will no longer live in fear, as if the fair and soft Ophelia can choose to take her life's woes with her to eternity, than he can as well. He will act, rather than think and in so doing hopefully, erase the number of unanswerable dreams that he dreams in eternity, stave….....