Act 1 Scene 2 : Hamlet

Hamlet

129   O, that this too too solid flesh would melt,

130   Thaw and resolve itself into a dew!

131   Or that the Everlasting had not fix'd

132   His canon 'gainst self-slaughter! O God! God!

133   How weary, stale, flat and unprofitable,

134   Seem to me all the uses of this world!

135   Fie on't! ah fie! 'tis an unweeded garden,

136   That grows to seed; things rank and gross in nature

137   Possess it merely. That it should come to this!

138   But two months dead: nay, not so much, not two:

139   So excellent a king; that was, to this,

140   Hyperion to a satyr; so loving to my mother

141   That he might not beteem the winds of heaven

142   Visit her face too roughly. Heaven and earth!

143   Must I remember? why, she would hang on him,

144   As if increase of appetite had grown

145   By what it fed on: and yet, within a month—

146   Let me not think on't—Frailty, thy name is woman!—

147   A little month, or ere those shoes were old

148   With which she follow'd my poor father's body,

149   Like Niobe, all tears:—why she, even she—

150   O, God! a beast, that wants discourse of reason,

151   Would have mourn'd longer—married with my uncle,

152   My father's brother, but no more like my father

153   Than I to Hercules: within a month:

154   Ere yet the salt of most unrighteous tears

155   Had left the flushing in her galled eyes,

156   She married. O, most wicked speed, to post

157   With such dexterity to incestuous sheets!

158   It is not nor it cannot come to good:

159   But break, my heart; for I must hold my tongue.







Analysis 

In this scene, Hamlet describes how he felt in the transition of his father’s death. He feels as though his mother mourned over him too quickly and that Hamlet, himself is the only one who still feels the pain. Hamlet is upset with his mother because she hurries into love with his uncle who he doesn't really know. He doesn't comprehend how his mother claimed to love his father so much when he was alive but now acts as if the love was nothing but a mere illusion and a simple act. He doesn't favor to the fact that his mother rushed in to marriage with his uncle while he's still mourning over his father's recent death. He feels as though the love his mother had for his father was treacherous. In addition, Hamlet describes his life to be obsolete without his father.To him, his father was a great  king who ruled over his people with great power while constantly showing kindred love to his family.

            In this part of the scene, Shakespeare cleverly uses imagery to show how Hamlet was feeling. For example to show that Hamlet was sad over the death of his father he said, “'Tis an unweeded garden”. From this quotes, Hamlet illustrates that he feels as though the things around him are dying. The beautiful flowers that once overflowed his garden of life has now turned into weed, his beautiful garden is now“gross in nature”.

            By reading the text, I find myself connecting to Hamlet. While reading the text I understood the resentment Hamlet felt towards his mother for rushing into marriage with his uncle. Hamlet explained that both his parents portrayed an endless love for each other. Now I find myself questioning if Hamlet’s mother really loved his father or was she just acting. When he reminisced on how she would hang on him begging for his love; it was as if he was questioning the action. Like saying "was hanging on to him all part of your perfect act of pretending to love him" I feel as though the relationship his mother had with his uncle was going on way before his father died. I also feel that his mother felt trapped in the marriage and didn't really loved him as she says she did. It was as though him dying was her get out of jail free card. She was now free to be with the one she truly desired in the first place.