Act 2 Hamlet Soliloquy 'O what a rogue and peasant slave am I' Flashcards
What does Hamlet refer to Claudius as (he is listing many things)
‘Remorcless treacherous, lecherous kindless villain’
How does Hamlet compare his revenge to the player weeping?
He asks why an actor can weep for a fictional character when he himself cannot get on with his real life revenge. Curses his reluctancy and hesitation. ‘What is Hecuba to him, or he to Hecuba that he should weep for her?’
What are some things Hamlet says about himself in his soliloquy that emmasculates him and shows how much he resents himself for not enacting his revenge?
‘Pigeon-livered’
‘lacks gall’
‘plucks off my beard’
What does Hamlet sarcastically belittle himself in terms of thinking about his feelings instead of acting?
‘This is most brave, that I, the son of a dear father murdered, prompted to my revenge by heaven or hell; must like a whore unpack my heart with words’
what words does Hamlet call himself?
‘drab’ ‘scallion’ ‘whore’ ‘ass’
How does Hamlet reference the power that art can hold over people?
‘I have heard that guilty creatures…have by the very cunning of the scene been struck…they have proclaimed their malefactions; for murder though it have no tongue, will speak with most miraculous organ.
What is the last line of the soliloquy?
The plays’ the thing wherein Ill catch the conscience of the king’
Why does Hamlet suggest that perhaps the Ghost was a devil who was able to fool him easily?
‘the devil hath the power to assume a pleasing shape’
‘out of my weakness and my melancholy, as he is potent with such spirits, abuses to damn me’
How does Hamlet use rhetorical questions when speaking about himself?
‘Am I a coward’
‘Who does me this’
- Open ended questions- not sure who he is asking- his father, the audience, God, himself? He won’t be answered.
- He has turned on himself- change/turning point of the soliloquy to which he is not angry at his delay of revenge.
How does Hamlet suggest he has been delaying his revenge?
‘Like a John-a-dreams, unpregnant of my cause.’
