The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, is a
tragedy by William Shakespeare. The play is set in the Kingdom of Denmark and
it dramatizes Prince Hamlet’s revenge to his uncle for murdering Hamlet’s
father. The play portrays both true and acted madness and explores various
themes such as family, revenge, madness, etc.
One of Hamlet’s most famous soliloquies is his ‘’Tis now the very witching time of night’’, which falls in
the Act 3, Scene 2 (pages 380-391).
This soliloquy is a
really interesting and important one since it lets the reader know what
Hamlet’s plans are.
Prior to this
monologue, Prince Hamlet’s mother, Queen Gertrude, sends an order for Hamlet to
go to her chamber to have a talk with her. After the play, Hamlet asks for a
short amount of time alone. Thrilled
because his plan worked out, he experiences a surge of confidence and
delivers this soliloquy in which he plans out the conversation with his mother
and talks about how confident of himself he is.
''Tis
now the very witching time of night,
When churchyards
yawn, and hell itself breathes out
Contagion to this
world: now could I drink hot blood,
And do such bitter
business as the day
Would quake to look
on. Soft!
now to my mother. —
O heart, lose not
thy nature; let not ever
The soul of Nero
enter this firm bosom:
Let me be cruel, not
unnatural;
I will speak daggers
to her, but use none;
My tongue and soul
in this be hypocrites, —
How in my words
somever she be shent,
To give them seals
never, my soul, consent!''
‘’Tis
now the very witching time of night’’, Hamlet starts his
monologue with a reference to the people who use the darkness (middle of the
night) to do their dirty work.
‘’When churchyards yawn, and hell itself
breathes out",
refers to the middle Ages, where people used to bury the bodies at their local
church graveyard. At the time during which Hamlet occurs, Europe was suffering
from the ‘’Black Death Plague’’. Art during this period was very dark and often
represented the Devil and demons.
At this moment, Hamlet describes himself to be in a mood in
which he could “drink hot blood, and do such bitter business
as the day would quake to look on.” Hamlet is very upset that his mother has
re-married in his father’s absence. In this mood, he could kill anyone (including his mother), but
he would not do that. “Let me be cruel,
not unnatural.”
"Soft! Now to my mother.’’
At
this point, he has been considering how to deal with the situation he’s currently
facing. He wants to speak the truth to his mother without being too harsh. He
knows that if he makes the wrong move at the wrong time, there could be a lot
of trouble. That’s why he plans everything out, including his conversations
with his mother.
"O heart, lose not thy nature; let not ever
The soul of Nero
enter this firm bosom:
Let me be cruel, not
unnatural;’’
These lines are hard to understand since a lot of people
don’t know who ‘’Nero’’ was. Nero was a Roman Emperor who was quite famous for
being crazy and murdering his mother. He was extremely cruel and executed people
in awful ways.
"
I will speak daggers to her, but use none;
My tongue and soul
in this be hypocrites"
Hamlet will be direct when speaking to her mother, yet he
will try to be as gentle as possible. He does not want to hurt his mother although
he knows his words will hurt her.
‘’How
in my words somever she be shent,
To give them seals
never, my soul, consent!’’
Seals were used during the Middle Ages like signatures are
used today. Since Hamlet was the Prince of Denmark, he had his own seal and used
it whenever he wanted to consent something. He is basically saying that he
didn’t consent the actions his mom took when he married Hamlet’s own uncle.
