Hamlet

1. Re-read Hamlet’s soliloquy in Act 2 Scene 2, from

“Hamlet: Ay, so god buy to you! Now I am alone. O,

what a rogue and peasant slave am I!” (line 543)

to

“O, vengeance!

Why, what an ass am I!” (line 578).

What impression do you gain of Hamlet and his state of mind at this

point in the play? How far is it consistent with his portrayal elsewhere in

the play?

Hamlet is one of the best-known plays, written by William Shakespeare. It tells the story of young Prince Hamlet, who bears the same name as his father, the King of Denmark, who has recently died unexpectedly. Hamlet’s uncle, Claudius, has inherited the throne and taken the former King’s wife (Prince Hamlet’s mother), Gertrude, as his own. This has grieved Prince Hamlet greatly; these consequences, and the appearance of the ghost of