Act 4 Scene 4 Hamlet Soliloquy

[Ling]

I guess I'll start things off with the Hamlet Soliloquy.
Lines 34-49:
I'll be with you soon. Leave now.
Why does everything tell me
To actually avenge my father?
What is a man if his only purpose is to sleep and eat?
He is nothing but a beast.
God didn't gave us thought and capabilities so they are never used properly.
Whether it be mindlessness or cowardly hesitation,
I don't know why I am alive and still say "I must do it" although I have every reason to do it.
Self-evident examples compel me:

[Grace]

Lines 50-59:
Look at this great army
Led by such a vulnerable prince
Who is so ambitious
That he is so fearless and confident even approaching the unknown/unpredictable battle.
He puts himself at risk
of danger and of death
even for such a small cause.
To be truly great doesn't mean that
you'd only fight for a good reason--it means that you'd fight over nothing if your honor was at stake.

[Rachel]

I'll finish it up (lines 59 - 66) :)

While, to my embarrassment, I see
The sure death of twenty thousand soldiers,
Who, for a chance of legacy and fame,
Walk into their sure deaths, fighting for a piece of land
That is not even big enough to bury them all? Oh, from now on,
My thoughts are violent or bust!

- Rachel

[Alon]

I never truly found the arguements in which Hamlet compares himself to players and soldiers to be compelling. A player is given a script which he must memorize and fake, a set of lines of dialouge which are nothing more than the player's occupation and mean nothing more to the player than merely another day's toil. A soldier serves his country because of his passion for his country, and obeys his generals and king blindly, and is unable to control his fate should his commanding officer decide it fit to send the soldier to his impending death. Hamlet, however, is firmly in control of his own destiny. Hamlet can choose to forgive Claudius for his crime and permit him to reign over Denmark, and thus relinquish the burden his father's ghost thrust upon him; or he can choose to avenge his father, to take up arms against the incestuous creature he finds his uncle, and finally end his troubles.

[Ilana]

What you say about Hamlet comparing himself to actors makes sense--in addition, acting is not a duty, it is an occupation and a pastime, and his work means nothing to him. But I think that Hamlet's "soldier" comparisons are more in line. I believe someone in class mentioned that, in Hamlet's day, a son avenging a murdered father's honor was obligatory if the father was murdered, and if not, the son would be shamed. Same for a soldier who decides to desert instead of doing battle: they are shamed in their home country, they get no recognition or benefits, they are stripped of any titles.