Good morning/afternoon HSC students, as you would probably know the Elizabethan play 'Hamlet' is regarded as one of Shakespeare's most recognizable words. It is a didactic text that epitomizes the fluctuating ambiguities of individuals when faced with situations that are difficult in nature. Although contextual values have changed throughout time, the plays ability to highlight the basic need of humanity to question their mortality and frailty has remained. With the reoccurrence of universal themes such as verisimilitude Hamlet effectively resonates within contemporary society. Written at the dawn of the 7th Century, Revenge Tragedy was a genre that had stemmed from the Renaissance Humanist movement during the reign of Elizabeth I. Foreign settings had been adopted and classical values revived. Literature at the time was seen as a rebirth of culture and education, and theocentric values supported the idea of a "Divine Monarchy". Here, the need for Elizabethan society to elucidate self-discovery and personal flaws were elicited.
Imagine you had just returned from university and your entire world had been turned upside down. Hamlet follows the emotional journey of an alienated and melancholy young man who struggles with grief and the loss of his father, his uncle's fratricide and the incestuous actions of his "common" mother. Is all this the cause of Hamlet's tragic downfall? As the play unravels so to does Hamlet's sanity as he struggles with morality and action, which bring me to my chosen scene. I'll be reading and analyzing the infamous third soliloquy by Hamlet from Act 3 Scene 1, lines 56 to 60 and then lines 80 to 89.
To be, or not to be, that is the question-.
Whether 'tis Nobler in the mind to suffer.
The Slings and Arrows of outrageous Fortune,.
Or to take Arms against a Sea of troubles,.
And by opposing, end them? To die, to sleep-.
No more; and by a sleep, to say we end.