Brandwajn 1
Mairon Brandwajn
Mrs. Morris
English 12 H – Orange
10 January 2005
Dialectical Journal for Hamlet
Act I, scenes i & ii.
“Peace, break thee off; look,
where it comes again!” (40).
“At least, the whisper goes so.
Our last king, whose image
even but now appear’d to us,
was, as you know, by
Fortinbras of Norway, thereto
prick’d on by a most emulate
pride, Dar’d to the combat”
(80-85).
“The memory be green, and
that it us befitted to bear our
hearts in grief and our whole
kingdom to be contracted in
one brow of woe, yet so far
hath discretion fought with
nature that we with wisest
sorrow think on him, together
with remembrance of
ourselves” (1-7).
“O, that this too too sullied
flesh would melt, thaw and
resolve itself into a dew!”
(130-131).
The two sentinels feel scared with the sounds
they hear. When Marcellus and Horatio
arrive they take over the dialogue and
Marcellus asks Horatio to speak to the ghost.
The fact that Horatio is the expected
character of the four to speak to the ghost
represents the values of the monarchies of
the 1600s, where scholars and men of wealth
were respected the most and they were given
seniority.
After Horatio acknowledges that ghost is
indeed King Hamlet because it wears the
same armor that King Hamlet wore when
fighting the Norwegians, he declares that the
ghost is an omen of misfortunes.
It seems like only minutes have passed
before old King Hamlet died and Claudius
takes over the throne. He begins his first
speech as King with a requiem for his
brother’s death. This speech shows how
political and calculative Claudius is. He
knows how to begin his rule with the right
foot by manipulating the people with a
bombastic speech. First, he speaks of his
brother’s death; then he introduces his
marriage to the queen; and finally, addresses
the altercation with Norway.
The words flesh and melt carry the motif of
sickness thats