Which theme is reinforced in the excerpt below from Shakespeare's Hamlet? Rightly to be great Is not to stir without great argum
ent, But greatly to find quarrel in a straw When honor's at the stake. How stand I, then, That have a father kill'd, a mother stain'd, Excitements of my reason and my blood, And let all sleep[?] 1. Appearance versus reality
2. Complexity of action
3. Impossibility of certainty
4. Mystery of death
Theme is demonstrated as the significant idea or message that surrounds a literary work in order to combine all the elements of the narrative together to offer an accomplished thought. The author reinforces this particular idea in order to convey the intended meaning of the work to the audience so they could understand it more comprehensively.
In the given excerpt, the theme or significant idea that has been reinforced here would be the 'complexity of action' as at one moment it says 'rightly..to..great...without great argument' and at the next it says 'but greatly to ..quarrel when honor is at stake'. <em>This soliloquy reveals Hamlet's convulated state where he is confused whether to take revenge or not. At the end, he swears revenge as 'his father kill'd, mother stain'd' and 'his honor is at stake'. </em>Thus, <u>option B</u> is the correct answer.
