Question

Reread Hamlet’s fourth soliloquy below; it is found in the play in Act 4, Scene 4. Then answer the questions on this page and provide director’s notes that indicate how you would instruct an actor to speak and behave while delivering this soliloquy. Hamlet. … How all occasions do inform against me And spur my dull revenge! What is a man If his chief good and market of his time Be but to sleep and feed? A beast, no more. Sure he that made us with such large discourse, Looking before and after, gave us not That capability and godlike reason To fust in us unused. Now, whether it be Bestial oblivion, or some craven scruple Of thinking too precisely on th' event— A thought which, quartered, hath but one part wisdom And ever three parts coward—I do not know Why yet I live to say, “This thing's to do,” Sith I have cause, and will, and strength, and means To do 't. Examples gross as earth exhort me. Witness this army of such mass and charge, Led by a delicate and tender prince, Whose spirit, with divine ambition puffed, Makes mouths at the invisible event, Exposing what is mortal and unsure To all that fortune, death, and danger dare, Even for an eggshell. Rightly to be great Is not to stir without great argument, But greatly to find quarrel in a straw When honor's at the stake. How stand I then, That have a father killed, a mother stained, Excitements of my reason and my blood, And let all sleep, while to my shame I see The imminent death of twenty thousand men That for a fantasy and trick of fame Go to their graves like beds, fight for a plot Whereon the numbers cannot try the cause, Which is not tomb enough and continent To hide the slain? O, from this time forth, My thoughts be bloody, or be nothing worth! Total score: ____ of 20 points (Score for Question 1: ___ of 2 points) 1. What emotions do you think Hamlet experiences over the course of this speech? Answer: Type your answer here. (Score for Question 2: ___ of 2 points) 2. What conclusion does Hamlet reach, or what does Hamlet realize, over the course of this speech? Answer: Type your answer here. (Score for Question 3: ___ of 2 points) 3. How do you want the audience to feel about Hamlet and his situation after hearing this speech? Answer: Type your answer here.

Answer 1

Answer to Question 1: Hamlet becomes increasingly furious with both himself and whoever harmed those who he cared about. A visceral sentiment of vengeance consumes him as he realizes his mind won't be at peace if he simply stands around fearfully inside his aristocratic eggshell, and the sentiment won't snuff out until the ones responsible for his anger are punished.

Answer to Question 2: Hamlet believes he will become a beast if he gives himself into an avenging wrath, but it does not matter to him as long as his grieving thoughts are cleansed. Ignoring the incident would simply preserve his plight.

Answer to Question 3: The audience should feel compasion for the man in duel, and be afraid that a good man who's well aware of his own thoughts and conclusions - a man that has lost nearly everything - gave into the rage.

Director's notes on Proper Soliloquies.

An actor who aims to perform a soliloquy must look around their environment, focus on a significant element of the scene, and procced to describe with detail how the sight makes them feel - repeat the process with the rest of the scene -. The actor should change the tone of their voice between the lines depending on the current feeling of their character; shouting it all should not be neccesary and might be considered exaggerated.