Loyalty In Hamlet
In the context of your critical study how do relationships embodied in the extract (the one that you choose) resonate with your understanding of loyalty in the play? Through a critical study of William Shakespeare’s play Hamlet and the many-faceted relationships that occur throughout it, we are able to identify the underlying idea of loyalty and understand how it’s different aspects affect the protagonist Hamlet and all his relationships in the play. Culminating in the line “I have sworn it”, Hamlet’s soliloquy, reflects his decision to carry out revenge out of loyalty to his dead father whilst foreshadowing the subsequent acts of disloyalty that occurs in the play. Influenced by the changing context of Elizabethan England, the representation
…show more content…
However the conflict arises with his morals and ethics, in his desire to avenge ad commit suicide, portrayed in his wish that “this too too solid flesh would melt” in his grief and anger over perception of his mother and uncle’s betrayal. The repetition of “too” emphasising the physical body of humanity and combined with the knowledge that the “Everlasting had not fix'd his canon ‘gainst self slaughter”, also highlight the Elizabeth society’s views on suicide as sin making his soliloquy much more immoral. His internal conflict of the decision to pursue avengement to fulfill his familial duty and unwillingness to act to serve his duty and loyalty to God that allow the play to continue, thus allows the audience to project their own ideas of loyalty onto their view of the play. However it is his ambition to “sweep to my revenge” on his uncle and the emphatic tone in his promise “i have sworn it”, that acts as a catalyst for his tragic downfall with the resulting deaths, stressing the impact that loyalty has on numerous relationships in Hamlet, and allowing the audience to identify with the consequences of Hamlet’s inaction and indecisiveness in deciding where his loyalty lies in all of his
However the conflict arises with his morals and ethics, in his desire to avenge ad commit suicide, portrayed in his wish that “this too too solid flesh would melt” in his grief and anger over perception of his mother and uncle’s betrayal. The repetition of “too” emphasising the physical body of humanity and combined with the knowledge that the “Everlasting had not fix'd his canon ‘gainst self slaughter”, also highlight the Elizabeth society’s views on suicide as sin making his soliloquy much more immoral. His internal conflict of the decision to pursue avengement to fulfill his familial duty and unwillingness to act to serve his duty and loyalty to God that allow the play to continue, thus allows the audience to project their own ideas of loyalty onto their view of the play. However it is his ambition to “sweep to my revenge” on his uncle and the emphatic tone in his promise “i have sworn it”, that acts as a catalyst for his tragic downfall with the resulting deaths, stressing the impact that loyalty has on numerous relationships in Hamlet, and allowing the audience to identify with the consequences of Hamlet’s inaction and indecisiveness in deciding where his loyalty lies in all of his