Examples Of Grief In Hamlet

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In Hamlet, Shakespeare creates a character whose grief becomes the fodder for much of the action in the play. This grief is the foundation of the revenge he achieves by the play’s end. However, prior to the encounter with his father’s ghost, Hamlet’s grief, though apparent, is mostly internalized, as demonstrated in his first soliloquy. This speech establishes Hamlet’s irrational state of mind, as he jumps from idea to idea, trying to work out the reasons for his inner turmoil, and by the end, he resolves to suffer in silence. If the idea that Claudius had killed his father had not been planted in Hamlet’s head by the ghost, Hamlet tells us in this speech that he plans no action whatsoever. He makes a clear decision for a course of action unlike …show more content…
He attributes it to her “frailty,” yet he still seems to blame her when he uses the imagery of the shoes she wore to her husband’s funeral to represent how little time had passed before she married Claudius. Despite her funereal tears, Hamlet seems to believe Gertrude may already be looking ahead, for which he characterizes her as lower than “a beast that wants discourse of reason.” Insulting as this comparison may be, it also in some ways, further absolves Gertrude from blame as one lacking reason cannot be fully blamed for her actions.
He changes tack once more and focuses on his uncle, saying he is “no more like my father / Than I to Hercules,” again characterizing his father in mythic terms while simultaneously portraying himself as less than heroic, a pattern he repeats throughout the play. His mind then shifts to the short interval between the funeral and the marriage, referring to Gertrude’s “unrighteous tears,” again suggesting Gertrude had been insincere in her grief and eager to marry Claudius before the “salt… / Had left the flushing in her galled eyes.” His hyperbole further emphasizes what Hamlet perceives to be imprudent

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