Hamlet Rhetorical Analysis

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Close Reading Annotation #1: “Heaven and earth, Must I remember? Why, she would hang on him As if increase of appetite had grown By what it fed on, and yet, within a month— Let me not think on't—Frailty, thy name is woman!” (I.ii.142-146) In this part of the book Hamlet receives the news from the ghost that Claudius is the one that killed his father. This angers Hamlet and makes him think of his mother who married Claudius soon after his father’s death. Hamlet questions the morality of his mother. He believes that the passing of the father gave his mother an “increase of appetite” implying that instead of mourning, which typically lowers someone’s will to eat, that she is not saddened by the loss of her husband which is suggested by Hamlet stating that her the appetite “had grown”. Hamlet expands as Gertrude “within a month” has moved on and is not bothered by her deceased husband. Shakespeare is able to present this through the use of tone as Hamlet states “Let me not think on’t”, which reveals that these actions of her…show more content…
I can feel his sadness from Shakespeare’s use of tone and diction. This feeling however starts as the ghost informs Hamlet of the killer, Claudius, and Hamlet gives this soliloquy as a reaction towards his worst nightmares becoming a reality. Hamlet starts of by saying that he wishes his “solid flesh would melt” (I.ii.129-134), this expresses the how desperate Hamlet is feeling as he rather die than live at this moment. Hamlet continues on by comparing his father to Claudius stating that his father is “Hyperion to satyr” (140), Hyperion being a god refers to his father and a satyr revealing that how high Hamlet values his father. This leads to Hamlet feeling disgust for her mother as he feels that she has moved on to marry this low man. This rhetoric in the first Act of the book highlights Hamlets misery in confronting this inner

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