In hisof
,chastises himself for his weakness and inaction in avenging the murder of his father, and he
considers a method to confirm the guilt of .
Steeped in melancholy over the
death of his father and what he views as his mother's incestuous act of marriage to
Claudius,finds himself in a quagmire of thoughts and emotions that immobilize him. In his
soliloquy of Act II, Scene 2, Hamlet muses upon the emotion that an actor of the visiting troupe
brings forth in his speech about the Trojan queen Hecuba, the prototype for bereft and mourning
women. He wonders what this man would do if he "[H]ad the motive and cue for passion"
(Act II, Scene 2, line 517) that he has in his current situation.
Upon
further introspection, Hamlet berates himself for his lack of passion and courage:
But I am pigeon-livered and lack gall
To make oppression
bitter, or ere this
I should'a fatted all the region kites
With this slave's
offal. Bloody, bawdy villain (Act II, Scene 2, lines 534-537)!
Further, Hamlet calls himself "an ass" for his inaction. He then remembers
that sometimes people who watch a play whose plot resembles circumstances of their own lives are
"struck so to the soul" (Act II, Scene 2, line 548) that they are driven to confess
the crimes they have committed.
Resolved to act, Hamlet decides to have the
actors perform a play whose plot involves situations similar to those which have recently
occurred in reality. Then, as Claudius watches this play, Hamlet can "catch the
conscience of the king" (Act II, Scene 2, line 562).
As with Hamlet's
other soliloquies, his third soliloquy moves him toward action and provides more insights into
his soul.
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