Beyond What Seems

In reading Hamlet, especially as I became immersed in the third act, a strange obsession has taken hold of me. I have unconsciously developed something close to an addiction for soliloquies, and not in their characteristics as a whole but as a mere coincidence. Soliloquies as such are quite common sets of words, even boring in theory. But in Hamlet, be it by necessity or mere choice, these happen to hold the most meaning, emerging far beyond other sets of lines that depend upon each other. In their independence, they become liberated to communicate deep thoughts and honest desires. It is such that they become one of the most important elements to portray reality in the midst of fraud and disguise.

It is no surprise, then, if I, yet again, write about thoughts: honest, segmented, delicate thoughts. This time it happens in the third scene of the equal act. Again, it is Hamlet's mind speaking:

"O, this is hire and salary, not revenge.

He took my father grossly, full of bread;

With all his crimes broad blown, as flush as May; (85)

And how his audit stands who knows save heaven?

But in our circumstance and course of thought,

'Tis heavy with him. And I am then revenged,

To take him in the purging of his soul,

When he is fit and season'd for his passage? (90)

No!

Up, sword; and know thou a more horrid hen:

When he is drunk asleep, or in his rage,

Or in the incestuous pleasure of his bed;

At game, a-swearing, or about some act (95)

That has no relish of salvation in't;

Then trip him, that his heels may kick at heaven, And that his soul may be as damn'd and black As hell, whereto it goes. My mother stays:

This physic but prolongs thy sickly days." (Act 3, Scene3).

Hamlet begins by indicating that his actions will be a consequence of their deeds but not revenge, which I come to doubt. Then he refers to the way his father was killed full of hatred, thus further building upon my doubt. He admits that he wants the situation to be the worse possible for Claudius, when he is found sinning as to make his death humiliating and a real revenge. And he expresses his disagreement with killing him in a state of regret, for that would make him seem less evil, Hamlet thinks, in the eyes of heaven. He then confirms that he shall wait for the opportunity to strike a deadly blow not only at his body but at his memory and everything he was, thus reflecting attitude of revenge. He follows it with a list of sins that cross his mind that would fit the situation, expecting them to happen soon. And as he kicked Hamlet he shall "kick at heaven", and so kick the wrong people. It is, then, not a simple revenge in the matter of body but a spiritual revenge which Hamlet plans for his enemy.

These are the real witnesses, the real indicators of the course of the story. Many things may be said and done, but thought will always rule the rational beings even in the midst of lunacy. It is so that I will continue to take soliloquies as the real indicators of character and state of mind, for it is a play, and even actions inside it are but a disguise for pages.