A Mourning Son

Analyzing Hamlet’s “O, that this too, too sullied flesh would melt” soliloquy, Act I, Scene II:

O, that this too, too sullied flesh would melt,

Thaw, and resolve itself into a dew,

Or that the Everlasting had not fixed

His canon ‘gainst <self-slaughter!> O God, God,

How <weary,> stale, flat, and unprofitable

Seem to me all the uses of this world!

Fie on ‘t, ah fie! ‘Tis an unweeded garden

That grows to seed. Things rank and gross in nature

Possess it merely. That it should come <to this:>

But two months dead--nay, not so much, not two.

So excellent a king, that was to this

Hyperion to a satyr; so loving to my mother

That he might not beteem the winds of heaven

Visit her face too roughly. Heaven and earth,

Must I remember? Why, she <would> hand 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!),

A little month, or ere those shoes were old

With which she followed my poor father’s body,

Like Niobe, all tears--why she, <even she>

(O God, a beat that wants discourse of reason

Would have mourned longer!), married with my

uncle,

My father’s brother, but no more like my father

Than I to Hercules. Within a month,

Ere yet the salt of most unrighteous tears

Had left the flushing of her gallèd eyes,

She married. O, most wicked speed, to post

With such dexterity to incestuous sheets!

It is no, nor it cannot come to good.

But break, my heart, for I must hold my tongue.

Upon reading the first line, Hamlet is debating life and death, something he continues to do throughout the play. He is not wishing to just merely drop dead, but however, is well aware of human decay and turning into soil and therefore the dew on the tips of grass in the morning. We can also consider the time period of Hamlet, as its setting is about the 13th and 14th century, knowing that this was an era of religious entity, for the lack of a better term, Hamlet very openly acknowledges the presence of God, when he first mentions him as “Everlasting.” He goes on to ponder and mentions further that in God’s law, suicide is a great sin, as it is a means of murder. Hamlet also goes on to ponder, with the notion of God’s “canon” being acknowledged, that the fun and activities and sights in the world he inhabits are dull and no more of an interest to him. Hamlet, as acknowledged by the new King (his uncle)  and his mother, the Queen, is experiencing grief as well as depression.

Hamlet is grieved over the loss of his father, King Hamlet and angered at his mother’s undoubtedly quick marriage to his uncle. He goes on to remembering that his mother used to adore his father, always loyal and always ready for his instruction and affection; always wanting more. He just about curses her for her emotions, and that idea of her frailness and complexion, being able to deem no strength like men, showing respect -- as well as the fact that she seemed to have betrayed his father by marrying his uncle, now stepfather, so quickly, and in doing so, just about curses women-kind. Hamlet has a strong dislike towards women, one that could be deemed as psychologically concerning, as his frustration and hatred could transfer and grow into something more than mere words of hate muttered under his breath. Hamlet points out the time frame of his father’s death and to his mother’s marriage. He notes that it was just less than a month and she’s already buried his father’s shoes, so to speak, or stopped feeling a sense of connection and loyalty, or even love, and that love could have run out before he even died, despite the possible facade she may have sported.

Hamlet displays an honest disliking towards his uncle in the later lines, as he compares his uncle to his father, who, his uncle he sees as an ordinary man, to that of Hercules, a man of great strength and godlike powers, of a gentle mind and great morals. His hatred for his mother and her marriage to his uncle is seen as “incestuous,” even though, technically speaking it’s not incest, it’s seen by Hamlet as family marrying into close family, something only done out of greed and insanctity, and unholy, in the terms of Christian rules and morals. He remarks on her “dexterity,” or so flexibility and ableness, almost eagerness, in marrying his uncle. Although, however morally or just plainly, conflicted he is, he expresses in the last line that he will not say a thing to his mother, or anyone.