Tone: scathing, disapproving
Overall
’Tis sweet and commendable in your nature, Hamlet,
To give these mourning duties to your ​father​.
But you must know your ​father​ lost a ​father​,
That ​father​ lost, lost his, and the survivor​ bound
In filial ​obligation​ for some term
To do ​obseq​uious​ sorrow. But to persever
In ​obst​inate​ condolement is a course
Of ​impious stubbornness​. ’Tis ​unmanly​ grief.
It shows ​a will most incorrect to heaven,
A heart unfortified, a mind impatient,
An understanding simple and unschooled.
For what we know must be and is as common
As any the most vulgar thing to sense,
Why should we in our peevish opposition
Take it to heart?​ ​Fie​, ’tis ​a fault to heaven,
A fault against the dead, a fault to nature​,
To reason most absurd, whose common theme
Is death of ​fathers​, and who still hath cried,
From the first corse​ till he that died today,
“This must be so.” We pray you, ​throw to earth
This unprevailing woe​ and think of us
As of a ​father​; ​for let the world take note,
You are the most immediate to our throne,
And with no less nobility of love
Than that which dearest ​father​ bears his son
Do I impart toward you.​ For your intent
In going back to school in Wittenberg,
It is most retrograde to our desire,
And we beseech you, bend you to remain
Here in the cheer and ​comfort​ of our eye,
Our chiefest ​courtier​, ​cousin​, and our son.
blank verse​ - makes Claudius sound more structured
and ordered; contributes to condescending attitude
legato​ - elevated language meant to show superiority
over Hamlet, meant to belittle him
repetition​ - shows King Hamlet’s death isn’t unique;
serves to minimize Hamlet’s feelings/belittle him
alliteration​ - draws attention to these words,
emphasizes the point Claudius is trying to get across
to Hamlet
negative connotation​ - emphasizes Claudius’s
disdain for Hamlet’s grief and mourning
parallelism​ - emphasizes how seemingly
weak-minded Hamlet is by mourning
repetition​ - emphasizes the idea that Hamlet’s father
is gone and Claudius is trying to take his place
rhetorical question​ - emphasizes Hamlet’s absurdity
for taking a common occurance to heart
interjection​ - displays Claudius’s disapproval/disbelief
at the way Hamlet is acting
repetition​ - emphasizes how wrong and distasteful it
is for Hamlet to grieve over his father for this long
allusion​ - reference to Cain and Abel, reveals reason
behind Claudius’s lack of compassion and his
motives behind having Hamlet move on quickly
idiom​ - puts emphasis on what Claudius expects from
Hamlet, to forget about his grief and recently passed
father
situational irony​ - Hamlet was the original heir to the
throne until Claudius seized the throne for himself by
marrying Gertrude; indirectly mocking and belittling
Hamlet for having this taken away from him
verbal irony/inverted syntax​ - Claudius does not
actually truly love Hamlet like a son; can be seen as
mocking as he compares this pretend love to the love
that King Hamlet and Hamlet shared for one another
alliteration​ - “co” sound is not pleasing to the ear
(cacophonous), adds to the unpleasant/scathing tone