Essay, Research Paper: Hamlet Explication

Hamlet Explication

In Hamlet, by William Shakespeare, Rosencrantz speaks Act 3 Scene 3 lines 11-23. The lines that he speaks are in response to the Kings request that Rosencrantz and Guildenstern take Hamlet to England immediately. The king feels that Hamlet’s madness is a threat to him and tries to convince the men that it is a threat to the kingdom and that it would be in Hamlet’s best interest to go to England. During Rosencrantz lines he is in agreement with the King. I believe that the reason he goes along with the king is more out of fear and ignorance, rather then support of what the king thinks. In the passage Rosencrantz offers excuses for what the king wants done, in hopes to justify him.
“The single and peculiar life is bound with all the strength and armor of the mind to keep it self from noyance and much more.” This line is saying that your life is controlled by your mindset. It says that the mind is what causes the most harm and that the only way to be protected from your mind is to be in a correct state of mind. I think that the reason that the Shakespeare puts the word “noyance” before he says “much more”, is because he wants to stress the fact that what harm can be caused by yourself is much worse then harm that could be caused by another person. The following line is a statement that says why it is so important to have a correct mindset when other people’s lives rest in your hands. “The spirit” that he refers to can be thought of as either the late hamlet, or the hamlet that seeks revenge. It just depends on if you connect it to the lines before it or the lines that follow. The lines before it seem to be referring to the Hamlet that seeks revenge. They are talking about him being controlled by madness. If you connect this line to Hamlet, you state that there is a lot of harm that could be caused if the whole kingdom depends on Hamlet. However if you connect it to the lines that follow it, they refer to the dead king. “The cess of the majesty dies not alone, but like a gulf doth draw what’s near it with it” This refers to the death of the king be tragic to anyone who is connected to him. However when you look at this play almost everyone is somehow connected directly to Hamlet and is therefore dragged down also by the death of the king. The rest of Rosencrantz lines in this passage have to do with the connection of everyone to the tragedy of Hamlets madness. He compares Hamlet to a wheel and each of the spokes on the wheel to someone who is tragically affected by the fall of Hamlet. At first he makes it sound like it is just a consequence that everyone must suffer, but then he starts to say that if Hamlet falls then the results will be disastrous. The final line makes a good finish. “Never alone did the king sigh, but with a general groan. He states the king was never independent but rather he was in control of all other things. What was a sigh to him would be thought of as a disaster to the kingdom.
This passage has meaning to the play as a whole for two reasons. The first of the two reasons is that he was justifying taking Hamlet to England. He felt he needed to do that because Hamlet was a friend of his. However because the king orders them they had no choice. The other reason that this passage was significant is because it was a comparison that showed how everything is connected. Hamlet is a play that is made up of a sequence of events, each one playing off of another. The original cause is the murder of the king, and his son, seeking revenge.


Word Count: 670