Hamlet

Act 2, Sc. 2, lines 557-587: Explain Hamlet's plan.

Hamlet. And can say nothing - no, not for a king,

Upon whose property and most dear life

A damned defeat was made. Am I a coward?

Who calls me villain, breaks my pate across,

Plucks off my beard and blows it in my face,

Tweaks me by the nose, gives me the lie i'th'throat

As deep as to the lungs? Who does me this?

Ha!

'Swounds, I should take it; for it cannot be

But I am pigeon-livered and lack gall

To make oppression bitter, or ere this

I should ha' fatted all the region kites

With this slave's offal. Bloody, bawdy villain!

Why, what an ass am I! This is most brave,

That I, the son of a dear father murdered,

Prompted to my revenge by heaven and hell,

Must like a whore unpack my heart with words

And fall a-cursing like a very drab,

A scullion! Fie upon't! Foh!

About, my brains. I have heard

That guilty creatures sitting at a play

Have, by the very cunning of the scene,

Been struck so to the soul that presently

They have proclaimed their malefactions.

For murder, though it have no tongue, will speak

With most miraculous organ. I'll have these players

Play something like the murder of my father

Before mine uncle. I'll observe his looks;

I'll tent him to the quick. If he but blench,

I know my course.

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Last updated by jill d #170087
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Hamlet has requested the players put on a specific play.... a specific scene. He also plans to write some of the dialogue. In doing this, Hamlet will recreate his father's death, and if Claudius is guilty, Hamlet will know his act of revenge is justified.

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Hamlet