A quote for any occasion
A grotesque creature, half-man and half-goat, symbolic of sexual promiscuity. Hamlet’s reference to his dead father as Hyperion and to his uncle Claudius as a satyr illustrates Hamlet’s contempt for Claudius. His father is godlike while his uncle is bestial. Back to Soliloquy Annotations.
RALPH: But in comparing Claudius to a satyr , Hamlet is referring to that other famous characteristic of this mythical beast: its sexual appetite.
Hyperion was a powerful Titan known fro his wisdom and light. This is much how Hamlet sees his father as a man full of wisdom. This allusion to Hyperion shows us the level of respect he has for his father . In Greek mythology the Satyr is a cross between a horse and man.
Why, she would hang on him, As if increase of appetite had grown By what it fed on. – William Shakespeare.
In classical mythology, satyrs were companions to Pan, a fertility god, and Dionysus, the god of wine and ecstasy. In both cases, the satyr’s animal aspect symbolized his immoderate appetites. This noun can also be used metaphorically for a man whose sexual desire is stronger than his sense of decency.
Fortinbras ‘ father, the King of Norway, was killed and in order to seek revenge on his death he wanted to get back the land that his father had lost to the old King Hamlet. Now Fortinbras wishes to attack Denmark to avenge his father’s honor, making him another foil for Prince Hamlet.
Summary of Hamlet’s First Soliloquy In the first two lines of the soliloquy , he wishes that his physical self might cease to exist on its own without requiring him to commit a mortal sin: “O that this too too solid flesh would melt, This soliloquy shows Hamlet’s deep affection for the late King Hamlet .
Hyperion was one of the Titans, son of Uranus and Gaia . He represented light, wisdom and watchfulness.
Hamlet , here, through comparing himself with Hercules , compares his father to his scheming uncle. He displays that the dissimilarity between his father and Claudius is just like the difference between himself and Hercules . This comparison demonstrates how Hamlet is bitter inside towards his mother’s haste remarriage.
Hamlet and Ophelia both display symptoms of madness , but each become mad for different reasons. Hamlet’s madness is fueled by his father’s death and his desire to seek revenge on the man who killed him. Ophelia’s madness stems from her lack of identity and her feelings of helplessness regarding her own life.
Polonius greets Ophelia and instructs her to pretend to read a book so that her being alone will not seem unusual to Hamlet . Ophelia complies and waits with a book while the two men hide. Hamlet enters, speaking his “To be or not to be” soliloquy.
In this passage alone, Hamlet makes two comparisons, one that his father was more like Hyperion than Claudius who was in fact much more like a half-man half-goat with a lusty attitude and poor manners. His father was so caring to his mother that he wouldn’t have the wind blow on her face too roughly.
Perhaps the great-granddaddy of them all was written 400 years ago in Shakespeare’s “Hamlet.” One of the characters, Polonius , has a long-winded farewell to his son, in which he summarizes, “To thine own self be true, and it must follow, as the night the day, thou canst not then be false to any man.” It’s good stuff,
Bidding his sister , Ophelia, farewell, he cautions her against falling in love with Hamlet, who is, according to Laertes , too far above her by birth to be able to love her honorably. Since Hamlet is responsible not only for his own feelings but for his position in the state, it may be impossible for him to marry her.
Then Hamlet leaves and Claudius says these lines,”“My words fly up, My thoughts remain below. Words without thoughts never to heaven go” In other words, he is not willing to repent of his sin, therefore, the sin will not be forgiven.