Question

Hamlet-Shakespeare

ONLY from ACT 1-ACT 2: There is at least one speech in Hamlet that implies a belief in the chain of being. Identify this speech and remark on the nature of the character's belief.

Answer 1

well quote some
speeches

Answer 2

past them here and lets discuss them

Answer 3

yeah I was about to do that but I'm not sure if I'm right

Answer 4

okay.. gimme a sec.

Answer 5

just paste any speech we will eliminate the wrong ones

Answer 6

in the words of shakespeare act 4 scene 2 'aitee'

Answer 7

Is the 'To be or not to be' soliloquy in the first two acts?

Answer 8

Oh! I remember one! Alright, so when Laertes talks to his dad, his dad tells him to first meet with the King for permission or something. That shows the Chain of Being right?

Answer 9

And Ophelia needs to know her place constantly. She's told by her brother and father what she can and can't do.

Answer 10

I only have to get the quotes from ACT 1 to ACT 2

so form act one I have:
\(Horatio:\)
A mote it is to trouble the mind’s eye.
In the most high and palmy state of Rome,
A little ere the mightiest Julius fell,
The graves stood tenantless and the sheeted dead
Did squeak and gibber in the Roman streets
As stars with trains of fire and dews of blood,
Disasters in the sun, and the moist star
Upon whose influence Neptune’s empire stands
Was sick almost to doomsday with eclipse.
And even the like precurse of feared events,
As harbingers preceding still the fates
And prologue to the omen coming on,
Have heaven and earth together demonstrated
Unto our climatures and countrymen. (ACT 1, scene1)

--> I think this one because he is talking about when Julius Caesar, the king of Rome was killed, everything went wrong because the death of the king breaks the chain of being.


Then next quote is:
\(Hamlet:\)
The time is out of joint. O cursèd spite,
That ever I was born to set it right!
Nay, come, let’s go together. (ACT1, scene 5)

--> he is talking about the same thing. Chaos is about to come because he learned that his father did not die by natural means but the king was murdered


Now for Act 2, I'm thinking about HAmlet's soliloquy.

Answer 11

My dread lord,
Your leave and favor to return to France,
From whence though willingly I came to Denmark
To show my duty in your coronation,
Yet now, I must confess, that duty done,
My thoughts and wishes bend again toward France
And bow them to your gracious leave and pardon. (I,II,50-56)

Laertes shows he needs the kings permission in order to go to France, even though it is productive, and the King asking Laertes if his father agreed is mere formality. In the end, the King chooses Laertes' fate.

Answer 12

How that implies to the Elizabethan's chain of being?

Answer 13

Because it shows that the King has the ultimate control over the fates of others. It shows the divine hierarchical structure, which is that the King's word is law, and that the father is second to that. Or actually, it might not be. Now I feel confused.

Answer 14

Hmm.. I'll think about it. Thanks. That's from ACT 1 right?

Answer 15

Yeah

Answer 16

I found this link that might help: http://www.scribd.com/doc/19636389/Supernaturalism-in-Hamlet

Answer 17

not really, it's just talking about the ghost part in Hamlet

Answer 18

Can someone help me to find a quote from ACT 2?

Answer 19

@Whitemonsterbunny17