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Act 2, Scene 2
I’ll have grounds
More relative than this
For the entire second act, Hamlet delays his revenge. Although he trusted the Ghost at first, he has begun to wonder whether the Ghost might actually be a devil trying to tempt him into committing a terrible sin. Believing it’s too great a risk to murder Claudius on the evidence of the Ghost’s testimony, Hamlet concludes that he needs more proof of Claudius’s guilt. Throughout the play, Hamlet struggles with the impossibility of being absolutely certain about anything.
Act 3, Scene 1
To be, or not to be? That is the question—
Whether ’tis nobler in the mind to suffer
The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,
Or to take arms against a sea of troubles,
And, by opposing, end them?
In his famous “to be or not to be” soliloquy in Act 3, Scene 1, we witness Hamlet as he agonizes over the question of whether it makes more sense continue with struggles that left has served up to him or to just give up by committing suicide. In the end, Hamlet decides against suicide, but only because he is uncertain and fearful of the consequences of that act, and not because he has resolved to address his problems. It is doubt about what lies beyond the grave prevents him from acting in this instance.
You should not have believed me
In the space of five lines Hamlet tells Ophelia that “I did love you once” and that “I loved you not.” The audience finds itself in the same position as Ophelia in that we don’t know what to believe. Hamlet reveals more of his innermost thoughts than any of Shakespeare’s characters, but he remains in many ways a mystery. We never learn whether he really loved Ophelia, or why he decides to treat her so badly as he pursues his revenge. It may even be that Hamlet himself does not know the answer to these questions. At the heart of Hamlet lies profound uncertainty and doubt.
Act 5, Scene 2
O, I die, Horatio.
The potent poison quite o'ercrows my spirit.
I cannot live to hear the news from England.
But I do prophesy the election lights
On Fortinbras. He has my dying voice.
So tell him, with th' occurrents, more and less,
Which have solicited. The rest is silence.
O, O, O, O. (dies)
These are Hamlet’s last words. Unlike many of Shakespeare’s tragic heroes, Hamlet never resigns himself to death or embraces it. He spends his final moments imagining the world after his death and begging Horatio to “report me and my cause aright” (Tell everyone exactly what happened). When death finally catches up to him, Hamlet’s greatest regret might be that he must stop talking. Despite the thousands of dazzling words Hamlet has poured out, he has gotten no closer to understanding the truth or purpose of his life.
