Question

As you read the passage, highlight details that reveal Hamlet’s emotional state.

Hamlet: O! that this too too solid flesh would melt,
Thaw and resolve itself into a dew;
Or that the Everlasting had not fix’d
His canon ’gainst self-slaughter! O God! O God!

–Hamlet,
William Shakespeare

What does Hamlet’s speech suggest about his emotional state?

He is very upset.
He is nervous.
He is calm.
He is suspicious.

Answer 1

He is very upset.

Hamlet’s wish that his “too too solid flesh would melt” and his longing for death (only prevented by God’s ban on suicide) plus the repeated “O God! O God!” show deep despair, grief and emotional turmoil rather than calm, nervousness, or suspicion.