Hamlet Close Reading

One of Hamlet’s most famous soliloquies is his ‘’Tis now the very witching time of night’’, which falls in the Act 3, Scene 2 (pages 380-391).

This soliloquy is a really interesting and important one since it lets the reader know what Hamlet’s plans are.

        Prior to this monologue, Prince Hamlet’s mother, Queen Gertrude, sends an order for Hamlet to go to her chamber to have a talk with her. After the play, Hamlet asks for a short amount of time alone. Thrilled because his plan worked out, he experiences a surge of confidence and delivers this soliloquy in which he plans out the conversation with his mother and talks about how confident of himself he is.

''Tis now the very witching time of night,
When churchyards yawn, and hell itself breathes out
Contagion to this world: now could I drink hot blood,
And do such bitter business as the day
Would quake to look on. Soft! now to my mother. — 
O heart, lose not thy nature; let not ever
The soul of Nero enter this firm bosom:
Let me be cruel, not unnatural;
I will speak daggers to her, but use none;
My tongue and soul in this be hypocrites, — 
How in my words somever she be shent,
To give them seals never, my soul, consent!''

‘’Tis now the very witching time of night’’, Hamlet starts his monologue with a reference to the people who use the darkness (middle of the night) to do their dirty work.

‘’When churchyards yawn, and hell itself breathes out", refers to the middle Ages, where people used to bury the bodies at their local church graveyard. At the time during which Hamlet occurs, Europe was suffering from the ‘’Black Death Plague’’. Art during this period was very dark and often represented the Devil and demons.

 At this moment, Hamlet describes himself to be in a mood in which he could “drink hot blood, and do such bitter business as the day would quake to look on.” Hamlet is very upset that his mother has re-married in his father’s absence. In this mood, he could kill anyone (including his mother), but he would not do that. “Let me be cruel, not unnatural.”

 "Soft! Now to my mother.’’

At this point, he has been considering how to deal with the situation he’s currently facing. He wants to speak the truth to his mother without being too harsh. He knows that if he makes the wrong move at the wrong time, there could be a lot of trouble. That’s why he plans everything out, including his conversations with his mother.

"O heart, lose not thy nature; let not ever
The soul of Nero enter this firm bosom:
Let me be cruel, not unnatural;’’

These lines are hard to understand since a lot of people don’t know who ‘’Nero’’ was. Nero was a Roman Emperor who was quite famous for being crazy and murdering his mother. He was extremely cruel and executed people in awful ways.

" I will speak daggers to her, but use none;
My tongue and soul in this be hypocrites"

 Hamlet will be direct when speaking to her mother, yet he will try to be as gentle as possible. He does not want to hurt his mother although he knows his words will hurt her.

‘’How in my words somever she be shent,
To give them seals never, my soul, consent!’’

Seals were used during the Middle Ages like signatures are used today. Since Hamlet was the Prince of Denmark, he had his own seal and used it whenever he wanted to consent something. He is basically saying that he didn’t consent the actions his mom took when he married Hamlet’s own uncle.