Sample A – 96%

When Hamlet is first introduced in the play, he emerges onto the court as a depressed young man, overwrought with emotion by his father’s death. His every speech is dictated to the death of his father as he replies that he is “too much in the sun (I, ii, 69).” This pun using the sound-alike words of “son” and “sun” gives the initial impression about Hamlet’s deep fixation with his father’s death. As Hamlet goes on to reply to his mother’s question, he becomes increasingly effusive. The repetitive use of “seems (I, ii, 79)” in quotation marks denotes the outrage behind Hamlet’s tone. His sorrow is far deeper and stronger than mere appearance. Through his words, Hamlet is seen as a sensitive son, paying venerable respect to his father. This image is further emphasized with heavy dark imageries such as “inky cloak (I, ii, 80)” and “solemn black (I, ii, 81)” used to describe Hamlet’s appearance. Hamlet’s macabre form juxtaposed against the bright and cheerful atmosphere of the court serves to intensify his sentimental character by highlighting his emotional pains. Hamlet’s outpour of grievous emotions coupled with his bleak countenance begins to set the foundation for building Hamlet’s character as that of an emotional prince.

As Hamlet’s high principle expectation increases, his scorn toward his mother’s marriage escalates into a rage, until he desperately tries to save his mother’s damned soul. Upon entry to Gertrude’s bedchamber, Hamlet quickly enters into a diatribe against his mother’s act “that blurs the grace of blush of modesty \ calls virtue hypocrite… (III, iv, 50-51)” In this speech, rather than hinting at his mother’s corrupted behavior, he blatantly comes out and says it to her face. This sudden change in Hamlet’s attack delineates the rapid heightening of his virtuous idealization. The repetitive rhetorical questions are employed to interrogate and verbally beat his mother into acknowledging her guilt. Driven by his uptight moral idealization in a last desperate effort to save her soul, Hamlet pleads his mother to “throw away the worser part of it, \ And live the purer with the other half! (III, iv, 178-179)” This reference to the “other half” symbolizes both Gertrude’s first marriage and her former chaste self. Because Hamlet is convinced that his mother’s marriage to Claudius is the “worser part,” he frantically tries to retain his mother’s leftover virtue by having her abandon the “mildewed ear (III, iv, 74). The fact that his speeches are in blank verse shows the candor of his raging emotions. Rather than the premeditated play that had rhyming schemes, his speech is completely unrehearsed, revealing his true feelings of wanting to save Gertrude. Hamlet’s high righteous sense is presented in his last attempt to save his mother’s virtue.