Anaylsis of Interview with Benedict Cumberbatch/blog post #1

Q: Watch the interview with Benedict Cumberbatch on playing the role of Hamlet. It has many good insights about the play. Fairly early on, the interviewer asks him why Shakespeare gives Hamlet the famous "To be or not to be" speech as a soliloquy (solo monologue) instead of in conversation with someone else. Cumberbatch responds that it allows the audience to empathize with Hamlet in this speech. Do you agree? Do you empathize with Hamlet? How so? Be specific. Why is that so important to this speech specifically? Be sure to explain what Hamlet is saying/means in this famous speech. (You can watch many versions of this speech, also found under the Hamlet Topic page.)  

A:In the interview with Benedict Cumberbatch of the play Hamlet, Cumberbatch responses that the speech "To be or not to be" as a soliloquy in the play aims to arouse audience's empathy of humanity. I agree with his viewpoint based on my personal understanding and interpretation of Hamlet and Hamlet, the main character, in the whole play. The soliloquy "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” (III.i.59-61) is like a inside reflect of self-struggling of Hamlet after experiencing a series of changes in his life. These reflect Hamlet's thinking of death- although in the end he determines to live and see his revenge through.

Before starting the soliloquy above, there is another essential point in the first act of the play. Hamlet curses Gos for making suicide an immoral choice: "that this 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! God!” (I.ii.129-132). From here we can know that Hamlet is trying to weighing the boons and banes of killing himself, but soon he eventually makes it clear that a suicide is considered a crime and thus his condition may be worse than his present situation. In fact, many of Hmalet's reflects go around death and therefore launch in the following solo monologue in Act III.

During the course of Hamlet's soliloquy, there is no doubt that he is thinking of death. Though Hamlet tries to think about it in a logical and rational way, he is still so unclear about the nature of death and remains a lot of hesitation, according to "slings and arrows of outrageous fortune". This part emphasizes that Hamlet, as a man with humanities, represents our human nature when facing a hard time of despairing and frustration. All human beings may probably think of death when in a really hard and sharp situation. In the difficult course of early reflect and utterly determination, Hamlet suffers from a lot of emotional pains and struggles. This can evoke audience's empathy with Hamlet because most of us might have ever experienced this kind of condition.

Hamlet's soliloquy brings me an impressive understanding of one's mental and emotional activities which allow me to understand the character better and be empathetic with Hamlet. I think this is the reason why this siloliquy is so important to be a solo monologue than that to be in a conversation.