“
O, that this too, too solid flesh would melt, thaw, and resolve itself into a dew!
HamletAct I, Scene 2
1
Act 1, Scene 2
Rising Action
King Hamlet is dead. His brother Claudius has married Queen Gertrude and assumed the throne. At court, young Hamlet alone wears mourning black. After the court exits, he unleashes his despair — wishing his flesh would dissolve, appalled that his mother married "within a month."
Why This Matters
Hamlet’s first soliloquy — his disgust with the world and his mother’s hasty remarriage, before he even knows about the murder.
despairmortalityself-destruction
The Queen Tries to Console Hamlet (Act I, Scene II)
Eugène Delacroix, 1834 · Public Domain