Hamlet Ethos And Rhetoric Analysis

2 Pages 600 Words

Hamlet: Ethos and Rhetoric Analysis

Ben Martin

In the excerpt from Shakespeare’s play Hamlet, during Hamlet’s intense conversation with his mother over his father’s murder, there is much that can be learned by examining his ethos or character and analyzing his rhetorical patterns.
Hamlet is a character that does not always show what he is feeling to others, but in this explosive conversation with his mother he attempts to shame her over his father’s death and you can learn a great amount about him by examining his ethos in this speech. At the beginning of Hamlets speech it is obvious that he is disgusted at what his mother has done that he just wants justice, which can be seen in a quote from his speech:

You cannot call it love: for at your age
The hey-day in the blood is tame, it’s humble

When Hamlet says this he is taking an extremely demanding tone with his mother as if he were just trying to make her realize the serious immorality in her actions. But the fact that Hamlet is choosing to ridicule his mother’s love life just shows how passionate he feels, as if to say that he did not want to loose another parent, but this time to poor judgment. At this point in the play Hamlet feels like he is crazy because no one else seems to think his father’s death was a big deal, including his mother. It seems all Hamlet wants is for his mother to realize what happened was wrong and that is why he is displaying his ethos so passionately.
During this intense conversation between Hamlet and his mother, Hamlet uses many complex analogies to portray the seriousness in his argument. It is very clear by glancing at the speech how content Hamlet is on proving his point to his mother through the use of analogies, which is revealed in the following excerpt:

This was your husband. Look you now, what follows:
Here is your husband; like a mildew’d ear,
Blasting his wholesome brother. Have you eyes?
Could you on ...