Classical Monologue 3 - Hamlet

Play: Hamlet

Playwright: William Shakespeare
Character: Ophelia 
Part of the Play: Act 2 scene 1
Setting: In a room in their castle, alone
Play's Context: King Hamlet has recently died and his brother Claudius has taken his throne and King Hamlet's widow Queen Gertrude. King Hamlet's son (Hamlet) is visited by a ghost of his father and he says that he was killed by his brother Claudius. Hamlet there forth seeks revenge on his father's death and slips into a melancholy state of madness. Polonius believes that Hamlet is in love with his daughter Ophelia so Claudius sets up their marriage but Hamlet doesn't love her and wants all marriages to be banned. however when Hamlet accidentally kills Polonius, Ophelia drowns herself in the river and Hamlet confesses he did love her. Hamlet's uncle then gets Ophelia's brother to duel with Hamlet out of revenge and the blade is poisoned inevitably killing Hamlet, Gertrude, Claudius and Ophelia's brother.

Ophelia's Monologue:
'My lord, as I was sewing in my closet,
Lord Hamlet, with his doublet all unbrac'd,
No hat upon his head, his stockings foul'd,
Ungart'red, and down-gyved to his ankle;
Pale as his shirt, his knees knocking each other,
And with a look so piteous in purport
As if he had been loosed out of hell 
To speak of horrors- he comes before me. 
He took me by the wrist and held me hard;
Then goes he to the length of all his arm,
And, with his other hand thus o'er his brow,
He falls to such perusal of my face
As he would draw it. Long stay'd he so.
At last, a little shaking of mine arm,
And thrice his head thus waving up and down,
He rais'd a sigh so piteous and profound
As it did seem to shatter all his bulk
And end his being. That done, he lets me go,
And with his head over his shoulder turn'd
He seem'd to find his way without his eyes,
For out o' doors he went without their help

And to the last bended their light on me.'

Ophelia's Character:

She is a very young and sweet girl who is confused by two fronts. her father and brother believe that Hamlet is only using her and when they are married she would be pushed aside however Ophelia believes that Hamlet does truly love her even though he swears he doesn't. of course she was right because Hamlet grieves her death and he confesses his love for her. She is one of the purest Shakespearean characters as she dies a virgin and she leaves the world due to grief and love for her father. 

My View:
I really like this speech as it is one of the few times that Ophelia actually speaks. I like how the monologue expresses her true feelings towards Hamlet but it also shoe her true vulnerability as well as her true love for Hamlet. I don't believe that she would be overly emotionally unstable and she is mainly explaining what had happened in order to make it make sense in her own head as well as they other characters around her.