The Subject of Choice in Shakespeare's Hamlet

It is said that life is nothing more than an endless stream of choices. Every day before work or school, we must all make choices—what to eat, what to wear, whether or not to bother with that homework assignment—some of which are trivial, while others have the direst consequences. In Shakespeare’s classic play Hamlet, the inner thoughts that accompany each decision, as well as the quest for what is actually truth and what is lie, is brought to light in Act 2.2. Hamlet is caught in a great struggle over what to do with his uncle, his evil, murderous uncle. By all rights he should die...yet the easy choice—outright murder—is not always the correct or prudent one. Overall, through diction and poetic devices, Shakespeare manages to convey a feeling of bitterness, an angry yet doubtful tone that shows the turmoil of the inner mind of a complex character.

This angry tone is brought about to a great extent by the choice of diction. Hamlet’s soliloquy is full of angry words; he refers to people of the wretched lower classes—whores, drabs...