I think that in the speech we analysed of Hamlet in act 1 scene 2 helped me a lot to find my own interpretation of Hamlet.

I think that he seems to be a little over dramatic – maybe because it’s a performance i don’t know but i think some of the things he says in reaction to his dad’s death are a little extreme.

For example when he says “Or that the Everlasting had not fixed His canon gainst self-slaughter.” - This phrase implies hamlet would kill himself if it weren’t for his faith in God, holding him back as ‘the Everlasting’ refers to God (capital letter) and ‘his canon’ refers to Gods laws; therefore suicide is a sin. I think he says this to be overdramatic and to just rant and feel sorry for himself. However this does tell me that he is a faithful character, as he is obviously devoted to God.

We can also tell that he is angry with his mother, to the point of almost hate it seems, but that he still respects her and doesn’t want to upset her.

He expresses his anger during the speech with phrases such as “O God, a beast that wants discourse of reason would have mourned longer” – This is quite a powerful yet I think overdramatic phrase again, as this suggests Hamlet is referring to his mother as an animal, saying even an animal who could not think would have mourned longer.

Another phrase “A little month or e’er those shoes were old” – Here Hamlet is saying that even before his mothers shoes would seem old she had re-married. This emphasises the little time in which she claims to have found love again and indulged in marriage again with her old husband’s brother.

But Hamlets respect for his mother doesn’t seem to falter even due to the events when he utters the bizarre, and very out of context compared to the rest of the speech, last line “But break, my heart, for I must hold my tongue”.