directory
home contact
Hamlet Glossary: O, what a rogue and peasant slave am I! (2.2)

Hecuba (530)

Hecuba ] Trojan queen and heroine of classical mythology.

Earlier in this scene Hamlet asks the First Player to recite a monologue retelling Hecuba's response to the death of her husband, King Priam. The Player tells us that Hecuba's grief was profound and "Would have made milch the burning eyes of heaven/And passion in the gods." The contrast between Gertrude and Hecuba should be noted. To Hamlet, Hecuba has responded appropriately to her husband's death, while Gertrude has not.

Shakespeare seems to have enjoyed the story of Hecuba, for she is mentioned in Troilus and Cressida (1.2), Titus Andronicus (4.1), Coriolanus (1.3), Cymbeline (4.2), and, most notably, in the long poem The Rape of Lucrece:

To this well-painted piece is Lucrece come,
To find a face where all distress is stell'd.
Many she sees where cares have carved some,
But none where all distress and dolour dwell'd,
Till she despairing Hecuba beheld,
Staring on Priam's wounds with her old eyes,
Which bleeding under Pyrrhus' proud foot lies.

In her the painter had anatomized
Time's ruin, beauty's wreck, and grim care's reign:
Her cheeks with chaps and wrinkles were disguised;
Of what she was no semblance did remain:
Her blue blood changed to black in every vein,
Wanting the spring that those shrunk pipes had fed,
Show'd life imprison'd in a body dead. (1447-1460)



Back to Soliloquy Annotations


How to cite this article:
Mabillard, Amanda. Hamlet Glossary. Shakespeare Online. 20 Aug. 2000. < http://shakespeare-online.com/plays/hamlet/soliloquies/hecuba.html >.




______

More Resources

 In Secret Conference: The Meeting Between Claudius and Laertes
 O Jephthah - Toying with Polonius
 The Death of Polonius and its Impact on Hamlet's Character
 Blank Verse and Diction in Shakespeare's Hamlet

 Hamlet's Silence
 An Excuse for Doing Nothing: Hamlet's Delay
 Foul Deeds Will Rise: Hamlet and Divine Justice
 Defending Claudius - The Charges Against the King
 Shakespeare's Fools: The Grave-Diggers in Hamlet

 Hamlet's Humor: The Wit of Shakespeare's Prince of Denmark
 All About Yorick
 Hamlet's Melancholy: The Transformation of the Prince
 Hamlet's Antic Disposition: Is Hamlet's Madness Real?

 Divine Providence in Hamlet
 What is Tragic Irony?
 Seneca's Tragedies and the Elizabethan Drama
 Shakespeare's Sources for Hamlet

 Characteristics of Elizabethan Tragedy
 Why Shakespeare is so Important
 Shakespeare's Language
 Shakespeare's Influence on Other Writers
 Daily Life in Shakespeare's London
 Life in Stratford (structures and guilds)
 Life in Stratford (trades, laws, furniture, hygiene)
 Stratford School Days: What Did Shakespeare Read?

 Games in Shakespeare's England [A-L]
 Games in Shakespeare's England [M-Z]
 An Elizabethan Christmas
 Clothing in Elizabethan England

 Queen Elizabeth: Shakespeare's Patron
 King James I of England: Shakespeare's Patron
 The Earl of Southampton: Shakespeare's Patron
 Going to a Play in Elizabethan London

 Ben Jonson and the Decline of the Drama
 Publishing in Elizabethan England
 Shakespeare's Audience
 Religion in Shakespeare's England

 Alchemy and Astrology in Shakespeare's Day
 Entertainment in Elizabethan England
 London's First Public Playhouse
 Shakespeare Hits the Big Time


Claudius. Frighted with false fire. Illus. H. C. Christy, 1897

More to Explore

 Hamlet: The Complete Play with Explanatory Notes
 Extensive Analysis of Act 2, Scene 2
 The Hamlet and Ophelia Subplot
 The Norway Subplot in Hamlet

 Hamlet: Plot Summary with Key Passages
 Hamlet Basics
 Analysis of the Characters in Hamlet
 Deception in Hamlet
 Problem Plays and Revenge Tragedy

 The Purpose of The Murder of Gonzago
 The Dumb-Show: Why Hamlet Reveals his Knowledge to Claudius
 Hamlet's Relationship with the Ghost
 Philological Examination Questions on Hamlet

 Quotations from Hamlet (with commentary)
 Hamlet Study Quiz (with detailed answers)
 Analysis of I am sick at heart (1.1)
 Hamlet: Q & A

 Soliloquy Analysis: O this too too... (1.2)
 
Soliloquy Analysis: O, what a rogue and peasant slave am I!... (2.2)
 
Soliloquy Analysis: To be, or not to be... (3.1)
 
Soliloquy Analysis: Tis now the very witching time of night... (3.2)
 
Soliloquy Analysis: Now might I do it pat... (3.3)
 
Soliloquy Analysis: How all occasions do inform against me... (4.4)

 
Ophelia's Burial and Christian Rituals
 The Baker's Daughter: Ophelia's Nursery Rhymes
 Hamlet as National Hero
 The Elder Hamlet: The Kingship of Hamlet's Father
 Claudius and the Condition of Denmark

 The Significance of the Ghost in Armor
 The Significance of Ophelia's Flowers
 Ophelia and Laertes
 Mistrusted Love: Ophelia and Polonius