Hamlet Soliloquy Glossary: O, that this too too solid flesh would melt (1.2.131-61)

a beast, that wants discourse of reason (1.2.152)

Hamlet believes that even a creature incapable of speech would have mourned longer than Gertrude mourned for Hamlet's father (here wants=lacks). "The faculty of reason was traditionally recognized as the crucial difference between man and the beasts. This lends further significance to the Hyperion-Satyr comparison above. It was through his reason that man could perceive the relation of cause and effect and thus connect past with future, whereas the beast, precisely because it lacks reason, must live largely in the present moment. Hence the axiom that its mourning would be brief." (Jenkins 438).

References
Shakespeare, William. Hamlet. Harold Jenkins, ed. London: Methuen, 1982.

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How to cite this article:

Mabillard, Amanda. Hamlet Soliloquy Glossary. Shakespeare Online. 20 Aug. 2000. (date when you accessed the information) < http://shakespeare-online.com/plays/hamlet/soliloquies/abeast.html >.

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