Hamlet

• The soliloquy begins with Hamlet's thoughts on how time is running by and he still hasn't done anything. He says:And spur my dull revenge! What is a man,If his chief good and market of his time (Hamlet IV.iv. 32-35) • In these lines Hamlet is thinking about all the time he has wasted in not taking action. He sees how everything around him is taking shape, all except his own actions. He goes …

…Hamlet searches for the letters from Claudius to the King of England, he says, "In the dark, / Groped I to find out them, had my desire, / Fingered their packet, and in fine withdrew / To mine own room again, making so bold, / My fears forgetting manners, to unseal / Their grand commission" (5.2.14-19). Thus Hamlet has now reached the same level as Fortinbras in that he is able to attack Claudius or alternately defend himself from Laertes. • .