Pathos in Hamlet's Soliloquy Essay

The soliloquy by Hamlet favors more the expression of pathos. The reason for this is because he says everything from his heart because he is seriously considering suicide. He impacts the reader by making them feel bad for him and the situation in which he is in. In the soliloquy pathos is used in a way to make the reader feel a sense of sadness because Hamlet makes it seem as though there is no point to life. He says For who would bear the whips and scorns of time which means who would deal with lives problems. He also says, Thus conscience makes cowards of us all which means that we ourselves make ourselves cowards because we are the only thing that is stopping us from doing what we want; we are our own road block.

Hamlets soliloquy does use logos. Hamlet asks himself if it is more honorable to live with

life's misfortunes or to die young and bypass all the hardships. Hamlet suggests that the reason we choose life is because we know nothing about death, except that it is final. It is the undiscovered country from whose bourn no traveler returns He goes on to say, Thus conscience does make cowards of us all. Following his own theory, Hamlet takes the coward's way and does not take his life. This shows logic because a person that was illogical would have not thought things through and would have just done what they felt like doing at the moment, in this case, killing themselves. Hamlet was logical because he thought of the repercussions of taking his own life away. He thought things through and saw that suicide was not a way to end his problems.

Hamlets circumstances position him to speak with ethos because Hamlet evaluates the choice of man to accept society or to wage war against it. Again, he contemplates suicide as a way to escape his misery: To die, to sleep; to sleep, perchance to dream-ay, theres the rub! For in that sleep what dreams may come. If Hamlet could just sleep without dreaming, he would like to take his own life but the mystery of what comes next keeps him from acting on it. He also questions his own honor in living with the hardships of life opposed to dying young and avoiding lifes challenges. He speculates that perhaps we all choose life because of the uncertainty and mystery of death. This is all ethos because he shows real examples that he has thought of and gives clear messages to the meaning of what he says. He uses examples in which the reader can relate to which makes him credible in that he knows what people may consider when faced with a similar problem like his. I think that Shakespeare seems like someone whose opinions are worth considering. He had dramatic experiences that we may not have had yet or will never have, and because of this we can follow his footsteps and relate his problems to ours and try to solve them in the same manner.