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Who? When? Where? Why? All of your questions will now be answered!
The quote was said by the Ghost of Hamlet's father who appears and reappears from time to time. At this moment, the Ghost appeared between eleven and twelve under the cover of darkness on the platform. The Ghost is having a conversation with Hamlet, the reason he says this is because Hamlet is obsessing over his mother's relationship with his uncle,Claudius, throughout the entire play while he should be taking action against Claudius.
Tone Advancing To The Plot.....
Hamlet gears up to be a traditional bloody revenge play – and then it stops. The bulk of the play deals not with Hamlet's ultimately successful vengeance on his father's murderer, but with Hamlet's inner struggle to take action. The play concludes with a bloodbath that's typical of revenge tragedy, but Hamlet's infamous delay sets it apart from anything that's come before it. Hamlet is also notable for the way it weaves together three revenge plots, all of which involve sons seeking vengeance for their fathers' murders. Ultimately, the play calls into question the validity and usefulness of revenge.
Background & Meaning:
Hamlet is still not certain that his uncle murdered his father. So he has the actors do a play, which supposedly Hamlet wrote or took an existing play and made changes to it in order to show his uncle what Hamlet thinks he has done and why. In the play the brother kills the king because he wants the throne and is in love with his sister-in-law, the Queen. (Hamlet's mother is the Queen, the famous "leave her to heaven" quote, meaning let heaven decide if Hamlet's mother knew her brother-in-law murdered her husband). The Ghost means that Hamlet must not harm his mother, she must be judged by heaven, not by him.
