To be or not to be?
Hamlet says this soliloquy because he is faced with a difficult situation. He asked this question literally of life or death. He is deciding what he is going to do about this situation with Claudius. Should he avenge his father by getting revenge on Claudius or let go.
The only audience really possible is Claudius because he is the one on Hamlets mind. His anger and frustrationare changing his decisions he wants to make, so he speaks about it. Im not to sure about his secondary audience, but it could possibly be Ophelia and Polonius. I say this because Ophelia’s father uses her to try and show the King that Hamlet is crazy. All of this is tearing her apart emotionally because she loves Hamlet and yet he treats her badly. Polonius adds to all of this craziness going on.
The purpose of his speech I think is to express all of his feelings and emotions, anger, and thoughts. He also does it to tell about all the situations he is going through.
Pathos: lines 80-83
