In Act Two, Scene Two, Hamlet specifically questions
himself:
Am I
a coward?
Who calls me
villain?
When he asks who
calls him villain, he is saying none call me villain, meaning none think of him as
dangerous. Hamlet is critical of himself in that he confesses that he feels like a
coward.
Hamlet is using ridicule in calling himself "most
brave." He is using sarcasm, meaning that he is not brave at
all:
Why,
what an ass I am! This is most brave,
That I, the son of a dear father
murdered,
Prompted to my revenge by heaven and hell,
Must, like a
whore, release the content of my heart with
words, and fall down cursing like
a very drab...
Clearly,
Hamlet insults himself because he is ferocious only in words, but not in deed. He can
talk a good deal, but, in actions, he is a coward. These are his own critical comments
about himself.
Truly, Hamlet criticizes himself for not
being able to act on his feelings. He claims to be in a dream-like state. He even states
that he cannot stand up for his cause. Indeed, he admits that he is not fully passionate
enough for his cause, which is to avenge his beloved father's
death:
A dull
and muddy-spirited rascal, shrink,
Like a dreamy fellow, not full of my
cause,
And can’t say anything, no, not for a king
On whose kingdom
and most dear life
Were all brought to
nothing.
He confesses that he
is no better than a "menial servant in the kitchen!" He does not act like a son, a
prince. He is no more than a "rogue and peasant slave." He feels like a worthless,
shiftless, coward. Hamlet is not his father's royal son. He considers himself a servant
in his father's house because he has not stood up to his Uncle Claudius who murdered his
regal father.
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