Hamlet Act II

For Act II of Hamlet I decided to discuss why the player in Act II decides to speak an excerpt from "The Aeneid":

The Aeneid is a Latin epic poem written by Virgil in the late 1st century BC that tells the story of Aenaes, a Trojan who traveled to Italy, and became the ancestor of the 'Romans'. The player who comes to put on a play for Hamlet and his family and friends reads an excerpt from the Aeneid. The reason, I believe, Shakespeare chose this certain epic poem to add to his story was because it shows Hamlet's fear and hesitation of killing his uncle, even though he really wants to. Hamlet tries to kill his uncle but in unsuccessful at first because of his fear and hesitation to do so. I think Shakespeare was smart to add to this excerpt because it secretly ties in with Hamlet's own personal struggle, without having to say it straight forward to the audience what was going on.