’Tis now the very witching time of night, / When churchyards yawn, and hell itself breathes out / Contagion to this world. Now could I drink hot blood, / And do such bitter business as the day / Would quake to look on.
Act III, Scene 2 · Hamlet
Context
Alone after everyone has left, Hamlet prepares to confront his mother, working himself into a state of violent emotion by invoking the imagery of witchcraft and bloodshed.
Analysis
The phrase 'witching time of night' locates Hamlet in a Gothic temporality where the natural order inverts—'churchyards yawn' (opening like mouths) and 'hell breathes out / Contagion.' The hyperbolic image of drinking 'hot blood' aligns him with revenge tragedy's most extreme protagonists, yet the theatrical quality of this self-incitement ('Now could I...') suggests he is performing rage rather than feeling it spontaneously. This gap between rhetoric and action makes his violence seem more willed than natural.
Essay Tip
Use this to argue that Hamlet must rhetorically stage his own emotions—the hyperbolic language reveals that revenge does not come naturally to him, so he has to talk himself into the role of avenger.