"I have of late, but wherefore I know not, lost all my mirth, forgone all custom of excises; and indeed it goes so heavily with my disposition that his goodly frame, the earth, seems to me a sterile promontory . . .The beauty of the world, the paragon of animals – and yet to me, what is this quintessence of dust? Man delights not me."(II.ii.280-291)
Hamlet delivers this speech with a very gloomy emphasis. This quote in my oppinion demonstrates Hamlet's reaction toward man kind. He expresses that they are worthless and questions the place of humanity in this world perhaps even the universe. Hamlet delivers this quote to Rosencrantz and Guildenstrern, Shakespeare probably did this deliberately to give an example of what led to him being disappointed or feeling this way. He felt betrayed by his supposed "childhood friends" going behind his back and giving information to his uncle.Disgusted by the fact that his uncle married his mother; but mainly confused on where he belonged. I felt like Hamlet delivers this quote because he wanted to let Rosancrantz and Guildenstern that he knew that they were spying on him and wanted to inform them that they thought that they were being sneaky but in reality he knew that, that was the main reason why they would stick near him in contrast to Horacio who was actually sincere with him.