Hamlet Soliloqies

Authors use various literary elements to give insight into the mental

state of their characters. In Hamlet, William Shakespeare uses soliloquies to develop Hamlet’s characterization. Hamlet's purpose, his feelings towards King Claudius and his mother Gertrude, and his prolonged grief, is cunningly displayed to the audience through his soliloquies.

Hamlet’s first soliloquy in Act I, scene II, is a passionate passage that strongly contrasts Hamlet’s true feelings to the one’s that he openly shares with his Uncle and Mother. This soliloquy reveals Hamlet’s distress and the reasons for his despair in an expression of anger, disgust, and grief through which he explains how everything in his life seems pointless and miserable. Hamlet’s insanity is questioned for the first time early on in the play during this first soliloquy. He mourns the death of his father, is shocked by his mother’s marriage to his uncle, and also feels extremely disappointed in his inability to hold any power over the situation.

The soliloquy opens up with Hamlet grieving his father’s death so much that he too wishes to die. He feels as if he is a dishonored person stating that “O, that this too, too sullied flesh would melt, Thaw, and resolve itself into dew” (I.ii.133-134). He is so miserable about his current situation that he wishes he could melt away and become lifeless. He seems to hope that if he was to die, then he would become cleansed and pure, such as dew cleanses the earth each morning. Hamlet also realizes that committing suicide would be considered a sin in the eyes of the God who with his “canon ‘gainst self slaughter!” (I.ii.136) would prevent him from reaching heaven. The thought of not reaching Heaven is something that plagues Hamlet’s inability to act out against his Uncle throughout the play. Shakespeare also uses metaphors for Gertrude, by stating that she is “an unweeded garden that grows to seed.” (I.ii.139), which is a reference to how Claudius corrupted Gertrude, who was once pure in Hamlet’s eyes, and brought her into his life of sin.

Saddened not only by his father’s death, Hamlet is also outraged about the quick marriage between Gertrude and Claudius. Hamlet retracts Gertrude’s initial grief at the loss of her husband saying that she cried “unrighteous tears” (I.ii.159) and he is upset by images of his mother’s affection towards his father, believing that her display of love was false