Analysis Of Hamlet's Character Development Throughout His Soliloquies

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In Shakespeare’s Hamlet, the main protagonist, Hamlet experiences a series of events that dramatically change his character. When the audience first meets Hamlet, he is dressed in all black he is portrayed as a sulky, depressed prince. Through the course of the play however, it is revealed that Hamlet as a character has more than one side to him – he is brooding as he is impulsive, and he is vengeful as his is indecisive. The audience sees Hamlet struggling with the death of his father, and the emotional toll of knowing the truth but being unable to exact revenge. This is what essentially changes Hamlet. Because of the constant back and forth of having to act like nothing is wrong and having to suppress his rage towards King Claudius,

The final way that Laertes acts as a foil to Hamlet occurs once again when Claudius and Laertes are discussing Laertes’ actions to achieve his vengeance. Claudius gives Laertes advice saying, “That we would do/ we should do when we would; for this ‘would’/ changes” (4.7.134-136). Claudius is warning Laertes that if he waits long enough, he will probably end up not doing anything at all and will not achieve his goal of vengeance. This quote spoken by Claudius is quite similar to when King Hamlet’s ghost meets with Hamlet earlier in the play to warn him about how he was killed by Claudius and that he must get revenge. King Hamlet’s ghost also warns Hamlet saying, “Taint not thy mind” (1.5.92), telling him to not over think his plan because otherwise he will not pursue his vengeance. After Claudius warns Laertes to not get side tracked, the audience is reminded of King Hamlet’s ghost telling Hamlet to not over think because then their plans will not be pursued. This scene acts as a foil towards Hamlet because soon after the conversation, Laertes does pursue his plan of seeking vengeance, whereas Hamlet has been working on his plan the whole play, and has still not started to execute it.

After Hamlet’s depressive first soliloquy, his second is far more motivated and aggressive. Hamlet’s second soliloquy occurs right after the ghost of the dead King, Hamlet’s father, leaves, having charged Hamlet with the duty of taking the revenge upon his murderer. In this soliloquy, Hamlet

When Hamlet is set up and spied on by Claudius and Polonius, he examines the moral aspect of suicide in a painful world. He opens his soliloquy with asking a simple question, "To be, or not to be:that is the question:" (III. i. 58), that is, whether to live or to die. He then begins to question whether it is nobler to suffer life and the, "slings and arrows of outrageous fortune," (III. i. 66), or to take ones life and end one's suffering. He compares death to sleep and at first thinks that

Throughout the play, Hamlet is dealing with conflict within himself. When Hamlet finds that he must take revenge on Claudius, he is unsure whether there is any point in having to kill, to take another human life, and whether he would be able to handle this. Hamlet fights inside himself. Is this right? Is this his duty? He considers suicide again, "To be or not to be, that is the question." Hamlet shows his philosophical nature, and talks himself out of the idea of suicide, fearing the unknown beyond. He is thoughtful and intelligent and not first a man of action.

Next, in one of the most famous soliloquies in the English language, Hamlet again contemplates the subject of suicide, but he does not do so on impulses of emotion. Instead, his contemplation is based on reason. “To be or not to be, that is the question: whether ‘tis nobler in the mind to suffer outrageous fortune…or end them. To die, to sleep- no more- and by a sleep to say we end the heartache…’Tis a consummation devoutly to be wished. For who would bear the whips and scorns of time…who would fardels bear, to grunt and sweat under a weary life, but that the dread of something after death, the undiscovered country from whose bourn no traveler

In William Shakespeare’s “Hamlet” there are four major soliloquies that reflect the character of Hamlet.

Hamlet’s character drastically develops over the first four acts of Hamlet, and his character development is most evident through the soliloquys he delivers throughout the play. The most character development can be seen from the first soliloquy, to the second, the third, the sixth, and the seventh and final soliloquy. Hamlet’s inner conflict with his thoughts and his actions are well analyzed in his soliloquys, as well as his struggles with life and death, and his very own existence. He begins the play wondering what purpose he has in life now that his father is dead and his mother has remarried to his uncle. After finding out foul play was involved in his father’s death, he is motivated by revenge. Finally, he wonders how he can enact his revenge while continuously overthinking and overanalyzing his actions.

The soliloquies create an effect on the audience showing that Hamlet is depressed and confused. When he speaks, he sounds as if there is something important he is not saying, maybe something even he is unaware of, creating the sense that Hamlet's character, a philosopher, is extremely troubled at becoming a man of action.

In William Shakespeare’s, Hamlet, the author writes about the Prince who seemingly goes crazy and kills many people that were once close to him after his uncle kills his father only to marry his mother. Shakespeare tends to have his characters talk through soliloquies in his plays to provide specific details about what that character is feeling. Shakespeare is known for his depressingly gruesome writings and Hamlet is definitely in that category. In Hamlet, Prince Hamlet has seven soliloquies to continue the plot and reveal Hamlet’s emotions along with creating a proper feeling for the play. In Hamlet’s soliloquies, he reveals that he is virtuous, yet indecisive, he thinks about

Hamlet is continuously mentioning his mother’s new marriage in demeaning terms and through various puns including mentioning how he is “too much in the sun” (Act I Scene II Line 69) a pun on how he is a son to his father and mother and now to his uncle. He also is baffled that his mother “within a month… married with my uncle” (Act I Scene II Line 149, 155) however this was all of his thought process and he is not taking any action against anyone other than through his words. However when he debates taking his own life, he weighs the options and decides if the threat of the unknown “makes us rather bear those ills we have” (Act III Scene I Line 89) which shows the possibility of acting on his thoughts but in this moment he will not. He begins to act when he decides to write the play to break Claudius; he even remarks that he wants to catch Claudius’s “occulted guilt” (Act III Scene II Line 85) through the play’s underlying meaning. When Hamlet walks in and

William Shakespeare uses the literary technique of the soliloquy to allow the audience to see deeper into his characters’ thoughts in his play, Hamlet. This technique helps to reveal Hamlet’s true character, expressing emotions that the audience cannot see through his interactions with other characters. Through Hamlet’s soliloquies, one may notice that his reluctance to take actions that involve death can be attributed to his fear of the unknown and his uncertainty in regards to afterlife.

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Hamlet is asking himself if it would be easier to endure a never-ending sleep, or to suffer; he asks who would tolerate the whips and scorns of time, the oppressor's wrong against us, the disrespect of proud men, the pain of rejected love, the proudness of authorities, and the advantage that the worst people take of the best when one could just release himself with a blade? Hamlet wonders who would carry this load, sweating and grunting under the burden of life if one did not have to dread of the after life. By Hamlet's in-depth thoughts of suicide, it is apparent that Hamlet is depressed and does not enjoy his life. "Repetition of words such as calamity, scorns, oppressor, despised, dread and weary emphasize the mental trauma he is portraying ("Passage analysis of Hamlet")." "Hamlet's speech contains obsessive concerns with suicide and death. His representation of himself as mentally unstable is an attempt to accomplish his super-objective of avoiding