Hamlet Soliloquy Analysis

In William Shakespeare 's revenge tragedy play Hamlet, the prevailing themes of revenge, madness, and morality were recognized by the Elizabethan audience and appealed to them. The play 's central focus is on a young prince, Hamlet, who has gone through many challenges to avenge his father 's death. Prince Hamlet got his revenge on his deceitful uncle, Claudius, the same man who murdered his father and married Hamlet 's mother. From the original text of the play, a major scene in Act 4 shows where Hamlet decides that it 's time for vengeance, expressing it in a soliloquy. This scene would have appealed to the Elizabethan audience because they would observe Hamlet 's thoughts. In addition, the soliloquy would have expanded on the theme of revenge, and how it would affect the final scene. Finally, by emphasizing the theme of morality in his speech, it would have the audience to make connections towards their own consciousness. Shakespeare 's Hamlet successfully targets the Elizabethan audience in Hamlet 's speech from Act IV.

I Hamlet's second soliloquy, we face a determined Hamlet who is craving revenge for his father. “Ay, thou poor ghost, while memory holds a seat/ In this distracted globe. Remember thee!” Hamlet feels sorry for his father who was unable to repent of his sins and is therefore condemned to a time in purgatory. He promises his father that in spite of his mental state (he is distracted, confused and shocked) he will avenge his death. He holds him in the highest regards because he sees his father as a role model. “Yea, from the table of my memory/ I’ll wipe away all trivial fond records,”. He’ll erase all prior Knowledge and experience and leave only his father’s “commandment”. He will engrave it in the front of his mind to show his

Hamlet is considered to be Shakespeare's most famous play. The play is about Prince Hamlet and his struggles with the new marriage of his mother, Gertrude, and his uncle and now stepfather, King Claudius about only two months after his father’s death. Hamlet has an encounter with his father, Old King Hamlet, in ghost form. His father accuses Claudius of killing him and tells Hamlet to avenge his death. Hamlet is infuriated by this news and then begins his thoughts on what to do to get revenge. Hamlet and Claudius are contrasting characters. They do share similarities, however, their profound differences are what divides them.Hamlet was portrayed as troubled, inactive, and impulsive at times. Hamlet is troubled by many things, but the main source of his problems come from the the death of his father. “Oh, that this too, too sullied flesh would melt, thaw, and resolve itself into a dew, or that the everlasting had not fixed his canon 'gainst self-slaughter” (Act 1, Scene 2). In this scene, Hamlet is contemplating suicide, which is caused by the death of his father and the new marriage of Gertrude and King Claudius. This scene shows the extent of how troubled Hamlet is. Even though Hamlet’s father asked him to avenge his death, Hamlet is very slow to act on this throughout the play. “Now might I do it pat. Now he is a-praying. And now I’ll do ’t. And so he goes to heaven. And so am I revenged.—That would be scanned. A villain kills my father, and, for that, I, his sole son, do this same villain send to heaven” (Act 3, Scene 3). This scene shows King Claudius praying, while Hamlet is behind him drawing his sword but decides not to kill

“To be, or not to be, that is the question,” (3.1.64). This famous line in William Shakespeare's Hamlet perfectly encapsulates Hamlet’s internal struggle throughout the play. Hamlet tells the story of the young prince of Denmark and his desire for revenge on the uncle, Claudius, who murdered his father. As is the case in many works of literature, Hamlet changes greatly throughout the play. However, because of his attempts to act insane, it can be difficult to precisely map the changes in Hamlet’s character. By carefully investigating his seven soliloquies, where he is alone and has no need to “put on an antic disposition,” one can understand and interpret how Hamlet’s character develops throughout the play.

By so doing it was believed that the sins of the dead person would be

Hamlet, one of Shakespeare’s tragic plays, portrays the story of a young man’s quest to avenge his murdered father and his quest to find his true identity. In his soliloquies, Prince Hamlet reveals to the readers his personal perceptions of the events that take place in his homeland, Denmark, and of which are either indirectly or directly tied to his father’s murder. Many critics and scholars agree that while Hamlet’s soliloquies reveal the search of his identity and true character, his soliloquies universally illustrate man’s search for his true identity.

(136) This soliloquy is very important because it demonstrates Hamlet’s anger at himself and Claudius, and how

The "To Be or Not To Be" speech in the play, "Hamlet," portrays Hamlet as a very confused man. He is very unsure of himself and his thoughts often waver between two extremes due to his relatively strange personality. In the monologue, he contemplates whether or not he should continue or end his own life. He also considers seeking revenge for his father’s death. Evidence of his uncertainty and over thinking is not only shown in this speech, but it also can be referenced in other important parts of the play.

Shakespeare's dramatic treatment of struggle is clear through Hamlet's inability to take action and carry out his duty to his father. Before avenging his father's death, Hamlet first puts on a play "to hold...the mirror up to nature," in an attempt to reinact the events of his fathers death and "catch the conscience of the king" to ensure that what the ghost has told him is true. While by arranging this play, Hamlet is in a sense taking some action by trying to ascertain the truth, Hamlet reproaches himself in a soliloquy for his lack of decisive action. Shakespeare's use of a soliloquy allows Hamlet to reveal his feelings and innermost thoughts to the audience and he admires one of the players' passion and emotion. Hamlet marvels at the

This soliloquy helps the audience to better understand Hamlet but also to better understand themselves. Every Elizabethan audience, no matter their status in society has faced controversy. Therefore when Hamlet delivers this particular soliloquy, it helps the audience to better understand not only Hamlet but themselves. As Hamlet passionately confesses his need to do what he thinks is right, the audience recalls situations where they have felt the same way. The audience sympathises with Hamlet and revenge becomes the choice solution for all.

Hamlet mentions his religious beliefs when he says, “Sure, he that made us with such large discourse, / Looking before and after, gave us not / That capability and godlike reason / To fust in us unused.” (IV.iv.35-38.). Hamlet says that God created human beings to have certain abilities and not use them would be a waste of God’s gift. By mentioning this it enables the audience who would be made up of Catholic and Protestant people to agree with this statement and to relate their own religious views. Finally, Hamlet is also able to relate to the audience by the way he displays his emotions and explains exactly how he felt in that moment. Hamlet says, “How stand I then, / That have a father killed, a mother stained, / Excitements of my reason and my blood, / And let all sleep” (IV.iv.56-59.). Hamlet says he feels guilty and ashamed for he has had so many reasons to take his revenge and these soldiers have none other than their honor. Hamlet expresses his feelings so deeply here that it encourages the audience to relate to a situation where they have felt guilty or ashamed and understand the situation Hamlet is in. Therefore, this soliloquy is full of connections to the Elizabethan Era and allows the audience to relate to them.

When analyzing Shakespeare's Hamlet through the deconstructionist lens various elements of the play come into sharper focus. Hamlet's beliefs about himself and his crisis over indecision are expounded upon by the binary oppositions created in his soliloquies.

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 the revenge tragedy, Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, William Shakespeare used the literary device of soliloquy as a way for the audience to gain insight into the personal thoughts and feelings of the protagonist, Prince Hamlet. Through the use of soliloquys, readers can see the troubled inner beliefs of Hamlet as he comes to terms with his mother’s remarriage, as well as the revelation of his father’s murder. Before Hamlet is even approached by his father’s ghost, he has a difficult time accepting the fact that his mother married his father’s brother, especially so soon following his death. As he learns of his father’s murder after speaking to his ghost, Hamlet’s inner troubles become magnified, which is translated within his soliloquys. In the act II, scene II soliloquy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, William Shakespeare continues to develop the theme of action vs. inaction through Hamlet’s primary dilemma of avenging his father’s murder.

There are various ways in which an author can target its audience. Though in the Elizabethan Era one might do so differently than in present day. William Shakespeare wrote many plays for several people throughout his life. While he may have written the play initially for one person, he also made sure that throughout the play to target all those who would be watching. In Shakespeare’s Hamlet, Hamlet delivers a speech in which all those who watched could relate to. When Hamlet was sent to be exiled to England he met with the captain of the Norway’s army and learned of their plan to attack a small patch of Poland’s land that has no worth. The land is worth nothing to neither Norway or Poland yet both take up arms to obtain the land for it would cost them their pride to lose it. Hamlet then proceeds to recite his soliloquy emphasizing the pointless issue but also noting the shame he feels for hesitating to take his revenge. Throughout this soliloquy the audience can relate to the situation at hand. It also advances the plot and excites the audience with Hamlets noticeable turn around in the play. Therefore, in the original adaption of Hamlet, Hamlet’s speech from Act 4, scene 5 effectively targets the Elizabethan audience.