Hamlet's First Soliloquy Analysis

In Hamlet’s soliloquy in act IV scene iv, he brings up the question of “what is a man?” Hamlet does this while looking upon the over powering army that is lead by Fortinbras. His army was passing through Denmark to fight over an insignificant piece of land in Poland. Hamlet then thinks about his lack of action with his mission to kill Claudius. While he is seeing this massive army marching, going to war over something so insignificant he realizes that he must try to make his “thoughts bloody” (4.4.64). In this soliloquy, we learn that through Hamlet’s inaction he sees himself no better than a beastly animal where he should see himself as a man that takes action into his own hands which, makes him as the same level as the gods.

In act 1 scene 2 of “Hamlet” the character Hamlet speaks his first soliloquy which reveals his innermost thoughts and feelings to the audience. In this soliloquy Hamlet’s unstable state of mind is evident as well as his feelings of despair about his father’s death and his disgust of his mother’s remarriage to his uncle Claudius. Hamlet’s hatred for his uncle is shown through harsh comparisons between Claudius and his late father. This soliloquy takes place after Claudius has begun his reign as king and has addressed the court for the first time but before Hamlet hears about the apparition that Horatio and the guards have seen. Hamlet’s character and personality are shown in this soliloquy through the use of classical imagery, diction and

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

When the audience first meets Hamlet he is grief-stricken and upset with his mother for her hasty remarriage to his uncle. Directly preceding Hamlet’s first soliloquy he is firmly scolded by his mother and uncle for mourning his father and is denied permission to return to the University of Wittenberg. In his soliloquy, Hamlet says, “O, that this too, too sullied flesh would melt,/Thaw, and resolve itself into a dew,” (1.2.133-134.) Hamlet is expressing his desire to die, but is unwilling to kill himself because he does not want to be sent to Hell. In this statement, the audience is able to see that Hamlet is deeply depressed and ready for death. Also in the first soliloquy, Hamlet says, “O, most wicked speed, to post/With such dexterity to incestuous sheets,” (1.2.161-162.) Hamlet makes this statement in order to reflect his anger with his mother for marrying her brother-in-law, a marriage he deems incestuous, within a month of his father’s death. This statement shows that Hamlet’s depression is not only caused by his father’s death, but also by his mother’s apparent betrayal of his father. Hamlet’s first soliloquy shows him to be very depressed and establishes a strong base for his character to develop.

Hamlet is dissatisfied with his inability to kill Claudius, thus allowing him time to rewrite his wrongs. Unable to muster up the courage to carry out his envisions of murdering Claudius, Hamlet calls himself “a dull and muddy-mettled rascal” (2.2.526) that is “unpregnant of [his] cause”. (2.2.527) In both the soliloquies Hamlet stands around dreaming of completing the act, but pushes aside his outraged feelings toward Claudius. Hamlet is mad at himself as he pretends he is unaware of the treason. The soliloquy “what is a man” starts out with “how all occasions do inform against me, and spur my dull revenge!” (4.4.31-32) By “spur my dull revenge” Hamlet is stalling and much like a dull revenge a dull knife would do little to help achieve a stout revenge. This soliloquy also ties in with the

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.

Finally, the soliloquy creates an atmosphere of sadness, hatred and anger because Hamlet is grieving his father’s death but is also angry at his mother for marrying his uncle. He is clearly not satisfied with the world and calls it “an unweeded garden” (1.2.135) where all the evil things flourish. In addition, the atmosphere becomes very gloomy as Hamlet talks about his desire to end his life.

William Shakespeare’s Hamlet is a complex play regarding the kingdom of Denmark, and the unusual stage it is going through. The main focus of the play concerns Hamlet, prince of Denmark, and his feeling of ambiguity toward his recently lost father and his remarried mother. Hamlet is a complicated character who plays assorted roles in order to manipulate people. These various roles make it problematic to develop a sense of the real Hamlet. Only during the soliloquies is the reader given a chance to understand Hamlet, they allow the reader to attempt to decipher who is the real Hamlet and what is an act. The first soliloquy allows the reader to initially delve into the character of Hamlet, by showing his anger and distaste towards his

In Shakespeare’s “How all occasions do inform against me” soliloquy, Hamlet contemplates how his actions measure up to his thoughts after seeing Fortinbras army near Elsinore. Fortinbras acts quickly, pondering the consequences of his actions much less than Hamlet who tends to think but not act. Hamlet comes to the realization that his thoughts are worthless without the actions to back them and sitting around thinking about what could be is a waste of time when he could be avenging his father.

Like any other human Hamlet has experienced the loss of his father. Although the loss of a loved one is a very common feeling that every person will experience, Hamlet had lost his father and his mother even though she was still alive. She betrayed his by marrying Hamlet’s father within the same week as his father, her husband, passing. Also Hamlet had to watch his uncle become the new King. Hamlet despite all the negative surrounding him experienced some of the same feelings that anyone going through a normal loss of a parent or loved one would experience, Hamlet experienced pain, sadness and numbness, frustration from being broken hearted, anger and confusion and depression, to name just a few. Over the course of Hamlet’s seven soliloquies, the audience can see the slow transgression of Hamlet’s growth; however, Hamlet was pretty much stayed in the same mind frame.

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.

In Act I, scene II, Hamlet delivers his first soliloquy after his mother and new step-dad/uncle Claudius try to convince him to get over the death of his father, and to accept their rather hasty marriage. In his first soliloquy, Hamlet questions whether or not he should kill himself, and curses God for making suicide a sin. Hamlet is also fixated on his mother’s rushed marriage to his uncle, not even a month after his father’s death. Hamlet says, “A little month, or ere those shoes were old/with which she followed my poor father’s body” (Lines 146-147). He is very hooked on the fact that his mother wore the same shoes to her wedding as she did to her husband’s funeral, not even having time in-between to break the shoes in. Hamlet wishes he could say whatever he wants and express his disgust about his mother’s marriage and his hatred for his uncle, but since his uncle is the reigning King of Denmark, he has to hold his tongue and show respect for the king. This first soliloquy introduces the reader to Hamlet’s indecisiveness and over analytical mindset.

Coming immediately after the meeting with the Ghost of Hamlet’s father, Shakespeare uses his second soliloquy to present Hamlet’s initial responses to his new role of revenger. Shakespeare is not hesitant in foreboding the religious and metaphysical implications of this role, something widely explored in Elizabethan revenge tragedy, doing so in the first lines as Hamlet makes an invocation to ‘all you host of heaven’ and ‘earth’. Hamlet is shown to impulsively rationalize the ethical issues behind his task as he views it as a divine ordinance of justice, his fatalistic view reiterated at the end of scene 5 with the rhyming couplet ‘O cursed spite,/That ever I was born to set it right’. These ideas are

In Hamlet’s first soliloquy he shows that he is angry with his mother and upset over his father’s death. Hamlet, however, does not think about taking revenge against his uncle for marrying his mother, instead he is just furious at his mother for being

Hamlet's first soliloquy, following a hostile conversation with Claudius and Gertrude, shows him grief-stricken, bitter and despairing. The source of Hamlet's melancholy is "his father's death" and the "o'er-hasty marriage" of his mother and uncle. He feels he