Hamlet Soliloquy

Hamlet is strongly held by archetypes that can be revealed throughout the play. Death, itself, is a very strong archetype in the story exploring the social beliefs in that era; superstitions and societies loyalty to religion. Throughout the play, Hamlet experiences his main trifles over the concept of death. Reviewing the murder of his father and the task given to him to kill his uncle, Hamlet becomes fascinated with the idea of existence and afterlife.As a whole, Hamlet is primarily concerned with exploring the individual's relationship with death in which our fear of death comes from the notion that there must be something else, eliminating the fact that we can't ever know for sure if there is. This idea is explored in Hamlet’s “to be or not to be” soliloquy, which questions the righteousness of life over death in moral terms. When Hamlet utters the pained question, “to be, or not to be: that is the question / Whether ‘tis nobler in the mind to suffer / The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune / Or to take arms against a sea of troubles” (Act 3, Scene 1 59-61) there is little doubt that he is thinking of death. Although he attempts to pose such a question in a rational and logical way, he is still left without an answer of whether the “slings and arrows of outrageous fortune” can be eliminated since life after death seems so uncertain. All of this mirrors aspects of human nature as man has always questioned the meaning of life and the events that occur after. Theoretically, one will never understand the full nature of our

Dearest friends, family and the people of Denmark. We gather here today to mourn the loss of the noble prince, loyal son and true friend, Prince Hamlet. But we are not here only to mourn, but to reminisce the times we have spent with him, both the good and the bad and to remember him as the person he was. Prince Hamlet did not live a very fortunate, on the contrary his final weeks were filled with a tragedy none of us should have to bear, but he lived his life to the full and I am sure that he has, in some way touched the lives of all of us here today.

    The story of Hamlet bleeds with tragedy, where not even has the play started and we already have the death of the king, “Old Hamlet”. This clearly hit Hamlet hard, as even well after the funeral has come and gone, we find him still wearing his black mourning robes, whilst everyone else is celebrating Claudius's rise to power. Even Hamlet’s mother, the ex wife of old Hamlet, seems to have blown away his death as if it were nothing, asking: “Good Hamlet, cast thy nighted color off, ...” (act i, scene ii, line 68) already we see that poor Hamlet’s life may not be as carefree and capricious as your typical prince, as to him the whole world has turned upside down, and where others should be mourning the loss of the king, they instead are celebrating Claudius. This ushers forth the first of Hamlet’s famous soliloquies, whereby he wishes “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 i, scene ii, line 129). Hamlet is so distraught that he wishes himself to simply fade away, and resents the fact that god as damned all those that commit suicide; implying that he would take his own life due to his own grief, were he not bound to live on, of face the wrath of god. This soliloquy paints the tragic picture that is hamlet  in its entirety, where hamlet struggles to deal with the loss of his father, and even ponders suicide, almost longing for it at times, however damning the act may be.

“There’s another. Why may not that be the/ skull of a lawyer? “ (5.1-100-101). He ponders between the physical characteristics and personalities of human life. He essentially thinks who he will be after he dies. After death, one essentially becomes nothing but dust, like the biblical saying, “from ashes to ashes, and dust to dust”. “To what base uses we may return, Horatio!” (5.1.209). Hamlet is often wondering about death, speaking about it, and thinking of the gory images of death. Thinking of it in such a matter, he appears sick. He refers to dead bodies being put in to everyday items.

Shakespeare's drama Hamlet has become a central piece of literature of Western culture. It is the story of a prince named Hamlet, who lost his father. Soon after that he has to confront multiple obstacles and devises a series of situations to defend the new king's royalty. Furthermore, he had to prove that King Claudius, who was the prince's uncle, had killed Hamlet's father. This story has remained among the most popular and the most controversial plays around the world. It generates controversy for all the doubts that this play leaves with the readers. One of the most questioning situations in the play is the delay of Hamlet in avenging Claudius' for his father's death. As a reader this

Hamlet is as much a story of emotional conflict, paranoia, and self-doubt as it is one of revenge and tragedy. The protagonist, Prince Hamlet of Denmark, is instructed by his slain father’s ghost to enact vengeance upon his uncle Claudius, whose treacherous murder of Hamlet’s father gave way to his rise to power. Overcome by anguish and obligation to avenge his father’s death, Hamlet ultimately commits a number of killings throughout the story. However, we are not to view the character Hamlet as a sick individual, but rather one who has been victimized by his own circumstances.

The ghost already has an idea in his own mind about his revenge when he says, "But howsomever thou pursues this act, / taint not thy mind, nor let thy soul contrive / against thy mother aught" (1.5.91-93). Hamlet hides his desire for revenge by saying, "There's never a villain Dwelling in all Denmark but he's an arrant knave" (1.5.137-138). When Hamlet finds out that his friends had heard the whole conversation between the ghost and himself, he makes them swear not to say a thing, and intentionally pretends to be crazy. Hamlet's madness also allows him to avoid truth in his pursuit of revenge. Although Hamlet overtly wants to know the truth, his behavior is quite contradicting. By avoiding a confrontation with Claudius and accusing him directly of wrongdoing, Hamlet also avoids the possibility of truly knowing what happened.                                              

In the sixth soliloquy of Hamlet, written by Shakespeare, Hamlet finally begins to realize his procrastination. In this soliloquy we discover how Hamlet is purely a follower; he needs to compare himself to another person in order to realize his own flaws. This constitutes his madness as he is seemingly an intelligent man, as suggested by some of his previous soliloquies, but yet is unable to see his own wrongdoings until after it becomes too late. In his sudden realization, he confesses his procrastination and it all becomes clear that he was aware of it the whole time. It thus can be concluded that Hamlet has been fooling us, as all of his wise choices seem to come after some unusual circumstances and not solely from his intellect.

He then moves beyond his earlier need to settle the score and asks for forgiveness from Leartes. Hamlet's need to know is highlighted in his interaction with the ghost, but treated in an unusual way. The ghost brings to attention the themes of truth and ethical behavior, but also serves as contrast to Hamlet's need for belief. The ghost represents death, but that is one thing Hamlet cannot be certain of, because he has not yet experienced it. Even more, he cannot tell whether the ghost is truly his father's spirit or whether it is an evil being who wants to lead him toward destruction as when he says, "O all you host of heaven! O earth! What else / And shall I couple hell' O fie!" (1.5.99-100).

In the soliloquy “To be, or not to be: that is the question” spoken by Hamlet, he discusses his views on death (III.i.56). In this scene he is contemplating his thoughts on suicide, death, life, and the afterlife as he awaits his meeting with Claudius. He reflects on whether the afterlife will have the same problems as his current life. He also shares his thoughts on death in another scene where he is a graveyard. Hamlet basically says you die and become food for the worms and then you are nothing in these lines “Alexander died, Alexander was buried, Alexander returned into dust; the dust is earth; of earth we make loam” (5.i.209-211). He gives so many details on life and death, yet he is the one causing so many of the deaths that occur within the play. If it were not for him seeking revenge for his father’s death then so many of the events that

In Hamlet’s famous soliloquy, he contemplates for a while whether to commit suicide. Hamlet’s unhappiness is caused by the people around him. His mother’s actions of marrying her brother-in-law made Hamlet extremely frustrated drawing him out of the right mental state. Meanwhile, his view of his father is godlike, but he distrusts the Ghost enough to think about killing himself instead of pursuing the Ghost’s request. In Hamlet’s famous soliloquy, “to be, or not to be;” he contemplates (3.1). “The Everlasting had not fixed, His cannon ‘gainst self-slaughter!” (1.2). He is uncertain if things would be any better in the afterlife if he were to end his life. Hamlet’s hesitancy, especially concerning suicide, is the cause of his realistic and frightened nature. In this situation, his indecisiveness saves his life, but it also does not allow him to find another solution. Concluding, in his soliloquy he would rather

Hamlet is so depressed that he feels life isn't worth living and Shakespeare's death imagery helps us to feel what Hamlet is experiencing because we can actually picture flesh turning to dew. A reader could argue that all this death and gore could be in Hamlet's mind alone until Horatio says, "Something is rotten in the state of Denmark (I, IV, 90)." Now we know not only does Hamlet think this, but Horatio does as well. Picture festering carrion as a metaphor for King Hamlet's death and we realize that Horatio's words couldn't be truer. The ghost also makes a horrible reference. He says at the moment of his death, his skin became "Most lazar-like with vile and loathsome crust all my smooth body (I, V, 72)." This passage is exceptionally powerful and you can almost "feel" what death is like, with skin crusting over and open sores flowing with puss, you become like a leper before death takes its toll.

At this early point in the play, it is evident that Hamlet is already considering the possible implications of taking his life. He clearly recognizes that suicide is a holy offense and will only make his afterlife worse than his present circumstances. Fundamentally, Hamlet’s thoughts of death are the initial indicator of his bereaved, depressed state that lead him to ponder the concepts of life and death in Act III.

During Hamlet’s first soliloquy he wonders what the point of living is in such a cruel world. “To be, or not to be? That is the question— Whether ’tis nobler in the mind to suffer.” Hamlet is unsure of whether the life he is living, or if any life at all, is even worth living. He contemplates whether it is better to die and move on to the afterlife, whatever that may hold for him, or live on and suffer through his everyday life. “To die, to sleep. To sleep, perchance to dream—ay, there’s the rub, for in that sleep of death what dreams may come when we have shuffled off this mortal coil.” He ponders as to why any person would want to bear the burden of existing in the mortal world rather than dying. On the other hand he understands

Prince Hamlet was ordinary boy just like any other. He was a smart and clever young man and was probably very kind to have many friends and a girlfriend, but after the news of his father’s death, he had changed. Hamlet soon began to shut himself in his room every night and wears nothing but dark clothing. The death of his father