Why Is Hamlet's First Soliloquy

Hamlet’s “To be or not to be” soliloquy is conceivably the most prominent soliloquy in the archive of the theatre. Even now, more than 400 years after it was originally written there is still an air of familiarity that reaches others even if they do not know the play itself in detail. In act 3, scene 1, Hamlet’s “To be or not to be” Soliloquy is critical in developing the plot because this is when Hamlet discusses his most suicidal thoughts.

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

Since the death of his father, King Hamlet, Hamlet his son is eluded between his thoughts and his emotions. The real struggle begins when a ghost, namely the ghost of King Hamlet, his father, accuses Hamlet’s uncle Claudius for his murder. When the ghost tells Hamlet about the reason for the murder Hamlet expresses his thoughts and feelings with passion, “The serpent that sting thy father’s life/Now wears his crown” (Shakespeare). The passion from his anger is also evident at the end of the soliloquy when he calls his uncle “damned villain” (Shakespeare). Hamlet’s mother, Gertrude is also accused by the ghost of King Hamlet for being sexually involved with Claudius and hamlet passionately with rage and anger calls his mother “O most precious women” (Shakespeare) at the end of his soliloquy. This situation put Hamlet in a sensitive and fierce battle between what’s truth and what’s right. His thoughts do not run in parallel with his emotions, Hamlet being caught up in this internal confusion keeps on delaying his actions. Furthermore Hamlet’s reason to kill Claudius comes from his passion, but his intelligence gives him reasons not to kill his uncle Claudius. He keeps

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.

In his mature, adult mind, he knows that he must avenge his father, but there lives an innocent child in his conscience who does not want to commit murder; and Hamlet perceives this as cowardice. It seems as though Hamlet is struggling with what he knows he must do, and actually doing it. While instead of pursuing his father’s revenge, he lets his emotions dictate his actions (in this case, his lack of action). So, in self-justification, he tucks away his apprehension and decides to seek proof of Claudius’s murder of Hamlet’s father. Furthermore, Hamlet is beginning to question his identity as a “pigeon-livered coward.” What is more noteworthy, however, is that both soliloquies exhibit Hamlet to be an immature boy, as he speaks on impulses of emotion, rather than logic itself.

Shakespeare's Hamlet is the home of Hamlet’s “to be or not to be” soliloquy. In this soliloquy Hamlet is pondering whether it is better to be or not to be- to be alive or to be dead. In Hamlet’s eyes he has no power while alive- he is at the mercy of all the misfortune life brings. Alternatively death is something to be desired- it is escape from everything life throws his way. Death comes in the form of sleep. Hamlet comes to the conclusion that life is a passive, powerless state, compared to death which he believes is an empowering, and active state that he averts due to the unknown.

Hamlet, unlike Fortinbras and Laertes, did not follow what his advisor told him without questioning why he should take the advice. As time passes, Hamlet still has not acted out the revenge he promised his father. Out of disgust for his irreverence for his father he says, ?why, what an ass am I! This is most brave, that I, the son of a dear father murdered, prompted to my revenge by heaven and hell, must like a whore, unpack my heart with words and fall a-cursing like a very drab? (II.ii.594-598). This statement prompts one to believe Hamlet has been convinced by his father?s words to act, but does not want to do so hastily. Hamlet questions the validity of his revenge by devising a plan to provide evidence of King Claudius? guilt. Hamlet took advantage of his position at the local theater by instructing his actors

William Shakespeare employs the use of soliloquies for a variety of reason, essentially revealing the characteristics of a protagonist through the use of soliloquies. The scholarly article, publicized by the Hutchinson Encyclopedia, explains a soliloquy is employed “as a means of conveying information about a character's intentions, motives, and general state of mind. It is a way of revealing a character's innermost thoughts on stage” (1). A soliloquy allows the audience to see a more personal side of the protagonist. By explaining personally from the thoughts of the protagonist, this personal monologue allows characters to reveal a more personal side of the story. From the perspective of a character, a soliloquy is the most involved a

In his first soliloquy, Hamlet bemoans the fact that he cannot commit suicide. He wishes that his physical self might just cease to exist, "melt, / Thaw, and resolve itself into a dew." He complains that his religion prohibits suicide and claims that he would sooner die than continue watching his mother engage in her vile incest. These thoughts torment him, but he knows that he can't speak them aloud to anyone. Hamlet's passionate first soliloquy provides a striking contrast to the controlled and artificial dialogue that he must exchange with Claudius and his court.

Hamlet’s inaction due to fear ultimately leads to the death of six characters, including himself. Hamlet’s outward conflict is the death of his father and consequently, his uncle becoming the King of Denmark. Hamlet expresses his distaste of his uncle becoming King when he says, “A little more than kin, and less than kind” (1.2.65). Hamlet implies that his uncle is too closely related to him after becoming his step-father. Moreover, during his soliloquy in Act 1 Scene 2, Hamlet blames his mother for being weak and criticizes her decision to marry someone one month after her husband’s death when he says, “A beast that wants discourse of reason/ Would have mourn’d longer” (1.2.146-7). Hamlet denotes that his mother is less reasonable than an animal as she marries one month after King Hamlet’s death, which is an insult to her intelligence. Furthermore, Hamlet compares the world to “an unweeded garden” (1.2.135) and this displays how he does not want to live in this corrupt world anymore. Hamlet’s inward conflict is his inaction after swearing to the ghost that he would exact revenge for his father’s murder.

One of William Shakespeare’s most prominent literary styles is his use of soliloquies throughout his plays. One of his most famous soliloquies occurs in the play Hamlet; beginning with the famous “To be, or not to be - that is the question” (III.1 56) spoken by an ambivalent Hamlet. This passage has been copiously interpreted and analyzed, both for pleasure and through exposition in an academic setting. It can be difficult to elucidate Hamlet due to his complex and ever changing views, however one thing that can be guaranteed is Hamlet’s paradoxical nature. With this in mind, Hamlet’s soliloquy shows an insight into his views on what it means to be mortal, and whether the afterlife is a more desirable option.

Act 1 Scene 2, lines 64 - 159 is a soliloquy that aims to show what Hamlet is thinking when his mother gets married to his uncle. He views this form of interaction and marriage and incestuous and is therefore disgusted by the whole episode.

The “to be or not to be” soliloquy recognizes several concepts from The Theory Toolbox, which provides a plethora of tools that are beneficial for any reader. I will focus on the chapters of Reading (Chapter 3) and Differences (chapter 10) and. Hamlet relates to the “universal” human condition, but it is primarily masculine as Nealon and Giroux note (179).

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

Hamlet is very aware of his own fate and the fate of all men: to die. He already knows of fatalism, but he cannot accept it. The thought of death perplexes and frightens Hamlet. But death, to Hamlet, is not a choice to be made. “To be or not to be, that is the question”(3.1.57). “To be or not to be” is not a choice, it is a question and a question is a thought and thus a type of freedom, but death is an end, and thus “none of our own.”