Hamlet Soliloquies Outline
Thesis: In the famous revenge tragedy “Hamlet” by William Shakespeare, soliloquies-------------------
Soliloquies - progression of Hamlet’s characters; his transformation/growth (emotional turmoil); reveal his personality/state of mind/ and help with the development of the play
1st soliloquy: Act I Hamlet suffers from depression; tone melancholy; Hamlet is grief stricken/emotional; recent death of his father, and his mother’s remarriage to the man who murdered his father
Act 1 scene 5 “O all you host of the heaven…At least I’m sure it may be so in Denmark)
• Feigning madness
Act 2 scene 2 calls himself a coward/questions why he cant avenge his father’s death – CONFUSED
• “O what a rogue and peasant slave…Wherein I’ll catch the conscience
of the king”
Act 3 scene 1 “To be or not to be…be all my sins remembered”
• contemplates suicide
Act 3 scene 3 “O my offence is rank it smell to heaven….all may be well.”
• Hesitant nature exposed; weighing all options
• Hamlet examines Claudius’s weaknesses; he’s too guilty to take revenge
Act 4 scene 4”How all occasions do inform against me…my thoughts be bloody, or be nothing worth”
• Final soliloquy – Turning Point (he has come full circle) Hamlet finally gains his sense of revenge; more logical perhaps o The transition is clear, as Hamlet is more decisive and resolute in his thinking o No longer hesitant
• Audience emphasizes with Hamlet
Soliloquies - progression of Hamlet’s characters; his transformation/growth (emotional turmoil); reveal his personality/state of mind/ and help with the development of the play
1st soliloquy: Act I Hamlet suffers from depression; tone melancholy; Hamlet is grief stricken/emotional; recent death of his father, and his mother’s remarriage to the man who murdered his father
Act 1 scene 5 “O all you host of the heaven…At least I’m sure it may be so in Denmark)
• Feigning madness
Act 2 scene 2 calls himself a coward/questions why he cant avenge his father’s death – CONFUSED
• “O what a rogue and peasant slave…Wherein I’ll catch the conscience
of the king”
Act 3 scene 1 “To be or not to be…be all my sins remembered”
• contemplates suicide
Act 3 scene 3 “O my offence is rank it smell to heaven….all may be well.”
• Hesitant nature exposed; weighing all options
• Hamlet examines Claudius’s weaknesses; he’s too guilty to take revenge
Act 4 scene 4”How all occasions do inform against me…my thoughts be bloody, or be nothing worth”
• Final soliloquy – Turning Point (he has come full circle) Hamlet finally gains his sense of revenge; more logical perhaps o The transition is clear, as Hamlet is more decisive and resolute in his thinking o No longer hesitant
• Audience emphasizes with Hamlet