Tone Of Hamlet's First Soliloquy

Hamlet, by William Shakespeare, begins with the mysterious death of King Hamlet of Denmark. His son, Prince Hamlet, is overwhelmed with misery and undergoes an existential crisis as others around him lose sight of the incident. To make matters worse, Claudius, King Hamlet’s brother, hastily takes over the kingdom by marrying his mother, Gertrude. Thus Hamlet, heartbroken, struggles to adjust to his family arrangement with his uncle as his new father figure. The purpose of Hamlet’s first soliloquy is to reveal his true inner thoughts, which significantly contrast his restrained and subdued tone during conversations with Claudius and Gertrude. In the beginning his speech, Hamlet feels helpless when expressing his tremendous grief, and he continues to dwell in his pain by explaining the reasons for his misery. The intensity of Hamlet’s emotions are evident in the application of vivid imagery, chary word choice, and juxtaposition.
In the beginning of Hamlet’s soliloquy, he views his life as meaningless and lugubrious because of his father’s demise. While Hamlet laments for him, he wishes his “sullied flesh would melt” (1.2.133). Distraught, he even compares his worthless existence to dew and its ephemeral nature once evaporated from the sun. Unfortunately, Hamlet’s desire to disappear from his awry fate and reality is impossible because of God’s laws against suicide, so he exclaims, “O God, God,/ How weary, stale, flat, and unprofitable/ Seem to me all the uses of this world!” (1.2.136-138). Hamlet cries out to God in an apostrophe to emphasize the intensity of his distress and indicate the absence of God’s guidance/aid in his life. A reader notes his highly intellectual and analytical mind as he cleverly describes his world as “stale” or spoiled by corruption. Hamlet finds the world “unprofitable” and insatiable, since he longs for his father’s reign and a different fate that he could directly control. By depicting the world as “an unweeded garden” (1.2.139) or a