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Why Is Hamlet's First Soliloquy

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Why Is Hamlet's First Soliloquy
William Shakespeare is one of the world's most famous author's who composed many different plays. One of his most popular plays is Hamlet, which is titled after the protagonist of the story. The plot is about Hamlet's anger and rage in avenging his father's death. In Act I, Scene V, Hamlet discovered that his uncle murdered his father. The time period between his father's death and the visit of his ghost, Hamlet was mourning the loss of his father. However, from lines 91-112, there is a sense of happiness in Hamlet's tone. The words that Shakespeare uses in this soliloquy have a vast deeper meaning. Of course, Shakespeare used the tool of symbolism in this very important dialogue. Hamlet's monologue in the soliloquy contains a very deep …show more content…
Hamlet exclaims his anger towards his mother by calling her “O most pernicious woman! / O villain, villain, smiling, damnéd villain!” (1.5.105-106) Overall, we can feel that he is upset with her mother’s behavior in quickly marrying her brother-in-law. He also thinks that she has subtly effected him and influenced his thinking in a harmful way. The soliloquy acts as a base of knowledge for the reader as they learn about Hamlet’s motivations, future actions, and his emotions.
In the scenes before this discourse, Hamlet mentions how he feels lost, with all of the sudden change of events that occurred. He wanted to just fall apart and admitted about thinking of suicide. However, in this verse Hamlet says that “And you, my sinews, grow not instant old, / But bear me stiffly up.” (1.5.94-95) Sinew is a strong tendon that helps unite muscles. So,
Hamlet begs his sinews to remain strong in order to be successful in his vengeance. This is a very clever use of symbolism by Shakespeare, showing that Hamlet doesn’t want to “fall apart” until after he fulfills his promise. The word “sinew” sounds like sin-ews. In some sense, the word can be taken as Hamlet’s disgusting sins and Hamlet reassures himself that he can use them to lift himself up and make him stronger. After the scene, Hamlet seems to speak more powerfully and
…show more content…
Many people would think that the prince of a kingdom would be very warrior minded. However, we can see that he is intelligent as he mentions his “tables” or notebook to write everything in his notebook which is referring to his mind. He takes mental notes to remind of events in order to be wise and not forget about events. The soliloquy also shows that Hamlet doesn’t immediately jump to conclusions. Hamlet says that “one may smile, and smile, and be a villain.” (1.5.108) With this Hamlet discusses how one can seem to be the most friendliest person, but is truly evil on the

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