Hamlet Soliloquies and Their Analysis Essay Example
HAMLET’S SOLILOQUIES & THEIR ANALYSIS
In the course of the play, Hamlet has seven long soliloquies. The first of these occurs before he has seen the Ghost. In this soliloquy, Hamlet reveals the grief that has been gnawing at his mind. He wishes that religion did not forbid suicide so that he could kill himself and be rid of this grief. He feels disillusioned with the world.
“How weary, stale, flat and unprofitable,
Seem to me all the uses of this world”.
He deplores (condemns) the fact that his mother should have remarried barely two months after the death of her first husband. This soliloquy shows Hamlet’s meditative nature. It also reveals his filial attachment to his dead father whom he speaks highly, and his scorn of his uncle to whom he refers in disparaging terms. His references to Hyperion, Niobe and Hercules show him to be well versed in classical literature. We also note his generalizing tendency when says: “Frailty thy name is woman;”
Resolution to avenge his father’s murder. Hamlet’s second soliloquy comes just after the Ghost leaves him, after charging him with the duty of taking revenge upon the murderer of his father. Hamlet resolves to wipe out everything else from his memory and to remember only Ghost’s command. The manner in which Hamlet here speaks of never forgetting into action and carry out the behest (request) of the Ghost. The Ghost’s revelation has stunned him and he refers to his mother as “a most pernicious woman” and to his uncle as a “smiling damned villain”. We again note his generalizing tendency when he says that “one may smile, and smile, and be a villain”.
Self reproach: In his third soliloquy, Hamlet bitterly scolds himself for having failed to execute his revenge so far, he calls himself “a dull and muddy mettled rascal” for his failure, accusing himself of being “pigeon livered”, an ass who “ like a whore” can only unpack his heart with words and “And fall a-cursing, like a very drab”. He refers to his
In the course of the play, Hamlet has seven long soliloquies. The first of these occurs before he has seen the Ghost. In this soliloquy, Hamlet reveals the grief that has been gnawing at his mind. He wishes that religion did not forbid suicide so that he could kill himself and be rid of this grief. He feels disillusioned with the world.
“How weary, stale, flat and unprofitable,
Seem to me all the uses of this world”.
He deplores (condemns) the fact that his mother should have remarried barely two months after the death of her first husband. This soliloquy shows Hamlet’s meditative nature. It also reveals his filial attachment to his dead father whom he speaks highly, and his scorn of his uncle to whom he refers in disparaging terms. His references to Hyperion, Niobe and Hercules show him to be well versed in classical literature. We also note his generalizing tendency when says: “Frailty thy name is woman;”
Resolution to avenge his father’s murder. Hamlet’s second soliloquy comes just after the Ghost leaves him, after charging him with the duty of taking revenge upon the murderer of his father. Hamlet resolves to wipe out everything else from his memory and to remember only Ghost’s command. The manner in which Hamlet here speaks of never forgetting into action and carry out the behest (request) of the Ghost. The Ghost’s revelation has stunned him and he refers to his mother as “a most pernicious woman” and to his uncle as a “smiling damned villain”. We again note his generalizing tendency when he says that “one may smile, and smile, and be a villain”.
Self reproach: In his third soliloquy, Hamlet bitterly scolds himself for having failed to execute his revenge so far, he calls himself “a dull and muddy mettled rascal” for his failure, accusing himself of being “pigeon livered”, an ass who “ like a whore” can only unpack his heart with words and “And fall a-cursing, like a very drab”. He refers to his