Another contrast is shown when the audience’s original perception of Hamlet’s intelligence is challenged. Before his soliloquy, we notice that Hamlet’s lines are considerably shorter and less articulate than those of the other characters. Whilst we learn later the reasons behind this (his personality is forced with Gertrude and Claudius) the audience may originally perceive Hamlet as simply lacking in intellect. This idea is furthered by Claudius’ accusation that Hamlet’s sorrow presents him as having “a mind impatient, an understanding simple and unschooled.” On the other hand, the language used in Hamlet’s first soliloquy, particularly his knowledge of Greek mythology (“Niobe, Hercules, Hyperion and satyr”) suggest that Hamlet has is far more intelligent than the audience (and Claudius) may originally perceive him to be.
Shakespeare also makes his audience aware of the division between Hamlet and his mother. Contrasts can be drawn when Gertrude says “’tis common, all that lives must die, passing through nature to eternity” and when Hamlet displays anger towards the “Everlasting” and refers to the world as an “an unweeded garden that grows to seed, things rank and gross in nature”. The similarities between ‘eternity’ and ‘everlasting’, as well as Hamlet’s extended metaphor of nature representing the world could be Shakespeare’s way of causing the audience to note the contrast in their perceptions of both. Whilst Gertrude talks lightly of the two, thinking life and death as a common process, Hamlet rejects her view by refusing to accept that they should forget his father so soon, most powerfully shown by the quote “frailty, thy name is woman”. In this case, Hamlet’s first soliloquy shows the audience that both of his parents are strongly polarised in their values.
Contrasts are not only established through cross-references in the character’s speech, but in Hamlet’s soliloquy itself. “Solid flesh” is contrasted with “dew”; “rank and gross” juxtaposed with “nature” (which is normally associated with peace and beauty); “Hyperion” with “satyr” and “I” (Hamlet) compared with “Hercules”. The constant reoccurrence of contrasts serve to show the audience the extent to which Hamlet feels the natural order of the world has been reversed. He resents the new king and his mother for their haste, and his bitterness is furthered by the use of sibilance in the lines “most wicked speed, to post with such dexterity to incestuous sheets”, which create a ‘hissing’ effect in his speech. This could also be suggestive to the audience of Hamlet’s mental instability – how he may be prone to future acts of madness.
Finally, Hamlet’s first soliloquy is used to allow the audience to have an insight into the events that occurred before the opening of the play. The audience learns of the death of his father, the ascension of Claudius to the throne and Gertrude’s marriage to him. More importantly, we see it through the eyes of Hamlet, who is infuriated and feels betrayed by his mother’s short-lived grief – “a beast that wants discourse of reason would have mourned longer”. We can note that the variance in time “But two months dead – nay not so much, not two -” which is reduced to “within a month” could be suggestive of Hamlet’s distorted view of his past caused by the traumatic death of his father who he valued so highly.
The last point to note when considering Shakespeare’s use of time is what the audience learn from the use of foreshadowing. In the final two lines of his soliloquy, Hamlet says “It is not, nor it cannot come to good. But break, my heart, for I must hold my tongue.” It is possible to suggest that Shakespeare has used dramatic irony here, for the audience will know of the presence of his father’s ghost from the previous scene, and will therefore be able to predict from these final two lines that Hamlet will almost certainly not be able to ‘hold his tongue’, which in turn suggests that his prediction that no good will come of the marriage is very much true.
In conclusion, the audience learn a huge amount from Hamlet’s first soliloquy. It acts as an introduction for the tensions that may arise later on in the play by immediately setting himself aside from his mother and uncle, but also gives the audience an insight into the events that occurred prior to this, setting the scene for the events that follow.