In the first Soliloquy Hamlet talks about his mother, he feels disgraced with her, he can’t really see why she married his uncle, and he does not like to think about it. I think at this point, he is too upset to be suspicious of his fathers’ death; he still believes a snake really did kill his father. I can see this from the line “But two months dead! -Nay, not so much, not two. He then talks about Claudius, I think he now associates his mother with Claudius as a couple, so every time he talks about his mother; he feels he has to mention Claudius. He thinks that his uncle corrupted his Mother, and thinks as a result of this, his mother and all other women are weak. ‘Frailty, thy name is woman’ tells us this. This could affect his relationship with Ophelia, as he thinks all women are weak and frail.
The second soliloquy I am studying is a lot more philosophical and deep than the first because of Hamlets mood and he tries to persuade himself that after death is a good place where good things happen but he is held back by conscience and fear, the reason fear is such a big part of this play is because Shakespeare wrote it for an Elizabethan audience and a ghost appearing would have a tremendous affect on the audience in those days because they felt a lot more strongly about souls not at rest. Hamlet also tries to apologise to Ophilia in this soliloquy even though she is not present in this soliloquy because he has finally thought of something physical to do to help his father but it uses Ophilia in a nasty way. Also the idea of suicide was taken a lot more serious in the days this play was targeted at and it was also considered worse than it is today. So everything in Hamlets life has been turned upside down or destroyed because, his father is dead, he cannot see his friends at university and he has just been told to stop making a fool of himself.
This is a very dramatic speech with lots of pauses, which is shown by the Hyphens, questions, and exclamation marks etc. ‘Fie on’ t! O, fie!’ is a good example of this from the first soliloquy because Shakespeare breaks up the words using pauses so there is more strain on certain parts of the word and certain parts of the soliloquy. Rhetorical questions are used ‘To be or not to be’ shows Hamlets state of mind because he is asking himself questions that he does not expect an answer for. The dramatic pauses are used to put emphasis on different parts of Hamlets soliloquy showing the more important and serious parts of it. Hamlets sentences are generally short and disjointed in this soliloquy ‘To die, to sleep-’showing Hamlet’s mood is agitated and he is distressed. Iambic pentameter is used in both soliloquies because it is a recognized poetic device and can reflect normal speech, which is the way Hamlet is supposed to be speaking. In the second soliloquy Shakespeare again includes lots of dramatic pauses to break up the speech and also to give a climax to what Hamlet will say next. The sentences are long because Hamlet is almost talking to himself and so does not slow down or pause very often and so he rambles on. Also in this soliloquy Hamlet is philosophizing about death and what’s after death and so he does not speak as he would if somebody else was there. The soliloquy is more realistic because if it rhymed then it would have to have been already thought up and it is supposed to be spontaneous. The sentences are rather disjointed showing Hamlet, at this moment in the play, as a slightly mad character. In this speech Hamlet repeats the words ‘To die, to sleep-’ which helps to show that even though Hamlet tries to talk about something other than suicide he cannot help thinking about death as something as peaceful as sleep because that’s what he wants to think.
The use of comparison between death and sleep shows that Hamlet is considering death and he hopes it will be peaceful like sleep. But as he considers death ‘for in that sleep of death what dreams may come…. must give us pause’ he wonders what happens after you die and if it is worse than the problems he has now and so because of that he has to stop and think about what to do, this shows that he is indecisive over this matter. The imagery ‘slings and arrows of fortune’ shows that Hamlet thinks he has been almost attacked individually by fortune and he feels he is vulnerable. Also Hamlet questions the point of life because everyone dies eventually and he says that Humans are subject to lots of hurt. Hamlet compares after death to an ‘undiscovered country’ where ‘no traveler returns’ so this shows that Hamlet realizes that death is a one way process where there is no turning back, which shows that Hamlet is still sane and rational. When Hamlet uses the image of ‘an un-weeded garden’ because Hamlet’s father died in a garden but also because Shakespeare tries to make Hamlet use the imagery of his father being the ‘gardener’ of the family and without him the garden goes out of control and falls apart. Hamlet compares his father with Claudius. He describes his father as ‘Hyperion’, God of the sun, meaning that in Hamlet’s mind, the world would not go on without him. This shows his great respect for his father and how he looks up to him. He then compared Claudius to a ‘Satyr’, which shows that Hamlet has a very low opinion of Claudius. The main reason he thinks of Claudius as a ‘Satyr’, is because Hamlet thinks that Claudius took advantage of his mother when she was so distraught over his father’s death.
Shakespeare uses a soliloquy to put Hamlet alone showing his mental state as being alone. Shakespeare uses soliloquies because they are an insight into a character because they are not actually speaking to anyone In this case Hamlet lets out his innermost and personal feelings and so the audience like the play more because in a soliloquy it is more personal and so people in the audience can relate to what Shakespeare makes Hamlet say.
For an actor, playing Hamlet, I would have Hamlet moving around the stage. The main reason for this is because in a theater there are no cameras to zoom in on facial expressions so, if Hamlet was not moving around on stage, (because of the nature of the theater, some people being closer to the stage, whilst others are father away), the people further away would quickly loose interest. All they would see, would be a person just stood there doing nothing. The best way of acting out the soliloquy would be to use hand motions, Hamlet could also move around making the best use of the stage. I don’t think the audience would loose interest because Hamlet is walking around, in fact they would probably be more interested as they could follow him through his actions. He should start in the middle of the stage, so the audience can tell immediately that Hamlet is the center of attention right from the beginning of the soliloquy. Hamlets voice should change considerably throughout the soliloquy. In some parts of the soliloquy, Hamlet talks continually, without full stops. At these times, his voice should become dramatically louder, and it could also speed up. This would show the audience he is getting angry, or upset. His voice should soften, and slow down when he feels as though the whole world is on his shoulders. As Hamlet is acting, he should try to convey his emotions through speech, facial expressions and body language.
Shakespeare has made an excellent character that a person reading the play or watching it as part of an audience, can really believe in Hamlet as being a real person. This is because of the two soliloquies I have studied make Hamlet look like a real person because he is alone and so the audience can feel more close to Hamlet. Also because it becomes more personal when Hamlet is not talking to anyone and it seems that he is talking to the audience. Also because he lets his emotions come out in such detail the audience can actually relate to what he is saying and so they feel they know what he is going through. Because of all these points I believe that Shakespeare has really captured the essence of creating a person in this case Hamlet and then managing to make the audience believe he is real not just a fictitious character.
