He reveals he true feels towards his mother, referring to her as a being lower than a beast, for even a beast ‘would have mourned longer’ for his dead father. This shows Hamlet to be two-faced because prior to this soliloquy he acts very respectfully toward his mother, referring to her a ‘good mother’ and agreeing to obey her wishes. Without this soliloquy we would continue to believe that Hamlet has no objections to his mothers behaviour and we would have very little knowledge of the misery that burdens him. He also uses this opportunity to express his feelings about his uncle by comparing him to ‘Satyr’. However his associates his father ‘Hyperion’, thus introducing a theme of sainthood that exemplifies his father and highlights the hatred he feels towards Claudius. Although Hamlet makes it clear he has strong negative feelings towards his uncle, it is not until we hear this soliloquy that we understand the reasons for this fully.
He ends his powerful first soliloquy by warning that his feelings of anger and hatred ‘cannot come to good’, but also by his voice of reason through which he decides to hold his tongue. This soliloquy is essential because it introduces us to Hamlet’s true self, it establishes his loneliness, lack of trust and isolation, as well as his true state of mind at the beginning of the play. This enables the audience to monitor Hamlet and recognise any changes in personality and mentality that take place.
Hamlet progresses to his second soliloquy after talking to the ghost of his father and becoming determined to seek his revenge on Claudius. Hamlet needs to test the conscience of Claudius to ensure the ghost’s accusations against him are true, and plans to do so by inserting some lines into a play that the King will view. This further extends the argument that Hamlet is a man of reason who gives much thought and consequence to his actions. Hamlet, through this soliloquy, demonstrates his fondness for the craft of acting. He has just heard a player deliver an emotional speech on Hecuba, which moves the player to tears. Hamlet is unable to understand how an actor can show emotions for Hecuba without having any connection to her.
He is deeply troubled because he has neglected his duty of seeking revenge, and the emotion of the play actors and the brutality of the scene, depicted in the speech, reawakens his anger and anguish. He recognises the actor’s ability to cry for Hecuba, but he himself cannot cry out and seek revenge for his own father’s murder. He calls himself a coward and criticises himself for using words instead of actions to express his rage over his father’s murder. Without this soliloquy it would be impossible to appreciate Hamlet’s delicate state of mind and all the torment he feels because of his father’s murder. Hamlet refers to himself as being ‘pigeon livered’, indicating that he views himself as a very weak man to not be able to pursue revenge. Hamlet therefore decides that ‘the play's the thing wherein [he’ll] catch the conscience of the king’. He plans to let the actors seek the first stages of revenge through their words and actions.
In his third soliloquy, Hamlet again seriously contemplates mortality. He decides, reluctantly, that ‘tis nobler in [his] mind to suffer’ than to give up on his life. Hamlet chooses to live, however, not for any nobler reason than his fear of ‘what dreams may come’ in the ‘sleep of death’. Hamlet's mind makes him speculate strongly on the benefits and disadvantages of murdering Claudius and indeed ending his own life. He decides that his ‘dread of something after death’ is far to great for him to be able to commit suicide.
This soliloquy is particularly useful in explaining why Hamlet still has not taken any action against Claudius. Hamlet is a man who thinks too much and as a consequence makes himself unable to act. It also introduces us further to the new rational toned and intellectual, that is Hamlet. Due to the fact that he is pretending to be mad, it is necessary to have such soliloquies to be informed of any developments in Hamlet’s actual state of mind.
Hamlet's soliloquies are imperative to his character. They allow us, as the audience, to delve into his mind and discover the reasoning behind his actions, or lack of them. They also show us that he is a man of much deliberation. Hamlet grows to understand himself through the play and his soliloquies allow him to voice his fears, aims and concerns with his life particularly concerning the death of his father. Without his soliloquies, the audience would know relatively little about Hamlet’s true state of mind because they are the only times in the play where he is truly honest with himself revealing an immense amount about his character.
