He also makes quite a few references to his mother and the quick re-marriage to his uncle. The line “But two months dead: nay, not so much, not two:” refers to the time after his father’s death that she re-married. This obviously annoys him because he wouldn’t have mentioned it otherwise. He also mentions her later on with the line “Like Niobe, all tears: why she, even she....” He is using a hyperbole because it is much exaggerated. He is that although she has married Claudius she still cries about him. He also makes a comment on women in general by saying “Frailty, thy name is woman!”. He is commenting not just on his mother but to Ophelia as well. He means that women are fickle (they are always changing their minds). His mother has gone from loving his father to loving Claudius. Ophelia changes her mind about her love for Hamlet.
In this soliloquy Shakespeare uses a lot of different types of words. He uses lots of metaphors, for example: “... tis an unweeded garden”; this is a metaphor the world in general. It also includes enjambment where the punctuation note is not at the end of the line. This soliloquy ends with a bit of irony because Hamlet says, “...for I must hold my tongue”. He is saying he is not going to talk about it but he just did for a whole soliloquy. The different types of words translate his state of mind to the audience. At the end of the soliloquy, Hamlet’s state of mind is very suicidal because he is mourning his father’s death.
2nd Soliloquy
Soliloquy 2 is the shortest of the 5 soliloquies and it is also very irrational. In this soliloquy, Hamlet has just seen the ghost that told him Claudius killed his father. Hamlet’s response to this is one of shock and confusion. He has finally been given someone to blame his grief on and he has a motivation for revenge. A metaphor is used to describe Hamlet’s state of mind, “... in this distracted globe...”. His state of mind goes from grief to anger because he knows who killed his father. The audience will feel a bit of empathy for Hamlet because he has found out his father was murdered. The rhetorical questions in this soliloquy enforce this empathy, “And shall I couple hell?”
In this soliloquy, he also talks about his mother Gertrude. He says, “O most pernicious women…” He is annoyed with her because he feels she has betrayed him by marrying Claudius a short time after his father’s death. The audience will feel even more empathy because they know that he has no one to turn to.
3rd Soliloquy
In the 3rd soliloquy, Hamlet is trying to deal with the knowledge of what the ghost has said to him. It is a turning point in his state of mind because he goes from shock and confusion to self-pity. The soliloquy does not contain as many metaphors as the other soliloquies. However, two rhetorical questions are asked that make the audience think about what he asking. He asks himself, “Am I a coward?” this makes the audience think about if he is a coward. There is also repetition and alliteration of the words, “… bloody, bawdy, villain! Remorseless, treacherous, kindless villain!” This enforces these words which is what he thinks of Claudius. The audience will feel pathos for Hamlet because he is annoyed at his Uncle.
The first line of the soliloquy is very powerful because it shows what he is thinking; “Now I am alone”. He is metaphorically alone because he is the only one that knows about his father’s murder. However, he is also literally alone because he has no one left to care for him; his father is dead and is mother as gone of with Claudius.
About half way through the soliloquy he changes his state of mind. He says the line, “O vengeance! Why what an ass I am!” He is saying that he is silly because he has not thought of doing anything about what the ghost said. He then refers to the ghost being a devil by saying, “Prompted to my revenge by heaven and hell”. The ghost told him to seek revenge and he may be a devil from hell. However, he might actually be his dad’s ghost and he has come from heaven. He then contradicts himself by saying, “… unpack my heart with word”. He is saying that he can’t do anything because he is not a soldier; the only thing he can do is talk about. This can be interpreted in two different was; is it an excuse? Or is it a sign of weakness?
The soliloquy ends with Hamlets epiphany or sudden idea. He says, “More relative than this: the plays the thing, Wherein I’ll catch the conscience of the king.” He is saying that he is going to create a play that re-enacts his father’s murder and see what Claudius reaction is. This keeps the audience hanging on the edge because they want to know the reaction as well. He has gone from reactive to proactive. The epiphany is enforced because Shakespeare uses a rhyming couplet which makes it stand out.
4th Soliloquy
The soliloquy starts with a rhetorical question which makes the audience think just as Shakespeare intended. The rest of the soliloquy then answers this question. The question Hamlet asks is, “To be, or not to be: that is the question:” He is basically asking himself if he wants to live or if he wants to kill himself which shows he is in a suicidal state of mind. However, the audience no longer feel sorry for him; they now feel that he is quite selfish. In the whole he has not thought about anyone else and he is about to reject Ophelia and make her go mad. He says, “The fair Ophelia! Nymph, in thy orisons Be all my sins remember’d.” Although he is going to reject Ophelia, he is doing it for her own good. He wants his actions to be remembered because he knows he is wrong and he wants to be punished.
Also in this soliloquy Hamlet state of mind is one of self obsession. Throughout the play he only talks about himself and not about anyone else. He keeps on talking about the consequences of death and that it is just a long sleep, “To die: to sleep; No more; and by a sleep to say we end…” The only time he speaks of something else is at the end when he chooses to reject Ophelia. Shakespeare includes this at the end of the soliloquy to show the length that Hamlet will go to, to avenge his father. He also includes it show the audience that Hamlet is not all bad and does think about over people. After this soliloquy, the audience have a slightly improved view of Hamlet after this speech.
5th Soliloquy
The fifth soliloquy contains a lot of procrastination, he says he is going to do something but he doesn’t. In the third soliloquy Hamlet says he is going to kill Claudius and he still hasn’t and he doesn’t kill Claudius. An example of his procrastination is, “Now I might do it pat, now he is praying; and now I’ll do’t. And so he goes to heaven; …I his sole son, do this same villain send to heaven…” Hamlet is saying that he can’t kill Claudius because he is praying. If he kills him know he will go to heaven, this is seen as cowardice by the audience. They will also see him as quite a self obsessed character will further there dislike.
Hamlets state of mind in this soliloquy is set on whether or not he is going to kill Claudius and achieve his intentions. Hamlet argues with himself, over whether or not to kill Claudius and revenge his father.
Shakespeare’s intention in this soliloquy is to show that Hamlet is not like his father so he cannot live up to his standards. After hearing this soliloquy the audience will think Hamlet is pathetic and cowardly because once again he said he was going to do something but didn’t do it; because of this they will show antipathy towards him.
Overview
Hamlet’s state of mind changes a lot throughout the play and this seen very clearly in the soliloquies. He starts with a very suicidal state of mind after his father’s death. He then finds out that his father was murdered so he becomes very angry. He ends up with a very revengeful state of mind as he plans to kill Claudius and revenge his father. This was Shakespeare’s intention – to build up Hamlet’s state of mind, as well as the audience’s reaction. The audience may feel a bit of empathy for Hamlet because he is quite a tragic character. However, other may see him as cowardly and self-obsessed which may annoy some audiences. The most tragic figure throughout the play is Ophelia as she is most affected by Hamlet and in the end goes mad.
Conclusion
From reading the soliloquies I have learnt a lot about Hamlet and his state of mind. I think that he is a very pathetic and cowardly character. In soliloquy 3 comes up with his plan to kill Claudius but the end he still hasn’t done it. He had plenty of opportunities to kill Claudius but he didn’t so I see him as a coward. He is also pathetic because he goes on about him committing suicide. If Hamlet had died, his father would not even consider committing suicide.