Hamlet - What do the soliloquies reveal about Hamlet and his state of mind?

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Ollie Payne        11B        Hamlet                        

Hamlet

“What do the soliloquies reveal about Hamlet and his state of mind?”

Introduction

Hamlet is William Shakespeare’s longest tragedy and one of his most famous plays. It was written in 1601. It tells the story of the prince of Denmark whose father has died and his uncle, Claudius, has taken the throne and married Hamlet’s mother, Gertrude. Throughout the play, Hamlet displays his emotions and inner feelings in soliloquies, and also uses these poetic speeches to depict how his plan to avenge his father’s death advances.

Hamlet is a student and is very academically minded. His father however was a soldier so a lot of Hamlet’s grief is because he could never live up to his father’s standards.  

The soliloquies are used to display Hamlet’s state of mind which is changing throughout the play. Hamlet is sometimes portrayed as an unlikeable person but most of the time he is seen as the hero. The soliloquies include Iambic Pentameter and enjambment which make the rhythm, rhyme and the overall flow of the soliloquy

1st Soliloquy

The 1st soliloquy, said by Hamlet, takes place just after his father’s funeral when Claudius says “get over it” to Hamlet. Hamlet is obviously feeling a lot of grief because of the death if his father and the quick re-marriage of his mother. He shows this by wishing suicide was not against God’s will. This is supported by the quote, “ Or that the Everlasting had not fix’d His cannon ‘gainst self-slaughter!” He is saying that he wants to commit suicide rather than face his father’s death. Shakespeare’s intention’s for the first soliloquy is to introduce Hamlet as a character. He also wants to set the tone of the play as a whole. The audience would think that he is pathetic and over the top because if he had died his father would not react like that.

Throughout the soliloquy Hamlet compares his father to his uncle Claudius. He speaks very highly of his father calling him an excellent king and a Hyperion, “So excellent a king; that was, to this, Hyperion to a satyr...” We can see that he respects and cares for his father a lot se we understand why he is feeling so much grief.“My father’s brother, but no more like my father Than I to Hercules” This is a big comparison because Hercules is a very strong character and he is talking about his dad. Shakespeare uses classical references in this soliloquy because the audience know who Hercules is and they know he is a strong character. The audience can see this because it creates imagery in their minds.

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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 ...

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