The terms in which the prince thinks of his father are revealing. To Hamlet, he was not just an “excellent” king, but superhuman too, at the opposite end of the spectrum to Claudius: “Hyperion to a satyr”. Whilst his father is symbolised by the god like Hyperion, Claudius is compared to a half man half beast creature. Besides the demoralising effect of the metaphor, perhaps Shakespeare is also using it to allude to the idea of Claudius’ two-faced nature. In public, Claudius makes elaborate displays of his ‘good and caring nature’, pretending to be genuinely concerned for Hamlet’s wellbeing “with…nobility of love…toward you… our son.” But the metaphor anticipates what the audience soon learns: that when alone, Claudius acts more like a beast who “in the porches of my ears did pour the leprous distilment”. This foreshadows the revelation of Claudius’ double nature in the next couple of scenes, however, as the audience, we are doubtless expected to feel that Hamlet is exaggerating Claudius’ incompetence, as Hamlet’s insistence on Claudius’ unworthiness for the kingship is not corroborated by what Claudius does before the eyes of the audience in the first half of the scene. Thus building up the impression of Hamlet’s unstable, irrational and pained state of mind.
The picture Hamlet paints of his father’s love for his mother is also on an epic scale, Hamlet tell us that his father was so loving to her “that he might not beteem the winds of heaven/ visit her face to roughly”
Hamlet is so hurt and bewildered by his father’s death that he exaggerates the saintliness of his father, as we learn later from Old King Hamlet himself, he was no saint. In fact he is now burning in “sulphurous and tormenting flames” – in purgatory for all his sins.
Hamlet is also so twisted by his contempt for his mother’s marriage that he regards her as even worse than a beast, he agonises that “a beast… would have mourned longer”, thus bringing her down the chain of being, even lower than the beast. Hamlet is so bewildered and disgusted at his mother’s hasty marriage “within a month…wicked speed” and sexual depravity, that in his irrational state of mind he even accuses her tears of being “unrighteous” upon her husband’s death, as he cannot understand how she could be truly mourning and missing his father if she had the strength to remarry her husbands own brother within “not two” months. As Hamlet aptly puts it “the funeral baked meats did coldly furnish forth the marriage tables”- so fast was her recovery from his death. Clearly this has also greatly added to Hamlet’s despair, pain and confusion during his soliloquy.
Hamlet’s soliloquy contrasts dramatically with Claudius’ flowing lines. The verse starts and stops, punctuated by expression and confusion. The disjointed rhythm and dislocated progress of Hamlet’s thoughts convey to us his inner turmoil. “But two months dead, nay, not so much, not two!” As with many of Hamlet’s speeches in the play, he thinks as he goes along, whereas Claudius’ speeches are well thought out and structured, Hamlet repeats words–“too too sullied flesh… O God God” as, unlike Claudius, he is unsure of to where his speech is leading. Shakespeare makes use of these devices in order to convey to us Hamlet’s anguish and uncertainty of the situation.
Shakespeare adds to the spontaneity and jerkiness of the soliloquy through Hamlet’s pitiful, despairing cries “O god, God…O…Must I remember?” and through dashes and commas he creates a disjointed, jerky rhythm reflecting hamlets unstable state of mind and intense despair.
Shakespeare uses imagery to make the soliloquy very much more vibrant and communicate far more clearly to the audience Hamlet’s state of mind. The imagery is all very gruesome and grotesque, the audience is made to envision “sullied flesh…melt[ing]… into a dew…things rank and gross in nature” And an image of weaponry “canon” is used as a metaphor for G-d’s laws prohibiting suicide.
The image of “an unweeded garden” adds to the sense of perversion, and abnormality that is the cause of Hamlet’s despair. Whilst the image of his mother’s previously “galled eyes” presents the audience with an image of a distraught and mourning wife bereaved of her husband. This is effective in bringing the audience to an understanding of Hamlet’s confusion, and moral indignation as we then learn how she, in a “beast”-like manner, turned from this distraught mourning, following “my father’s body… all tears” to marrying her belated husband’s brother with “most wicked speed… but two months dead… to post with such dexterity to incestuous sheets” Through this vibrant and poignant imagery, the audience may begin to understand Hamlet’s unstable, confused and extremely pained state of mind, during act I scene II.
Therefore, in conclusion, Hamlet’s state of mind as expressed in his first soliloquy is clearly unstable, irrational and understandably greatly pained at the loss of his father. It is also clear that he is not only so distraught due to his father’s death but also due to his mother’s incestuous remarriage. Hamlet’s state of mind is portrayed to the audience using punctuation and language, to interrupt the flow of the verse. And by using gruesome, and often pessimistic and cynical imagery such as the “unweeded garden” and “sullied flesh”, Shakespeare communicates Hamlet’s emotional instability and extremely strong moral indignation to his mother’s marriage, comparing her to a “beast”.
