His anger with his mother is apparent and the point of how quick Gertrude re-married is emphasized many times. In fact, this is especially well communicated to the audience as, throughout the soliloquy, the passage of time that Hamlet describes gets less from "two months" to "Within a month"
Hamlet creates greats contrasts between his father and his uncle/step-father: “Hyperion to a Satyr”. This example of extreme contrast increases the importance of Hamlet's father and yet also makes a mockery of Claudius' character; one, which, to this point, the audience could have seen as strong, and domineering. He similarly, later compares himself unfavourably to Hercules:
“No more like my father/Than I to Hercules”(1.2.152-153). The way Hamlet views himself as weak and unmotivated is also a foretelling of Hamlets behaviour when seeking revenge.
Hamlet's pessimistic outlook is immediately apparent. He finds the physical world unbearable, from the "too sullied flesh" (1.2.129) to the "weary, stale, flat, and unprofitable" (1.2.133) world around him. Hamlet, wanting to "resolve…into dew" (1.2.130), seems ready to throw off the responsibilities that he must deal with, and return to a time of innocence.
The imagery of gardens, used often in Shakespeare's plays, re-emerges here. Hamlet says:
"'Tis an un-weeded garden / That grows to seed; things rank and gross in nature / Possess it merely" (1.2.135-137).
The garden is traditionally associated with Eden, and the imagery here is that of Eden falling apart. Indeed, his father's ghost makes this same connection, saying, “He was stung by a serpent while in his garden” (1.5). Thus Denmark under Old Hamlet can be viewed as Eden, whereas now the serpent, in the form of Claudius, has taken over. This image serves to highlight Hamlet's impressions of the society that the audience are only just forming theirs upon; therefore, leading to a bias towards the character of Hamlet.
Shakespeare also uses this soliloquy to maintain interest in the character of Hamlet: "But break, my heart, for I must hold my tongue" It is clear to the audience that Hamlet is holding back certain feelings and thoughts - we are left to wonder what these could be, hence creating suspense.
The first soliloquy is successful in communicating the emotional state of Hamlet to the audience because it reveals enough of Hamlet's feelings; not only through the diction but also through the imagery, language and underlying messages of the text. In a disjointed outpouring of disgust, anger, sorrow, and grief, Hamlet explains that, without exception, everything in his world is either useless or disgraceful.
********
In addition to revealing Hamlet's plot to catch the king in his guilt, Hamlet's second soliloquy (Act 2, Scene 2) uncovers the very essence of Hamlet's true conflict. For he is undeniably committed to seeking revenge for his father, yet he cannot act on behalf of his father due to his revulsion toward extracting that cold and calculating revenge.
The key theme to the second soliloquy is of Hamlet procrastinating and failing to take revenge for his father's death. He is upset because he is unable to show the passion in real life that the player can show on stage.
“This player here ...Could force his soul so to his own conceit…Tears in his eyes, distractions in’s aspect”
He can't believe that an actor can show anger and even cry for a fictitious event when he can't, despite all his reasons to show these emotions.
Determined to convince himself to carry out the premeditated murder of his uncle, Hamlet works himself into a frenzy:
“Bloody, bawdy villain! /Remorseless, treacherous, lecherous, kindles villain! /Oh Vengeance! (2.2.531-532)”
He hopes that his passions will halt his better judgement and he will then be able to charge forth and kill Claudius without hesitation.
Hamlet becomes extremely insulting towards Claudius: “O villain, villain smiling damned villain”(1.5.106). He is damning Claudius, which in Elizabethan times was believed to send you to hell, which was not just greatly believed in, but also enormously feared. The repetition of the word ‘Villain’ accentuates the impact of such an insult and also reflects how strong his feelings are towards Claudius.
He pays reference to Hecuba, the heroine of classic mythology, who displayed much profound grief at the death of her husband.
“A broken voice, and his whole function suiting / with forms to his conceit? And all for nothing! / For Hecuba! / What's Hecuba to him, or he to Hecuba”(2.2.508-511)
The contrast between Gertrude and Hecuba are similar to his own used against Hercules. Hamlet believes Hecuba has responded appropriately to her husband's death, while Gertrude has not. To the audience, Hamlet appears pre-occupied with his mother and Claudius’ relationship, in particular the sexual side. Some critics have explained this with reference to the Freudian concept of the Oedipus complex- he actually envies Claudius because Hamlet himself is deeply attracted to his mother.
He returns to an idea that had crossed his mind earlier -- that of staging the play "the Mousetrap".
“I’ll have these players/ Play something like the murder of my father/ before mine uncle. / I’ll observe his looks.”
Hamlet is convinced that, as Claudius watches a re-enactment of his crime, he will surely reveal his own guilt. Hamlet has always seen the ghost as untrustworthy, so is now taking the opportunity to procrastinate further on the idea that the ghost may simply be the devil. Thus, he must have more material proof before he takes Claudius's life -- he must "catch the conscience of the king (2.2.558)".
Hamlet is clearly very depressed in this soliloquy, which is not only made clear through his discussion of suicide, but also the tone and language techniques Shakespeare has used:
“Yet I, / A dull and muddy-mettled rascal, peak (2.2.518-519)”
The use of so many adjectives following each other, coupled with the use of alliteration make for a deeply miserable speech. The continuous use of exclamations also reinforces the dramatic and depressed mood he is in.
The second soliloquy greatly reflects the character of Hamlet: It reveals his vital flaw- his procrastination. Hamlet again fails to quell his apprehensions of committing murder and cannot act immediately. His deep self-procrastination discloses to the audience the weaker side of Hamlet, and helps us to understand his attitudes and behaviour in later scenes. Hamlet has sunk into the depths of melancholy.
******
Unlike Hamlet's first two major soliloquies, the third and most famous speech seems to be governed by reason and not frenzied emotion. Unable to do little but wait for completion of his plan to "catch the conscience of the king"; Hamlet begins an internal philosophical debate on death and the right to take your own life.
Hamlet asks the question for all dejected souls - is it nobler to live miserably or to end one's sorrows with a single stroke? He knows that the answer would be undoubtedly "yes" if death were like a dreamless sleep.
“But the dread of something after death, / the undiscovered country from whose born/ no traveller returns.” (3.1.77-79)
Hamlet faces the fear of what happens after death. Since Hamlet has already encountered his father's ghost, and thus proof of the afterlife, this line has raised much debate. Some theories debate that the line is a mistake, or that the entire soliloquy is in the wrong place, and should be before Hamlet has met the ghost. Others argue he is referring only to human beings returning in the flesh and not as mere shadows of their previous selves.
The major question 'To be or not to be' is believed by some to be a question of whether Hamlet should take his own life. The argument put against this view is that Hamlet never specifically uses ‘I’, he is actually pondering the worth of human existence as a whole. Both alternatives would have been shocking to the deeply religious Elizabethan audience.
Hamlets mood is much calmer, again he is procrastinating by waiting for the play to expose Claudius’ guilt- Hamlet is the thinker, not the doer. It is perhaps the most disturbing form of melancholy Hamlet has displayed because he remains calm, and collected throughout. His thoughts on suicide are not over-dramatised as in previous soliloquies. The soliloquy as a whole then is an exercise in bitter irony.
