In Hamlet’s second soliloquy the tones of worthlessness and inadequacy are common and emphasize the dissatisfaction he feels with his actions, or lack of action. After seeing the players Hamlet compares himself to an actor and considers himself a ‘dull and muddy-mettled rascal’. The first use of language in the second soliloquy is a list of emotive language which shows us that Hamlet feels he is a ‘rogue and peasant slave’. The use of these words are very important. By saying ‘rogue’ it suggests he is dishonest. This would be due to knowing the truth of his fathers murder but not being able to tell. The word ‘peasant’ suggests he is poor and low class, that perhaps he is poor of love and he has no power. ‘Slave’ suggests that he feels by virtue of his birth he is chained to Denmark. This all implies that Hamlet has a very low self esteem as this point in the play. Hamlet’s confusion is shown by the use of many long sentences in the soliloquy. These imply that he is very emotional and he is losing control. While to Hamlet Claudius is a villain, so too is he for not taking any action. He is a pitiful, weak, miserable fool who lacks the ‘gall’ to step up to his commitment. When Hamlet thinks about Claudius he loses control and he feels he is a ‘remorseless, treacherous, lecherous, kindless villain’. The use of such emotive language in this list shows us Hamlet has strong emotions towards Claudius. ‘O, Vengeance’ we finally see Hamlet realises revenge must be taken. The use of blank verse gives a silence or dramatic pause which makes this line even more effective in showing Hamlet’s frustration. We see Hamlet has integrity by the use of the word ‘whore’. This is because we know Hamlet is not a ‘whore’ in the slightest so it must be a metaphor. This could be saying that Hamlet feels he is selling his eternal soul if he kills Claudius because then he will also be in the wrong. This shows a lot of integrity within himself as he is keeping by his moral principle that it is not right to kill another human being. By the end of the soliloquy Hamlet makes the decision to ‘catch the conscience of the king’ by using the play to get a reaction out of Claudius. This finally shows some reason as he has a plan.
The third soliloquy seems to be one more focussed upon the theme of life and death. This portrays Hamlet as a very confused man. One of the most famous lines ‘To be, or not to be’ is how Hamlet begins this soliloquy. For Hamlet at that moment, it is an important question, literally one of ‘life and death’. This question is always at the heart of the play and Hamlet brings up the matter a lot during the course of the play. We see his confusion within this question as he does not know what to do. We finally see that Hamlet has developed his character and is seeing the ‘bigger picture’ in life. The use of repetition within this soliloquy shows us one of the main things Hamlet thinks about. ‘To die: to sleep;’ is also a metaphor that shows Hamlet feels death is like sleeping, it is peaceful. By using repetition we feel that he is persuading himself that it is the truth. Hamlet contemplates whether he should endure the pains of life ‘and by a sleep to say we end the heart-ache and the thousand natural shocks’. If he chooses death all his pain and ‘heart-ache’ would end. He would not have to worry about Claudius, Gertrude or any other stressful aspects of life. A cycle of despair or a ‘mortal coil’ is what Hamlet seems to be going through. This shows a downwards spiral in his life which leads to confusion within his mind. ‘But that the dread of something after death’ is shown over halfway through this soliloquy and it seems Hamlet hits a turning point. Instead of talking about the advantages of death we see his reasoning for why he should live. Shakespeare’s use of ‘dread’ in this line is an effective use of emotive language to show us this is an important line in the soliloquy. Hamlet feels we are all ‘cowards’ but I think he displays his emotions calling us all cowards because that is how he feels about himself. He is a coward because he has not killed Claudius. However he knows his ‘conscience’ is the why he is not being able to do it. As a human he knows that he has the ability to reason.
Hamlet begins the final soliloquy with the line ‘How all occasions do inform against me’. This line suggests Hamlet feels everything goes wrong for him and it is almost as if the world is against him. ‘What is a man, if his chief good and market of his time be but to sleep and feed?’ Hamlet could be asking himself who is he? The soliloquy focuses on what man is supposed to be. This shows Hamlet is reasoning with himself even though he is confused he is thinking thoughts with more substance. It is also a recurring theme of rhetorical questions. Should Hamlet kill Claudius? ‘I do not know’ this shows Hamlet’s fear and his integrity as he does not believe in murder. Shakespeare presents a list to show Hamlet has ‘cause, and will, and strength, and means’ to take revenge. He has ‘cause’ as Claudius killed his father, ‘will’ to revenge, ‘strength’ is the courage and ‘means’ is the dagger he would use to kill him. Hamlet feels worthless and empty during this soliloquy and we know this due to the metaphor ‘even for an eggshell’ which is relating to Fortinbras’ quest to Denmark. The word ‘eggshell’ suggests the emptiness in his life. Hamlet carries on to talk about the reasons he should be taking revenge and realises that it is what he must do or ‘[his] thoughts be bloody, or be nothing worth!’. Hamlet accuses himself of forgetting his father in that ‘bestial oblivion’ yet, he thinks his problem could be ‘thinking too precisely on the event’. Hamlets reasoning that questions the ‘honour‘ in murder, which has been dominant throughout the play, this time cannot provide a rebuttal. By the end of this soliloquy we see Hamlet has developed and is now more confident. There is only a waver of weakness that we can see and is the last two lines being a sight rhyme. In this soliloquy Hamlet has driven himself to the conclusion with intense and distorted thoughts. However Hamlet’s development leading up to the last soliloquy leads the audience to be less surprised by the conclusion Hamlet is finally led to. Hamlet finally accepts that it is his necessary duty to kill Claudius.
It is clear that Hamlet’s life contains many minor problems which make up the big problem. From the dilemma of wrong feelings and right actions Hamlet ultimately emerges solving the problem realising he is ‘Hamlet the Dane’ and that death is part of life.
