Analysis of Hamlet's Soliloquies

During the duration of Shakespeare’s play Hamlet, Hamlet questions his principles and it gets shown through his soliloquies. Some might argue that Hamlet's development throughout the play was for the worse or for the better. Shakespeare uses his previous writing experience to help create a beautifully complex character that has many problems. In Hamlet’s first, fourth, and seventh soliloquy his change in principle from rash to well-thought-out plans, illustrates his character development throughout the play.

In Hamlet’s first soliloquy, he wants to get revenge on Claudius. Claudius and Gertrude giving the announcement about their marriage, influenced the rage portion of grief in Hamlet's emotional state. After the recent death of his father and then his uncle becoming the new king, Hamlet is raging with fumes and is ready to strike. This leads him into a deep spiral of emotions that inspire the soliloquy and causes him to act rashly and impulsively saying that he wishes he could “commit self-slaughter” but cannot because it's forbidden by God (1.2.135). Hamlet shows his deep connection to his father, King Hamlet, by wanting to advocate for a longer grieving time. Reflecting on the fact that his father just died and his mother has already moved on lets Hamlet think that “a beast… would have mourn’d longer” than his mother and uncle did (1.2.154-155).  However, since no one around him seems to care that they aren’t grieving, he finds life to be pointless like an “unweeded garden” (1.2.139).  Hamlet ends his soliloquy with a broken heart and the thought of “I must hold my tongue” (1.2.164). 

Moving onto Hamlet's fourth soliloquy, which is probably the most popular one from the entire play, he is questioning his life still but is questioning what will happen if he chooses to change his life trajectory. Opening with the lines “to be or not to be” Hamlet is trying to figure out if ending his life will actually end his current suffering or if he should try and put up a fight against Claudius since he knows that he was the one who killed his father (3.1.64).  Saying that “to die, to sleep” is all that dying actually puts Hamlet in a state of mind that makes him question what the afterlife actually looks like (3.1.72).  No one really knows what the afterlife looks like, making Hamlet say the internal thought that “something after death, the undiscover'd” is something that we won’t be able to figure out (3.1.86).  Committing suicide isn’t actually a way to “sleep to say we end the heartbreak” it just appears to be a quick way to end all your problems (3.1. 69-70). By the end of the soliloquy Hamlet has made the decision that putting up a fight against Claudius is the best solution to his problems.

Moving into Hamlet’s seventh and final soliloquy, Hamlet on his way to England sees Fortinbras leading his army through Denmark. His last soliloquy is a comparison of himself and his “dull revenge” to Fortinbras’ powerful actions (4.4.34). He realizes pretty quickly that he has been “thinking too precisely on th’ event” on how to get revenge on Claudius (4.4.42). Hamlet reaches the conclusion that he with “will and strength” will “do’t” meaning kill Claudius and that it is his duty to do so (4.4.44-49). Deciding to do this exposes “what is moral” to him and that he confidently wants to accept whatever consequences his actions will cost him. However, with him only now deciding to take action, he starts to internally scold himself for waiting so long to take action and that the things that were stopping him from taking action in the first place were distracting thoughts. This is also the point in the play when Hamlet realizes that “twenty thousand men” are willing to die for worthless land and he as someone with an excellent motive to take revenge doesn’t have the confidence to take action (4.4.63). Hamlet ends his final soliloquy with the line “my thoughts be bloody or be nothing worth” meaning that if his thoughts are not violent then he will consider them worthless (4.4.66)

Hamlet, when first introduced is portrayed as a slow-to-act character and stays that way for a majority of the play, however, undergoes a transformation towards the end that changes how he is portrayed. By the end of the play, Hamlet has decided that he is no longer going to let outside sources distract him from the desire to kill Claudius. Shown in Hamlet’s first, fourth, and seventh soliloquy you as a reader can see the transformation that Hamlet goes through.