Hamlet’s First Soliloquy

junctures monologue in Act I Scene 2 is the first time that the reader fully conceives critical points character, his inner thoughts and opinions. The general tone of this soliloquy is very personal and emotional revealing settlements despair over the current spotlight and his depressing state of mind. It sets the stage for the rest of the story, being hamlets hatred of Claudius and resentment of his mother. Previous to this soliloquy we learn that King Hamlets brother, Claudius, has become the new powerfulness of Denmark by entering into an incestuous marriage with Queen Gertrude, the late kings wife.Claudius has made a grandiose, eloquent wrangle presenting him and his wife to the court, manipulating and distracting his audience from the abnormality of the situation. Hamlet, naturally still mourning his fathers death, is shocked by how quickly everyone has forgotten and refuses to play along with Claudius show. Hamlet interrupts the speech with snide, witty comments excha ngeable, a little more than kin and less than kind, addressing the unnatural relationship that him and Claudius now have. The King and Queen turn to Hamlet and win him to get over fathers death and to stay in Denmark under the pretense of loving him.When Hamlet again interrupts with spiteful words against both(prenominal) his mother and Claudius, Claudius publicly humiliates Hamlet by making a speech, highlighting the reasons why Hamlet can non be king. Instead of refuting Claudius, Hamlet becomes compliant to his mothers wishes and agrees to stay in Denmark. Shakespeare utilizes situational irony at this point in the story where once Hamlet is left alone we expect him to explode into anger, but instead he falls into a passive state of self-pitying. O, that this too, too sullied flesh would melt, thaw, and resolve itself into a dew. In this line Hamlet expresses his desire to commit self-annihilation which alerts the reader to his depressive state. The way in which he describes the act as melting also alerts us to his sedentary disposition, in that point the taking of ones own life is inactive. In the next line Hamlet informs us that he cannot commit suicide because of his religious views. Or that the Everlasting had not intractable his canon gainst self-slaughter Hamlets inability to commit a sin shows us that he has a high moral standing and an air of innocence.In this soliloquy Hamlet is deeply conflicted and unable to resolve to commit himself to a course of action as is seen through his cyclical thought process. Hamlet employs many allusions within this soliloquy to make a comparison between Hamlet Sr. and Claudius. Hamlet uses mythological characters to compare his father to Claudius saying that So excellent a king that was to this Hyperion to a satyr so loving to my mother that he might not beteem the winds of heaven visit her face to roughly. Hamlet believes that comparing his father to Claudius is like comparing Hyperion, the Titan God of Light to a half-man, half goat. Through this analogy we realize that Hamlet has a very idealized view of not only his father but also Hamlet Sr. and Gertrudes marriage. This builds in him a resentment of Gertrude for so easily moving on and an even greater hatred of Claudius for corrupting his mother. Hamlet then goes on to contrast his father and Claudius by comparing himself to Hercules, unintentionally associating himself with Claudius. My fathers brother, but no more like my father than I to Hercules. This line further shows the deterioration of Hamlets self-image. Hamlets first soliloquy helps the reader to understand the source of Hamlets action throughout the rest of the play. It introduces his self-destructive ways and tendency to refrain from acting. It also introduces a later recurrence of Hamlets deep disturbance of his mother and Claudius relationship.