How Does Shakespeare Use Hamlet’s Soliloquies Essay, Research Paper

A Soliloquy is a dramatic convention, in which the character stands alone on stage, speaking. Originally it was a plot device, to enable a character to tell the audience what he planned to do next, for example, in the course of revenge. But the device is heightened in Shakespeare as it enables a character to reveal the inner soul to the audience without telling the other characters. It is usual that one discovers more of a character from a soliloquy than from the action of the play alone. Shakespeare uses the soliloquies in Hamlet to great effect; with Hamlet s state of mind, his indecision and his use of imagery.

Hamlet s state of mind in his first soliloquy is deeply nihilistic; Shakespeare presents the world as an unneeded garden , rank in nature . In the first soliloquy and the third, Hamlet is particularly nihilistic. In the first he says;

Oh that this too too solid flesh would melt,

Thaw and resolve into a dew!

He clearly has suicidal tendencies, which crop up again in the third soliloquy;

When he himself his quietus make

With a bare bodkin

Clearly, Hamlet is unhappy, but it may be because he has too little to do (He is briefly happy when things take his mind off his problems – e.g. when the players arrive – but even this, on reflection, leads to more soul searching in a soliloquy). Other aspects of Hamlet s character for the most part get swallowed up by this consuming depression, but certainly he is oppressed by the hypocrisy of his uncle.

O villain, villain, smiling damned villain!

and

That one may smile, and smile, and be a villain

are two fine examples, which do not bring out anger in him. It is not clear as regards Hamlet s state of mind prior to the play, but the hasty marriage between Gertrude and Claudius, so soon after old King Hamlet s death could be seen as a primary cause for his depression ( That it should come to this! But two months dead! Nay, not so much, not two ). Perhaps their union has undermined Hamlet s faith in people to such an extent that everyone and everything is tainted, thus he feels life is worthless;

How weary, stale, flat and unprofitable

Seem to me all the uses of the world

Shakespeare uses the soliloquies fully in their capacity to blast open Hamlet s soul. His disappointment in his mother, his suicidal tendencies and his oppression are all portrayed far more deeply that they would have been otherwise.

Shakespeare also uses the soliloquies to expose Hamlet s indecision. The first soliloquy finds him posing the tricky question of whether to commit suicide or not. He longs for death, but finds God has

fixed his Canon gainst self-slaughter

It is evident that he is indecisive from this, but with good reason – if he kills himself he will go to Hell. But it is in Hamlet s most famous soliloquy that his indecision comes to the fore. By asking himself

To be or not to be – that is the question

He wonders whether to kill Claudius – if he does, he could be put to death, the equivalent of suicide. Suicide is evidently one source of Hamlet s indecisiveness, but there is a far greater source which provides a much bigger clue to his indecisiveness. It stems from his conversation with the ghost of his father, which said;

Let not the royal bed of Denmark bee

A couch of luxury and damned incest

But however thou persuest this act

Taint not thy mind, nor let thy soul contrive

Against thy mother aught

His first and last request are incompatible – to kill Claudius and not upset Gertrude would be impossible. Thus Hamlet has an excuse for his indecision. However, Hamlet never uses the excuse in his soliloquies, never saying I cannot kill Claudius – it would upset mother . The main reason he doesn t kill Claudius can be found in the sixth soliloquy;

…Bestial oblivion, or some craven scruple

Of thinking too precisely on th event

A though which, quartered, hath one part wisdom

And three parts coward – I do not know

Why yet I live to say This thing s to do ,

Sith I have cause, and will, and strength, and means

To do t. Examples, gross as earth, exhort me.

Hamlet admits he is not a man of action, but an intellectual. People generally can only act violently if they don t think for too long first. Hamlet has had too much time to think about it and consider the consequences.

Shakespeare uses Hamlet s indecision, a product of the deep self-analysis of which glimpses are caught in the soliloquies. This self-analysis is used by Shakespeare to allow the audience to see more deeply into the terrible dilemmas he faces – firstly, concerning suicide, then murder – and what to do. Shakespeare has certainly heightened the soliloquy in this aspect.

However, the most impressive feature of the soliloquies in Hamlet is the use of imagery. For the most part, it centres on images of death, but classical references are also used.

Oh that this too too solid would melt,

Thaw and resolve itself into a dew

Is a deathly, but beautiful image, and a fine example of Shakespeare s use of imagery in connection with deathly images – Hamlet wants to die through his body melting away into the air. There are many variations throughout the soliloquies on this theme of using euphemism for death;

to die – to sleep

is from the third soliloquy. This use of epic euphemism also creates an impression of infinite weariness. Shakespeare uses these dark images to create the nihilistic underflow evident in so many of the soliloquies, and the gloomy feelings which on the whole affect them.

The use of classical imagery is used not to create atmosphere, but rather to amplify it. The use of mythology, for example;

that was to this Hyperion a satyr

Hamlet s father is compared to the father of the sun , whilst Claudius is, somewhat appropriately, compared to a satyr, a half man, half goat which symbolised lust without conscience. Such epic comparison seems unrealistic, as it probably is, but it does amplify the point Hamlet tries to make.

My father s brother, but no more like my father

Than I to Hercules

is clear – Claudius and old King Hamlet were very different, as different as Hamlet to Hercules, the Greek hero who later became a God. Unrealistic, yet once again, it brings home the point.

This juxtaposition of euphemism, using the softer images in place of death, and amplification, using unrealistic mythological representations, by Shakespeare is a very effective tool, and he uses it to help the audience to feel the bulk and power of the feelings – the two play off each other to increase their power.

Shakespeare uses the soliloquy to its full power, using a wide range of techniques and images. We, the audience see far more of his inner soul than perhaps is comfortable, and by doing so, ironically we are just as confused as Hamlet is, regarding the cause of his life should take as well as the inner workings of his soul.