All actions have unavoidable and unforeseeable consequences, we as humans tend to hesitate and overthink to the point of inaction due to waisted time. In William Shakespeare’s play “Hamlet”, Hamlet goes through tragic events including the death of his father, the quick remarriage of his mother to his uncle, and Claudius becoming King. Throughout his seven soliloquies you can see a clear transformation from an indecisive and emotionally unstable man to a determined and confident hero. Shakespeare is able to show us this through formal diction that uses many metaphors, imagery and lots of rhetorical questions.
Hamlet’s first soliloquy is the one he was the most indecisive and where we can see the true Hamlet. He is still upset about the sudden death of his father and how the court had not mourned him for longer. He’s in a depression stage and it causes Gertrude, his mother, and Claudius to claim that he’s gone crazy. “How weary, stale, flat, and unprofitable/ Seem to me all the uses of this world!” (1.2.133-134). He feels like his life is worthless now that his father is dead and feels betrayed by his mother and the court. He wants revenge for his father but doesn’t know what to do because he’s afraid if he says something he could expose his mother and be in danger. But he’s mostly angry at his mother “O God! A beast that wants discourse of reason,/ Would have mourn’d longer”(1.2.150-151). He’s comparing his mother to a beast but saying the beast would have mourned for longer.
The second soliloquy happens after his encounter with the ghost and it makes him question the integrity of it. Throughout the soliloquy he wonders if the message came from heaven or hell because the information brought light into his father’s murderer is. “O villain, villain, smiling, damned villain!”(1.5.106) Claudius is the villain he’s referring to because the ghost opened his eyes to who killed his father and he’s smiling because Claudius finally gets what he wants, to be King.
Hamlet uses these cruel words to get across the point of how mad he is and questions why his mother would want to be involved in something like this. “O most pernicious woman!”(1.5.105), he says, because she’s hurting him and she doesn’t even know it!! He still feels betrayed by her relationship with Claudius and how quick she was to move on to his Uncle of all people.
Before the third soliloquy some players put on an impromptu play and it makes Hamlet upset about how he hasn’t done anything to avenge his dad’s death. “Am I a coward?/Who calls me villain? breaks my pate across?”(2.2.521-522) He believes he is a coward because he’s too afraid to open his mouth and expose his family; plus he’s upset he can’t explain his feelings like the player did so he comes up with a plan to expose his uncle. “I’ll have these players/ Play something like the murder of my father/ Before mine uncle: I’ll observe his looks;”(2.2.546-548) He called it the mousetrap play and the player’s were going to reenact the death of the king and if Claudius reacts to it Hamlet will know he is guilty. It’s a good idea because only Hamlet will know the truth and it puts the validity of the ghost to the test.
The fourth soliloquy is where you can notice a major shift change, in the ones before he wasn’t doing anything and was just really indecisive about how to deal with the whole Claudius situation but now he’s debating between life and death. “‘tis nobler in the mind to suffer/ The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,/Or to take arms against a sea of troubles”(3.1.57-59) Here Hamlet is comparing a life full of suffering without speaking vs the danger of confronting the troubles in his family. He rather end the suffering and die which is like a forever dream but, he’s scared of what could come after death. Ultimately, he takes in the pros and cons of both life and death and decides he’s more scared of what comes after death. He says, “But the dread of something after death,”(3.1.78) He constantly questions what happens after death and what if it’s not like a forever dream like everyone says.
The fifth soliloquy is about how Hamlet wants his mother to feel.“Let me be cruel,not unnatural;/ I will speak daggers to her, but use none;”(3.2.403-404) He decides to confront her and he actually says some cruel words but he doesn’t hurt her because that’s not what the ghost wanted. He’s finally decided to do something and this is another major change from the other soliloquies. Even though he’s finally doing something, he still feels as if he’s a hypocrite. “My tounge and soul in this be hypocrites”(3.2.405) I think he feels this way because he still questions what the ghost says and is too afraid to start making some big moves because what is it was wrong.
The sixth soliloquy takes place when Claudius is alone, praying and confesses to killing the king. He’s so angry now that he finally knows the truth, he thinks of killing him but, he’s afraid to do it while he’s praying because then he’ll go to heaven. “A villain kills my father; and for that,/I, his sole son,do this same villain send to heaven”(3.3.76-77) Hamlet’s mood then changes into anger because he cannot kill him right then. He believes that Claudius does not deserve to live for even a second longer and finally makes a decision. “My mother stays,/ This physic but prolongs thy sickly days”(3.3.95-96)
In Hamlet’s final soliloquy, he addresses all the roadblocks he’s faced and that from now on he will act on them. “That have a father killed, a mother stained,/ Excitements of my reason and my blood,/ And let all sleep?” (4.4.57-59) His father’s honour is at stake if he does not act and if he sits there and does nothing he will forever regret it. He realizes how cowardly he is being and tells himself that God didn’t just give him a brain to not use so towards the end of the soliloquy he says,”O, from this time forth/ My thoughts be bloody, or be nothing worth!”(4.4.65-66). He’s made a decision to kill Claudius finally and that from now on his thoughts will be followed by actions or else they mean nothing.
Throughout Hamlet’s seven soliloquies he went through a journey, he had to overcome the death of his father and the betrayal of his mother. In the end he was able to avenge his father’s death because he made a decision. It’s important for us as humans to not overthink and hesitate because we will face consequences if we do not make it immediately and Hamlet had to learn that the hard way. The use of his formal diction and many rhetorical questions help us further understand his indecisiveness which eventually turns into a decision.
