Analysis of Hamlet's First Soliloquy in Act 1, Scene 2
The first soliloquy in Shakespeare's "Hamlet" captures the protagonist's deep melancholy and internal turmoil following his father's death and his mother's hasty marriage to his uncle. Hamlet expresses suicidal thoughts, seeing life as futile and the world as a corrupted place. This soliloquy sets the stage for the complex themes of the play, highlighting Hamlet's internal conflicts and sense of betrayal.
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Hamlet: The Soliloquies The First Soliloquy: Act 1, Scene 2 O that this too solid flesh would melt, Thaw, and resolve itself into a dew! O that the Everlasting had not fix'd His canon 'gainst self-slaughter! O God! O God! How weary, stale, flat, and unprofitable Seem to me all the uses of this world! Fie on't! O fie! 'tis an unweeded garden, That grows to seed; things rank and gross in nature Possess it merely. That it should come to this! But two months dead! nay, not so much, not two: 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 too roughly. Heaven and earth! Must I remember? Why, she would hang on him As if increase of appetite had grown By what it fed on: and yet, within a month, Let me not think on't, Frailty, thy name is woman!
Hamlet: The Soliloquies The First Soliloquy: Act 1, Scene 2 A little month; or ere those shoes were old With which she followed my poor father's body Like Niobe, all tears; why she, even she, O God! a beast that wants discourse of reason, Would have mourn'd longer, married with mine uncle, My father's brother; but no more like my father Than I to Hercules: within a month; Ere yet the salt of most unrighteous tears Had left the flushing in her galled eyes, She married: O, most wicked speed, to post With such dexterity to incestuous sheets! It is not, nor it cannot come to good; But break my heart, for I must hold my tongue
Hamlet: The Soliloquies The First Soliloquy: Act 1, Scene 2 This soliloquy takes place when King Claudius and Queen Gertrude ask Hamlet in open court to stop the deep melancholy which, they both conclude, has captured his mind because of the death of his father. In their opinion, Hamlet has already sufficiently lamented his father. Earlier, Claudius and Gertrude have announced their upcoming marriage. According to them, the court could not handle meaningless grief. Hence, their announcement provokes Hamlet to make this soliloquy. At this moment in the play, Hamlet has not met his father s ghost yet. So he is unaware of his murder.
Hamlet: The Soliloquies The First Soliloquy: Act 1, Scene 2 At the beginning of soliloquy, Hamlet appears to be suicidal (desiring his body to melt, and wishing that God had not made self-slaughter a sin). He sees life as useless and refers to the whole world as an unweeded garden in which rank and gross things grow in abundance. Although saddened by his father s death, the larger cause of his misery is his mother's overhasty marriage to his uncle. She announces the new marriage when just a month has passed since his father's death.
Hamlet: The Soliloquies The First Soliloquy: Act 1, Scene 2 Hamlet sees that his father was an excellent king, compared with his uncle. It is like Hyperion, the sun god, compared to a lecherous satyr. He had been so loving to his mother that he wouldn t even allow the gentle breeze of heaven to blow too roughly on her face. His mother had loved him so much, as though the more she had of him the more she wanted him. And yet, within a month she married another man! Hamlet couldn t bear to think about it. Women were so inconsistent! Only a month, even before the shoes with which she had followed his father s body were old. He complains that even "a beast would have mourned longer. Furthermore, he considers this marriage to be an incestuous affair, since his mother is marrying her dead husband's brother. He concludes the soliloquy by voicing his frustration that he must keep his objections to himself.
Hamlet: The Soliloquies The First Soliloquy: Act 1, Scene 2 The soliloquy shows Hamlet s deep affection for his father. It also shows the dead king as a loving husband and a respected father and further serves to demonstrate to the audience the hasty nature of Gertrude's second marriage, which she announces without mourning for a respectable period of time. Hamlet scorns his mother, yet he accuses her of weakness rather than malice with the line: Frailty, thy name is woman!
The End Thank you! See you next time! Stay Safe!
