During a soliloquy the audience knows that a character is telling the complete truth. This first soliloquy by Hamlet has been devised by Shakespeare to introduce us to the thoughts and feelings of the main character. This allows us to gain an accurate impression of Hamlet very soon after first meeting him, an impression which explains his melancholy and gives possible reasons for it.

The first few lines of Hamlet’s speech instantly reveal his depressed and even suicidal mood, “self-slaughter”. He wishes for “this too too solid flesh” to melt; although the word solid reads “sullied” in another edition of the original play, introducing the idea of an unclean body. This begins a series of self-depreciating remarks throughout the soliloquy. Following this, Hamlet goes on to rant in his melancholy about how futile the world seems to him, “How weary, stale, flat and unprofitable.” The listing of words in this line deepens the atmosphere, showing how strongly Hamlet feels this to be so. These feelings bear relevance even in today’s world as depression still tends to make people feel exactly the same way. Hamlet then uses the metaphor of an “unweeded garden” for the world, further suggesting that everything he sees is to his distaste. Shakespeare has again linked to the theme of nature with a double meaning in what the garden produces, “things rank and gross in nature”.

With his outlook on the world fully established Hamlet grabs the audience’s attention by beginning to announce the cause of his melancholy, “That it should come to this -”. After this point the speech becomes more disorientated and fragmented, with Hamlet frequently switching topic and interrupting himself. This confusion reflects the inner turmoil Hamlet is feeling. First Hamlet presents us with the timing of his father’s death, “But two months dead, nay not so much, not two”. This provides us with more background knowledge before Hamlet goes on to praise his father. We learn that Hamlet admired his father, the king, a great deal “So excellent a king” which lends an explanation to the extent of his melancholy. After this he shows the audience once again his distaste for the new king – his uncle – by dehumanising him, “this”. Evidence for Hamlet’s intellectual background is clear through the words “Hyperion to a satyr”. He is also describing his father as a titan, Hyperion, exaggerating his greatness to god-like proportions. Equally, he is further denouncing his uncle by describing him as this grotesque half-man, half-goat creature. The satyr was also known for is sexual deviancy and promiscuity, which reinforces Hamlet’s qualms about his mother’s “o’er hasty marriage” to his uncle, seen as incest.

The memory of his mother and father’s relationship is almost too painful for him to bear, “Must I remember?” and yet he goes on to explain how perfect their coupling seemed. He further praises his father by admiring how he treated his wife, by not letting the “winds of heaven / Visit her face too roughly” a very protective and loving gesture. Hamlet also explains that his mother loved his father equally well, “she would hang on him”. This explains why he finds it so difficult to cope with the idea that she has re-married “within a month”. By including this at the end of his description Hamlet re-emphasises the short time span, showing that this is another major cause for his melancholy.

The behaviour of his mother has caused Hamlet to think ill of all women, proven by the personification, “frailty, thy name is woman.” The haste of the marriage after his father’s death continues to plague him, “A little month” and his anger and disappointment in his mother becomes even more apparent. At this point his soliloquy grows even more dislocated showing his growing irritation and rage at his mother. Hamlet believes that “a beast… would have mourned longer” than his mother, epitomising his disappointment.

Following this Hamlet again praises his father and puts down not only his uncle but also himself by describing his uncle as “no more like my father / Than I to Hercules”. Again the speed with which the marriage followed the funeral is mentioned, suggesting that this is the main cause for Hamlet’s anger. In a fury he denounces the “unrighteous tears” which had not dried for his mother’s eyes before she married his uncle. Hamlet’s disgust becomes ever more apparent through the frequent sibilance in the last lines of his soliloquy, “O most wicked speed, to post / With such dexterity to incestuous sheets.” Again the other reason for his depression is made clear in this line, with the explicit mention of incest and the emphatic beginning of these lines shows Hamlet’s intense emotion and how he is finding it impossible to come to terms with his mother’s behaviour.

One of the last lines of Hamlet’s soliloquy reinforces the foreboding which was created in the first scene of the play with the arrival of the ghost, “it cannot come to good”. This dramatic irony (for Hamlet does not yet know of the ghost’s arrival) is strengthened in Hamlet’s last line, “But break, my heart, for I must hold my tongue.” Hamlet wishes he could talk to someone or express his anger and distaste, although he can think of no way of doing so. We know that with the arrival of his father’s ghost, however, he will not be allowed to suffer in silence.

In conclusion, the first of Hamlet’s soliloquies in “Hamlet” divulges and enormous amount of information regarding not only the feelings and concerns of Hamlet, but also about the background and context of the setting. A time frame is presented which proves to be one of the major causes of Hamlet’s melancholy and the audience can begin to empathise with his injured feelings. Hamlet’s denunciation of his uncle also increases the audience’s suspicion of him, casting aspersions on his marriage and king-hood.

_{Mark achieved: 16/20}

_{Teacher’s comments: Good, this is a thorough and penetrating response. It starts a little hesitantly but you improve as you move through it.}