Hamlet’s soliloquies
Represent Hamlet’s innermost thoughts and feelings
Advance the action
Show Hamlet trying to understand himself and find a way to respond to his situation
1. Act 1 Scene 2
❖ Hamlet suicidally depressed at his father’s death and mother’s remarriage
❖ Disillusioned with life, love and marriage
❖ Ideas of corruption and decay
❖ In this soliloquy, we have the first indication of Hamlet's inner feelings. He
pours out his emotions and disgust at his mother's marriage. He perceives
his uncle as a beast, in no way comparable to his father who, in his opinion,
was a demi-god.
❖ His speech - full of exclamations, highly emotional questions, and commands
to himself, ellipses and broken lines - also contrasts markedly with the
controlled, but totally insincere, speech of Claudius.
❖ His iambic pentameter is interrupted → disjointedness emphasises
and reflects his feelings of bitterness and resentment.
❖ The entire mood conveyed by Hamlet is one of despair and distrust.
2. Act 1 Scene 5
❖ Reveal’s Hamlet’s shock at what Claudius and Gertrude have done
❖ Jumbled speech, fragmented and confused to reflect his mind and state of
shock
3. Act 2 Scene 2
❖ Hamlet determined to follow reason over passion
❖ He is channelling his rage against Claudius and himself
❖ This leads him into a long speech (lines 276-288) in which he celebrates the
wonder of man but concludes that life is sterile and useless, and that man is
no more than dust.
❖ In this speech, we see further why Hamlet is paralysed. He admires man but
sees that man's life is futile and poisoned (a pestilent congregation of
vapours). His inability to reconcile these two views leads also to his inability
to act.
4. Act 3 Scene 1
Represent Hamlet’s innermost thoughts and feelings
Advance the action
Show Hamlet trying to understand himself and find a way to respond to his situation
1. Act 1 Scene 2
❖ Hamlet suicidally depressed at his father’s death and mother’s remarriage
❖ Disillusioned with life, love and marriage
❖ Ideas of corruption and decay
❖ In this soliloquy, we have the first indication of Hamlet's inner feelings. He
pours out his emotions and disgust at his mother's marriage. He perceives
his uncle as a beast, in no way comparable to his father who, in his opinion,
was a demi-god.
❖ His speech - full of exclamations, highly emotional questions, and commands
to himself, ellipses and broken lines - also contrasts markedly with the
controlled, but totally insincere, speech of Claudius.
❖ His iambic pentameter is interrupted → disjointedness emphasises
and reflects his feelings of bitterness and resentment.
❖ The entire mood conveyed by Hamlet is one of despair and distrust.
2. Act 1 Scene 5
❖ Reveal’s Hamlet’s shock at what Claudius and Gertrude have done
❖ Jumbled speech, fragmented and confused to reflect his mind and state of
shock
3. Act 2 Scene 2
❖ Hamlet determined to follow reason over passion
❖ He is channelling his rage against Claudius and himself
❖ This leads him into a long speech (lines 276-288) in which he celebrates the
wonder of man but concludes that life is sterile and useless, and that man is
no more than dust.
❖ In this speech, we see further why Hamlet is paralysed. He admires man but
sees that man's life is futile and poisoned (a pestilent congregation of
vapours). His inability to reconcile these two views leads also to his inability
to act.
4. Act 3 Scene 1
