Jessica Hagan

Mrs. Bernhard
English 221
October 1, 2014
Hamlets Seven Soliloquies
In Shakespeares tragedy Hamlet, there are seven soliloquies spoken by the
main character Hamlet. Soliloquies are a key part in a play where a character is alone
on stage speaking solely to themselves and to the audience. The character is speaking
their inner thoughts and feelings, therefore, it shows us the characters true colors. We
learn something different about Hamlet and his character in each of the soliloquies.
The first soliloquy appears in Scene One, Act Two. This happens right after a
conversation Hamlet had with his mother, Gertrude. He is angry at her for remarrying
his uncle not even a month after his fathers death. At the beginning of the soliloquy,
Hamlet speaks about how he wishes there was not a law against suicide and how little
his life truly means to him. He even compares his life to an unweeded garden that
grows to seed (I, ii). Hamlet shows how he does not like his uncle by talking about how
his dad was a far better King and husband than his uncle could ever be. Hamlet is
distraught over his fathers death and mothers marriage, and is expecting the worst out
of everyone. He declares frailty, thy name is woman, generalizing his mothers flimsy
morals to all of womankind (Martin).

In Act One, Scene Five, the next soliloquy from Hamlet appears. This soliloquy
happens right after Hamlet speaks to the ghost for the first time. Hamlet is extremely
angry because the ghost of his father just revealed to him the truth of his fathers death,
which is that Hamlets uncle, Claudius, killed his father with poison. Hamlet says at the
beginning of this soliloquy Ill wipe away all trivial fond records, all saws of books, all
forms, all pressures past that youth and observation copied there, and thy
commandment all alone shall live within the book and volume of my brain (I v). Hamlet
is so focused in on the fact that he wants to get his revenge on his uncle that he is
willing to get everything else out of his brain and only retain the memory of what the
ghost has just revealed to him. Towards the end of it, Hamlet mentions how he will
indeed be keeping the vow he made to his fathers ghost. This reveals how determined
Hamlet is and it gives us a little bit of foreshadowing into what will happen in the near
future.
Hamlets third soliloquy is revealed to us in Act Two, Scene Two. This soliloquy
occurs whenever Hamlet is in the middle of getting everything ready for his play. Hamlet
was going to have a play to show what happened to his father and see if his uncle
seemed guilty watching it. Hamlet is complaining of his bad dreams, confessing that
Denmarks a prison and that man delights not him; no, not woman either (Brooke 120).
He is saying that he feels trapped in his own state of Denmark and he is unpleased by
everyone and everything. He speaks of his own bad dreams that he had been having,
which can be assumed he is having bad dreams because of what his uncle did to his
father.

The fourth soliloquy in Hamlet is by far the most recognized soliloquy in the
whole play. It is the To be, or not to be scene. This is a very powerful speech because
much of the speechs emphasis is on the subject of deatheven if in the end he is
determined to live and see his revenge through (Smith). This is a major point when we
truly see some of Hamlets true character getting revealed. He is torn in his decision of
wanting death. He does not want to kill himself because it is against his religion and he
is indecisive, but he also wants to kill himself because of everything going on around
him. This soliloquy is the first one to really tell us as a reader what all Hamlet is upset
about. He speaks of his father getting killed by his uncle and his mother remarrying
shortly after his fathers death.
The fifth soliloquy is found in Act Three, Scene Two. This happens right after the
play portraying Hamlets fathers death. He is preparing to go speak to his mother about
things that are happening. Hamlet speaks a lot about killing people in this soliloquy, but
quickly states that he is not going to kill them. For example, he says towards the end of
the speech, I will speak daggers to her, but I will use none. That line alone gives us a
little foreshadowing into what is to come in the near future when he actually uses a
dagger to kill Polonius while he was speaking to his mother. This soliloquy reveals to us
how Hamlet is a determined individual who will stop at nothing to get his revenge.
In Act Three, Scene Three, the sixth soliloquy appears. This soliloquy reveals
some internal conflict Hamlet has with himself. He sees his uncle praying, so he draws
his sword to kill him, but then he believes if he kills him now, he will get sent straight to
Heaven because he is cleansing himself in the moment. Hamlet decides to wait to kill
him until he is in the middle of his sin, much like Claudius waited to kill his father when

his sin was in full bloom. This is another soliloquy that reveals to us Hamlet is indecisive
and is dead-set on getting the proper revenge for his fathers death.
The seventh and final soliloquy is found in Act Four, Scene Four. Hamlet is really
starting to question himself at this point. He does not understand why he is waiting to
get his revenge at this point. He is confused about things and he blames it on
overthinking too many things. The very last line in this soliloquy says, Oh, from this
time forth, my thoughts be bloody, or be nothing worth! (IV, iv). He is trying to speed up
the process of getting his revenge by blocking out any thoughts other than those that
are violent and will help benefit his revenge.
Three main things that these seven soliloquies reveal to us about Hamlets
character is that he is indecisive, determined, and easily angered. Throughout the whole
play, Hamlet was unsure whether he wanted to kill himself or not. He was also
undecided about when he wanted to kill his uncle. He was extremely determined to get
his revenge; no matter what happened, he was always focused and motivated by
getting the revenge on his uncle that his father deserved. It was revealed to us early on
that he was easily angered because when Hamlet was first approached by the ghost, he
was immediately filled with hatred and resentment towards his uncle.

Works Cited
Brooke, Tucker. "Hamlet's Third Soliloquy." N.p., n.d. Web. 6 Oct. 2014.
Martin, John. "Q&A Categories." How Can We Better Understand Hamlet by Examining
Hamlet's Soliloquies? N.p., n.d. Web. 06 Oct. 2014.
Shakespeare, William, and Harold Jenkins. Hamlet. London: Methuen, 1982. Print.
Smith, Nicole. "Analysis of the "To Be or Not to Be" Soliloquy in Hamlet by William
Shakespeare." Article Myriad. N.p., 6 Dec. 2011. Web. 06 Oct. 2014.