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A Study of Hamlet's Soliloquies

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The Undergraduate Essay
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A Study of Hamlet's SoliloquiesBy J. D. FRAMETHE EXPOSITION and rising action of Hamlet are based upon Hamlet'sstate of mind at the outset and his subsequent reaction to the ghost'srevelation. Hamlet is to oppose Claudius, and the audience mustknow his plans, but since he must "hold his tongue"—lest the kingdiscover his suspicion—Hamlet's motives can be disclosed only bymeans of soliloquy. The soliloquies therefore are basic elements inthe play's structure. Much of the appeal of Hamlet, however, liesnot in excellence of structure but in the character of Hamlet him-self. Since the soliloquies are Shakespeare's primary means ofdelineating Hamlet's character, they assume an importance in theinterpretation of the play which overshadows their significance asmere structural devices.The ability to argue on both sides of a question normally impliesonly an alert and ingenious mind, but this faculty runs riot once aman loses faith in himself, and, once let slip, seems only to intensifyhis original feeling of inadequacy. So it is with Hamlet. We must letthe Freudians decide whether he is aware of a repressed Oedipuscomplex. He is certainly disgusted at his mother's "o'erhasty mar-riage," and perhaps feels obscurely that her sensuality has in someway tainted his own nature. This would give point to John DoverWilson's emendation of his first soliloquy to "O, that this too toosullied flesh would melt" (I, ii, 129). The soliloquy is an agonizedstatement of the disillusionment caused by his father's death and hismother's marriage, but it also carries overtones of a new, hypercriticalattitude toward himself. His own grief, amidst the indifference of thecourt, forces him to make the first of many comparisons between hisown reactions and the reactions of those around him. If his mother'ssin has tainted him, he has no right to judge anyone else for indif-ference to evil. And yetHow weary, stale, flat and unprofitableSeem to me all the uses of this world. (I, ii, 133—4)The sands of his values are already shifting. Mankind (as repre-
© 2019 University of Toronto Press, Toronto

A Study of Hamlet's SoliloquiesBy J. D. FRAMETHE EXPOSITION and rising action of Hamlet are based upon Hamlet'sstate of mind at the outset and his subsequent reaction to the ghost'srevelation. Hamlet is to oppose Claudius, and the audience mustknow his plans, but since he must "hold his tongue"—lest the kingdiscover his suspicion—Hamlet's motives can be disclosed only bymeans of soliloquy. The soliloquies therefore are basic elements inthe play's structure. Much of the appeal of Hamlet, however, liesnot in excellence of structure but in the character of Hamlet him-self. Since the soliloquies are Shakespeare's primary means ofdelineating Hamlet's character, they assume an importance in theinterpretation of the play which overshadows their significance asmere structural devices.The ability to argue on both sides of a question normally impliesonly an alert and ingenious mind, but this faculty runs riot once aman loses faith in himself, and, once let slip, seems only to intensifyhis original feeling of inadequacy. So it is with Hamlet. We must letthe Freudians decide whether he is aware of a repressed Oedipuscomplex. He is certainly disgusted at his mother's "o'erhasty mar-riage," and perhaps feels obscurely that her sensuality has in someway tainted his own nature. This would give point to John DoverWilson's emendation of his first soliloquy to "O, that this too toosullied flesh would melt" (I, ii, 129). The soliloquy is an agonizedstatement of the disillusionment caused by his father's death and hismother's marriage, but it also carries overtones of a new, hypercriticalattitude toward himself. His own grief, amidst the indifference of thecourt, forces him to make the first of many comparisons between hisown reactions and the reactions of those around him. If his mother'ssin has tainted him, he has no right to judge anyone else for indif-ference to evil. And yetHow weary, stale, flat and unprofitableSeem to me all the uses of this world. (I, ii, 133—4)The sands of his values are already shifting. Mankind (as repre-
© 2019 University of Toronto Press, Toronto

Chapters in this book

  1. Frontmatter i
  2. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS v
  3. INTRODUCTION vii
  4. CONTENTS xiii
  5. Part I. SPECIMEN ESSAYS
  6. A New Disease 3
  7. The Canadian Dilemma 7
  8. A Study of Hamlet's Soliloquies 11
  9. The Abbey's Needs 15
  10. The Universities and the State 18
  11. The Refining Fire : The Meaning and Use of Poetry 28
  12. Recent Shakespearean Criticism 39
  13. Part II PRINCIPLES AND METHODS
  14. Planning 49
  15. The Paragraph 57
  16. The Sentence 64
  17. Diction 75
  18. Punctuation 87
  19. The Conventions of Scholarship 97
  20. BIBLIOGRAPHY 105
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https://doi.org/10.3138/9781487592752-005

Chapters in this book

  1. Frontmatter i
  2. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS v
  3. INTRODUCTION vii
  4. CONTENTS xiii
  5. Part I. SPECIMEN ESSAYS
  6. A New Disease 3
  7. The Canadian Dilemma 7
  8. A Study of Hamlet's Soliloquies 11
  9. The Abbey's Needs 15
  10. The Universities and the State 18
  11. The Refining Fire : The Meaning and Use of Poetry 28
  12. Recent Shakespearean Criticism 39
  13. Part II PRINCIPLES AND METHODS
  14. Planning 49
  15. The Paragraph 57
  16. The Sentence 64
  17. Diction 75
  18. Punctuation 87
  19. The Conventions of Scholarship 97
  20. BIBLIOGRAPHY 105
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