Soliloquy

Role of Soliloquies in Hamlet & Inspiration of Essays

Much of Hamlet’s fame and popularity rests on the play’s soliloquies. The opening line of Hamlet’s fourth soliloquy, “To be, or not to be”, is probably the single most quoted line in all of Shakespeare.

Access to Hamlet's mind

Shakespeare’s use of soliloquy in Hamlet allows audiences and readers access to Hamlet’s mind.
Not only do we hear Hamlet voice his doubts and fears but we see his actual thought processes – ideas forming and developing, questions posed and answered.
The power of these soliloquies has encouraged people to interpret the play as a psychological study of its hero. We feel we know Hamlet more than any other of Shakespeare’s characters.

Inspired by the essay

Many scholars argue that Shakespeare’s use of soliloquy was inspired by a new art form – the essay – which became fashionable in England during the late 1590s.
After Montaigne’s Essays (1580) began to be translated from French into English, English writers such as William Cornwallis began to publish their own attempts.

Features of the essay form

The essay form was something new and fresh. Writers would speak of their personal experiences as they grappled with issues such as ‘Of Life and the Fashions of Life’ (Cornwallis) or ‘Of Sadness or Sorrow’ (Montaigne).
The essay form allowed writers to explore issues in a philosophical, questioning and reflective tone, similar to the mood of Hamlet’s soliloquies in which he ponders the mysteries of life and death.

The power of Hamlet's soliloquies

The power of Hamlet’s soliloquies in part lies in the fact that the character who voices them is a scholar with an active, enquiring mind who, in his pursuit of truth, tests out a number of arguments and counter-arguments.
We see the thought processes of an agile mind able to shift between ideas and question his own assumptions.

Hamlet & Claudius' Soliloquies in Hamlet

The use of soliloquy is a dramatic necessity in the play because, as James Shapiro argues, “Hamlet needs to talk; but there is nobody in whom he can confide”.

Who does Hamlet confide in?

Hamlet has a terrible secret which he cannot share. Old friends such as Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are now agents of the King and Ophelia has been used as bait against him.
Hamlet does confide in Horatio, sharing his suspicions of Claudius’ guilt with him, but he does not reveal everything to him.

Hamlet's first soliloquy

Hamlet speaks seven soliloquies in the play.
The first reveals his melancholy and death-wish (“O that this too too sullied flesh would melt, Thaw and resolve itself into a dew”), notes that will be sounded in later soliloquies, most famously in “To be, or not to be” which considers the merits of suicide.

Hamlet's other soliloquies

In other soliloquies, Hamlet questions his inaction, which Harold Jenkins calls the “soliloquies of self-reproach”.
In each, he asks whether he is a “coward”. Each build to what Jenkins describes as “a climax of self-accusation”.
But each contains a turning-point where Hamlet decides on a course of action: in A2S2 he devises a plan to use the players as a way of catching “the conscience of the king” and in A4S4 he vows that “from this time forth / My thoughts be bloody”.

The end of Hamlet's soliloquies

When Hamlet returns from England, there are no more soliloquies.
Horatio is by his side but Hamlet is also in a new frame of mind, no longer afflicted by doubts or self-loathing. Instead, Hamlet is now prepared to meet his destiny, telling Horatio that “the readiness is all”.

Claudius' soliloquy

Claudius’ sole soliloquy in the confession scene (Act 3, Scene 3) helps to humanise the character.
We see his guilt over the murder of his brother.
We also see his honesty when admitting that true repentance is impossible as he is not willing to give up the proceeds from his crime.

1Introduction

1.1Introduction & Background to Hamlet

1.1.1Introduction to Hamlet

1.1.2The Literary Tradition of the Hamlet Story

1.1.3Introduction to the Settings in Hamlet

1.1.4Introduction to Social Issues Raised

2Plot Summary

2.1Act 1: Key Events & Ideas

2.1.1Act 1, Scene 1

2.1.2Act 1, Scene 2

2.1.3Act 1, Scene 3

2.1.4Act 1, Scenes 4-5

2.2Act 2: Key Events & Ideas

2.2.1Act 2, Scene 1

2.2.2Act 2, Scene 2

2.3Act 3: Key Events & Ideas

2.3.1Act 3, Scene 1: Key Events

2.3.2Act 3, Scene 1: Key Ideas

2.3.3Act 3, Scene 2

2.3.4Act 3, Scene 3

2.3.5Act 3, Scene 4

2.4Act 4: Key Events & Ideas

2.4.1Act 4, Scene 1

2.4.2Act 4, Scenes 2-3

2.4.3Act 4, Scene 4

2.4.4Act 4, Scene 5: Key Events

2.4.5Act 4, Scene 5: Key Ideas

2.4.6Act 4, Scene 6

2.4.7Act 4, Scene 7

2.5Act 5: Key Events & Ideas

2.5.1Act 5, Scene 1: Key Events

2.5.2Act 5, Scene 2: Key Events

2.5.3Act 5, Scene 2: Key Ideas

3Character Profiles

3.1Hamlet

3.1.1Hamlet's Speech & Mind

3.1.2Hamlet's Heroic Status

3.1.3Hamlet's State of Mind

3.1.4Hamlet's Indecision/Action Taking

3.2Claudius

3.2.1Claudius' Crime

3.2.2Changing Impressions of Claudius

3.3Gertrude

3.3.1Mystery & Hamlet's View of Gertrude

3.3.2Gertrude's Character

3.3.3Gertrude's Relationship with Hamlet

3.4Ophelia

3.4.1Ophelia

3.5Polonius

3.5.1Portrayal of Polonius & Treatment of Ophelia

3.5.2Polonius' Spying & Death

3.6Laertes

3.6.1Laertes' Popularity & Relationship with Ophelia

3.6.2Laertes' Character Traits

4Key Themes

4.1Regicide in Hamlet

4.1.1Regicide in Hamlet

4.2Madness in Hamlet

4.2.1Madness in Hamlet

4.3Guilt & Punishment in Hamlet

4.3.1Guilt in Hamlet

4.3.2Punishment in Hamlet

4.4Settings in Hamlet

4.4.1Physical Settings & Historical Setting of Hamlet

5Writing Techniques

5.1Structure

5.1.1Structure of Hamlet

5.1.2'Play Within a Play' Structure

5.1.3Play-Acting Motif

5.2Form

5.2.1Soliloquy

5.2.2Comedy

5.3Imagery

5.3.1Imagery of Corruption & Decay

5.3.2Imagery: Healing, Performance & Costume

5.4Language

5.4.1Word Usage & Hendiadys

5.4.2Questions & Classical Allusions

6Context

6.1Social & Historical Context

6.1.1Elizabeth I & Succession

6.1.2Cosmic & Social Hierarchy

6.1.3Renaissance & Emergence of Humanism

6.1.4Regicide

6.1.5The Reformation

6.2Literary Context

6.2.1Seneca Tragedy

6.2.2The Revenge Tragedy

6.3Performance & Textual History

6.3.1Performance History of Hamlet

6.3.2Textual History of Hamlet

7Critical Debates

7.118-19th Century Responses to Hamlet

7.1.1Introduction to Critical Debates

7.1.218th Century Commentary on Hamlet

7.1.3Romantic Commentary on Hamlet

7.220th Century Responses to Hamlet

7.2.1Freudian Response to Hamlet

7.2.2Other Early 20th Century Responses to Hamlet

7.3Feminist Readings of Hamlet

7.3.1Introduction to Feminist Criticism

7.3.2Feminist Readings of Hamlet

7.3.3Presentation of Ophelia

7.4Marxist/Political Readings of Hamlet

7.4.1Introduction to Marxist Criticisms

7.4.2Marxist Readings of Hamlet

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