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The Hamlet Play by Shakespeare

Introduction

Written in the early 1600s, Hamlet is one of Shakespeare’s most famous plays. a series

of soliloquies that have remained relevant to date in current texts where they are often cited.

Hamlet, the protagonist of the play, right from the start, undergoes a significant transformation

from a helpless individual to a more confident individual with stability in life. His

transformations are exhibited in the soliloquies, with the most vital one occurring within the first

Soliloquy. The soliloquies best exposed Hamlet’s transformation since it is during their

occurrences when he can fully open and release his deepest emotions. However, this paper

delves into analyzing the transformation exhibited amid two significant soliloquies in Hamlet’s

story.  

The Soliloquies

Readers are first presented to Hamlet’s most genuine self in the first Soliloquy, which

occurs in the Second Scene in Act 1. It is at this point that Prince Hamlet falls into depression,

leaving him in a state of deep melancholy that is considered to have overwhelmed him by the

King and the Queen. Hamlet’s depression transpired after a series of ill-fated events had hit him

unexpectedly. Her mother, the Queen, had just remarried and was promoted to the Kingship

Hamlet’s uncle soon after Hamlet’s father died. Hamlet, in his Soliloquy, says, “O God, a beast

that wants discourse of reason Would have mourn’d longer” (Shakespeare); he claims that even
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a beast would mourn longer than her mother did and reiterates that what the Queen had done was

worse than what could have been done by a beast. Hamlet is further stressed by the court’s

inability to allow for a prolonged grieving period for the King’s death. Almost everything seems

senseless to him as he refers to the word as a garden full of weeds insinuating that the people in

the court are bad ones. In this Soliloquy, Prince Hamlet’s real character is presented to the

readers where it is apparent that he as intense love for his father, the fallen King. He, however,

feels betrayed by the disloyalty exhibited by the Queen to her husband – the late King and how

loyal he, Hamlet, is to the King. Even though he contemplates suicide, Hamlet chooses to live

through depression and the hatred he has developed towards his mother and uncle. 

           The next Soliloquy transpires in Act 3, from which Hamlet’s emotions come out harder

than in the first Soliloquy. After the first Soliloquy, Hamlet seemed to have a recollected self and

regained confidence back until his continued doubts and indecisiveness landed him yet on

another intensely terrific soliloquy. In this Soliloquy, Hamlet doubts whether he should penalize

himself for failing to avenge his father’s death. The most famous lines of the play, “To be, or not

to be, that is the question: Whether ‘tis nobler in the mind to suffer the slings and arrows of

outrageous fortune” (Shakespeare), constitute the first part of this Soliloquy. At this juncture,

Hamlet, again, considers suicide. He feels depressed by how things have turned and how

incapable he is to turn things around even for a moment. Hamlet remains in depression and

wants to break free, but is unsure how. Although suicide appears the better option, Hamlet still

fears dying due to his uncertainties of what awaits in the afterlife.         

           On the other hand, he cannot seek vengeance for his father’s death, for he fears to pay sin

with another. He thinks he will make no difference in the end. He is further depressed and loses

stability of thought. Nonetheless, it is apparent that Hamlet’s principles are positive, and he is a
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healthy person to abide by them no matter what pain he feels. He ultimately emerges a winner

when he crosses over this episode since he considers reasonable over bad. This even though his

character has evolved from a depressed individual to a deeper depression.  

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Works Cited

Shakespeare, William. The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark. N.p.: Oxford UP, 1992.

Print.