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English

Hamlet's First Soliloquy

Introduction
Before the soliloquy, Hamlet was going through a seemingly unpleasant conversation
with his mother and Claudius and being asked to remain in Denmark as opposed to
continuing his studies in Wittenberg (which was against his wishes)
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Everlasting refers to God, and canon refers to a law against self-slaughter or suicide
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We can therefore infer that Hamlet desires the option of suicide yet cannot act upon it due to it
being forbidden by the religion
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Things rank and gross in nature
Possess it merely
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But two months dead—nay, not so much, not two
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So loving to my mother
That he might not beteem the winds of heaven
Visit her face too roughly
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Starts to compare his father to his uncle with the comparison of Hyperion (powerful titan who's called
the Lord of Light) to a satyr (a half man half goat creature)
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\\

Part 3
Let me not think on ’t
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Why she, even she—
O God, a beast that wants discourse of reason

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Would have mourned longer!—married with my uncle,
My father’s brother, but no more like my father
Than I to Hercules
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Compares the crying of Niobe to his mother's (allusion)
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Makes a comparison of his father and uncle to himself and Hercules
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O most wicked speed, to post
With such dexterity to incestuous sheets!
It is not nor it cannot come to good,
But break, my heart, for I must hold my tongue
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This makes a favourable impression of the reign of Queen Elizabeth at that time while attacking
the wrong marriage of Henry VIII and Catherine and Mary's reign (who was the daughter of
Henry VIII and Catherine) by emphasizing the wickedness of a widow marrying her husband's
brother
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(also seen at the end of "To Be or Not To Be"(Act 3 Scene 1 )
Hamlet is actually saying all this to himself in a large empty room and not just voicing it out in his
head

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