Hamlet Soliloquys In Hamlet

Shakespeare’s revenge tragedy ‘Hamlet’ composed during the height of the Renaissance has captured the interest of audiences resonating in our contemporary society across the parallels of time. Hamlet’s soliloquys manifest ideologies and values which underpin the texts contextual sphere and the broader concerns of the play. It is through the underlying issues that the playwright provides an insight into the moral dilemma of his protagonist who questions the nature and inescapability of death, mortality, revenge and corruption. By critically considering different interpretations of the play in the light of the perspectives of others therefore, and the effects of contextual influences, the audience is positioned to gain a better understanding of the concerns purported therein.

Hamlet’s motivation for vengeance is fuelled by Shakespeare’s sense of justice in fate derived from Christianity which had infused the 17th century Elizabethan context which elicited its all-embracing contextual concerns. In the first of his soliloquies, the ethereal ghost, whose imperious modality seeks Hamlet’s assurance of revenge, establishes the plays sinister mood positioning the audience to the moral corruption in the state of Denmark. The metaphorical association of the world as ‘an unweeded garden’ and the lexis ‘rank’ and ‘gross’ further allude to the depravity a primary concern in his anarchic context. To enlist Hamlet’s assistance, the ghost exploits simile to describe the poison administered by Claudius which was ‘swift as quick silver’, and ‘like eager droppings into milk’ images suggestive of Claudius’ calculating nature further purported in the contradiction of the paradox ‘our sometime sister, now our queen’ and in his joy at marrying G...

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... spurs me …. to my revenge?/I have a father who has been murdered, a mother who has been defiled, … yet I’ve done nothing.’ It is at this point that he resolves to accept his duty to kill Claudius. The final words he utters are ironically juxtaposed with Horatio’s perspective as we the audience, are left with an ambiguous uncertainty about the nature of man. The protagonist dies a ‘sweet prince’, and not a villain, his inner conflict finally alleviated.

The world of ‘Hamlet’ ultimately conforms to an Aristotelian notion of catharsis as the deaths of Hamlet, Gertrude, Claudius and Laertes, invariably bring a sense of rational closure and termination to the corruption and disorder they reaped in the course of a play. Renowned for its enduring contextual concerns, the protagonist’s soliloquies reflect broader issues which lie at the core of human experience.