Oh Too Solid Flesh Would Melt Soliloquy Meaning

Shakespeare’s tragedy “Hamlet” is a playwright about the lengths one is willing to take in an effort to gain vengeance and avenge a lost loved one. In “Hamlet”, there are several soliloquies spoken by Hamlet that ellicit hatred, seek to place blame, and fuel a thirst for vengeance, but none like Hamlet’s “Oh, that this too, too solid flesh would melt” soliloquy from Act I, scene 4 of the play. Literary devices such as repetition and allusions help convey the meaning of this soliloquy in the context of the tragedy that is “Hamlet”.

Repetition within the “Oh, that this too, too solid flesh would melt” soliloquy allows Hamlet to convey and emphasize his emotional distress through the soliloquy. In lines 1, 4, 22, and 28 of the soliloquy, Hamlet

repeats the word “oh” over and over again. The repetition of this word replicates a sort of exclamation of disbelief, as he doesn’t believe what is happening is really happening. This exclamation makes it seem as if he’s involuntarily mimicking a response to a physical injury to pertain to one of his heart. The murder of his father, and the betrayal of his uncle and mother torment him so much that he verbally yells out in agony to suppress the pain of grief and betrayal that comes from his heart. Another example of repetition in the soliloquy is Hamlet’s use of the word “God” repeatedly. In lines 4 and 22, Hamlet uses this expression as an emotional plea to cry out to God in his helplessness and hopelessness. With the loss of his father physically, and the loss of his trust in others around him, such as Gertrude and Claudius, leave him in a state of vulnerability which leads him to God. Overall, the repetition in this soliloquy emphasizes Hamlet’s distraught state because of the sudden tragedies brought about in his life.
Allusions in this soliloquy allow Hamlet to compare those that he loves, and more importantly, those that he hates, to relatable characters in other works, specifically Greek mythology, to fully understand his perspective and how he perceives the actions and characteristics of the characters he is describing.

In line 12, he uses the allusion of Hyperion, a god, to compare to his own father as a wonderful man and king, and compares Claudius to a satyr, an ugly, drunken woodland creature that was half man and half goat. Hamlet’s uses of this allusion to express to the audience that his father was that of a god compared to his uncle, who was inwardly an ugly man who lusted for power and sexual sin. This reflects the meaning of the soliloquy by bashing his uncle for being a cruel murderer and furthers the point that he isn’t half the man Hamlet’s father was. Another allusion in the “Oh, that this too, too solid flesh would melt” soliloquy is about Niobe. Niobe was a mother in Greek mythology who mourned unceasingly over the deaths of her children. Hamlet compares the story of Niobe to his own mother to illustrate the lack of mourning in regards to the death of her husband, his father. He curses his own mother for after only a month being fully recovered from her loss, whereas Niobe cried continually for the loss of her own children. This emphasizes the meaning of the poem to call out the monstrosities Hamlet finds to be in Gertrude and Claudius. These two allusions found in the

soliloquy help illustrate and draw parallels between the similarities within the characters of “Hamlet” and to better understand how Hamlet perceives them.
The key literary devices of allusions and repetition in Hamlet’s soliloquy “Oh, that this too, too solid flesh would melt” aid in the understanding of the meaning of the soliloquy as a whole and how it pertains to the entirety of the plot of “Hamlet”. These literary devices add to the overall theme of betrayal in both the soliloquy as well as the entire playwright and allow the reader or audience member to fully indulge in the mindset of Hamlet and his deep hatred for his own mother, Gertrude, and King Claudius.