Why Is Hamlet's First Soliloquy

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All through the soliloquy, Shakespeare's use of word choice and punctuation signify that Hamlet has become very emotional and is really thinking about what he wants to say. "To die, to sleep-- No more, and by a sleep to say we end The heart-ache and the thousand natural shocks...", when Hamlet states to die, to sleep, he paused to reflect on the benefits or disadvantages of life over death. Hamlet continues the sentence with "... consummation to be wish'd.", meaning he has longed for death and is ready for it to be final and over with. However Hamlet does fear the afterlife, "for in that sleep of death what dreams may come when we have shuffled off this mortal coil, must give us pause." that is stressed in the quote by the burst of emotion, which then drawing him to a pause. …show more content…

While he is performing the soliloquy, Hamlet has nobody to confide in about the death of his father, therefore he feels lost an alone. “The whips and scorns of time,”, comparing time to a spiteful taskmaster that drive men and women forward against their will. Hamlet does not value the manner in which time has torn away the things he loves, including his father, and finds the passage of time to be painful. Hamlet states the “slings and arrows of outrageous fortune” and of “taking arms against a sea of troubles.” By declaring that fortune bears weapons of war, Hamlet puts across the proposal that he does not find fortune to be some kindhearted goddess, but unkind and unfair. The second expression brings to mind an image of a forlorn soul standing proudly unaccompanied as wave after waves of terrifying adversaries attempts to bring him down, which is how Hamlet feels at this

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