A Look At Hamlet Through His Soliloquies: His Metamorphosis

"To be or not to be- that is the question..." (III. i. 56)- so starts Hamlet's most famous and well-known soliloquy. In William Shakespeare's Hamlet, the main character- Hamlet- goes through many transitions. These changes are very apparent through his soliloquies, each of which shows him in a different state of mind. His first soliloquy exists merely to show his "profound melancholia and the reasons for his despair" (Mabillard "Part 1..." 3). He refers to himself as "...a rogue and peasant slave" (II. ii. 577) by his second soliloquy and wishes he could "arouse his passions" (Mabillard " Part 1..." 5). As much as he wants to avenge his father's murder, he does nothing yet because he wants everything planned exactly so (Mabillard "Part 1..". 7). In Hamlet's most known soliloquy, he "sparks an internal philosophical debate" (Mabillard "Part 1..." 9) with himself about suicide. In a later soliloquy, he "feels capable of perpetrating evil... -murder" (Mabillard "Part 1..." 9). Yet, in his very next soliloquy, he doesn't act because "[Claudius] is a-praying,.../And so [he will go] to heaven" (III. iii. 77-79); ultimately, in his final soliloquy he is determined to act upon deciding "...[he has] cause, and will, and strength, and means/ To do 't" (IV. iv. 48-49). Through his soliloquies, Hamlet's transition from a man with a wavering mind to a man who is "ready to drink hot blood" and focuses on only revenge is very apparent.

Hamlet seems to have lost himself when he talks in the first of his soliloquies. When he arrives at his castle after coming back from school in Wittenberg (in a different country), he finds it to not feel like his primary place of dwelling (Cousins 1). According to Cousins, "His father's absence and his uncle's preeminence have radically changed the pattern of relationships that identified and nurtured him from birth" (1). He wonders

Why, she hang on [King Hamlet]...

And yet within a month...

With which she followed [Hamlet's] father's body

Why she,...

Married with [his]

uncle (I. ii. 147-156)

and knows "it cannot come to good" (I. ii. 163); yet he knows "[he] must hold his tongue" (I. ii. 164). Although he does not agree with what his mother has done, he knows he cannot say anything about it at this point in time. In his mind, he wants to say something, but as much as he wants to, he can't. Coleridge believes "His senses are in a state of trance, and he looks upon external things as hieroglyphics" (345) and goes on to claim that Hamlet's mood in this soliloquy "is caused by a disproportionate mental exertion, which necessitates exhaustion of bodily feeling" (353).

Additionally, this soliloquy hints at his "ack of heroic stature" and his unsuitability for the role of revenger"(Cousins 2), when he talks about "[his] father's brother, but no more like [his] father/ Than [he himself] to Hercules" (I. ii. 157-158). Hamlet, in comparing himself to the Greek hero, might "indicate [Hamlet's] developing lack of self-worth" (Mabillard "Part 1..." 4). Hamlet does not look at himself as revenger- he loathes Claudius and so in making a link between himself and Claudius and himself and Hercules, he is saying they're really not alike. Hamlet believes he is not a man that can be depended upon to get revenge.

The second soliloquy unveils the real conflict he is facing. Hamlet's determined to avenge his father's murder but does nothing yet while he is on a mission to plan his revenge out carefully ( Mabillard "Part 1..." 7). He refers to himself as "a rogue and peasant slave" (II. ii. 577) and then starts to talk about Claudius with "an obsessive profusion of epithets"(Warner 249). When he's done concentrating so intently on Claudius, he turns on himself once again, calling himself an "ass" (II. ii. 611) and comparing himself to a "whore [who must] unpack [his] heart with words/ And fall a-cursing like a very drab,/ A scullion!" (II. ii. 614-616). He talks himself through a plan.

Upon having heard "that guilty creatures sitting at a play/ Have by the very cunning of the scene,/ Been struck to the soul that presently" (II. ii. 618-620), that they have confessed their guilt. He will invite Claudius to a play wherein he has written a mini-play acting out his father's murder, and if "[Claudius] do blench,/ [Hamlet] know[s] [his] course" (II. ii. 625-626). Hamlet will observe him, and if Claudius looks like he's feeling guilty, or vice versa, Hamlet will know what path to go on. His mind is still not totally set on revenge- he still has to have the proof; moreover "Hamlet is convinced that, as Claudius watches the re-enactment of his crime, he will surely reveal his own guilt" (Mabillard "Part 1..." 7). For right now, "the play's the thing/ Wherein [he'll] catch the conscience of the King" (II. ii. 633-634).

Hamlet "poses a question and attempts to deduce the unknown from the known" (Wood 99) and "seems to pursue ethics in excess" (Wood 99) in his most known soliloquy. This soliloquy "seems to be governed by reason and not frenzied emotion" (Mabillard "Part 1..." 9) and shows Hamlet at his "most rational, dispassionate, contemplative" (Saunders 86), delivered while Hamlet is ready "to catch the conscience of the King" (II. ii. 634). He questions all in all

Whether 'tis nobler ro suffer

The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,

Or to take arms against a sea of troubles,

And, by opposing, end them[?] (III. i. 65-67)

and seems to think death would be so much easier because it ends "the thousand natural shocks/ That flesh is heir to" (III. i. 70-71). However, "there's the rub;/ For in that sleep of death what dreams may come/ When we have shuffled off this mortal coil[?]" (III. i. 73-74); he wonders what will happen in "the undiscovered country from whose bourn/ No traveler returns" (III. i. 87-88). Therefore, "conscience does make cowards (III. i. 91) because we don't