Hamlet

Hamlet's first soliloquy reveals the Danish Prince's morbid, suicidal and self-destructive tendencies, even before he caught a glimpse of his father's ghost. Admonishing his uncle and his mother for marrying too soon after his father's death, Hamlet also expresses self-loathing for not having been more Herculean, and thus able to prevent the wedding. Hamlet is therefore disturbed equally by his own impotence as well as by what he perceives as his mother's betrayal of his father. Moreover, Hamlet resents his uncle for trying to fill the noble shoes of the former King but feels completely powerless, unable to even open his mouth.

Suicidal thoughts characterize the opening lines of Hamlet's first soliloquy: "Or that the Everlasting had not fix'd / His canon 'gainst self-slaughter!" Hamlet cannot face life, as he feels thoroughly humiliated by his mother and his uncle's inappropriate behavior, which Hamlet portrays as incestuous. His suicidal nature and self-loathing suggest that Hamlet may be too self-absorbed to become an effective leader in his father's footsteps. Hamlet seems painfully aware of his inability to lead with strength and power when he states how unlike Hercules he is. The prince's rage is directed at himself as well as his uncle and mother. Rather than derive strength from his anger, Hamlet feels like the world has let him down: life has become "weary, stale, flat and unprofitable." Therefore, Hamlet feels like a victim and blames the world, which he calls an "unweeded garden," for his problems.

Still grieving for his father, Hamlet claims that his mother barely let her tears dry before agreeing to marry Claudius: "Ere yet the salt of most unrighteous tears / Had left the flushing in her galled eyes, / She married." Hamlet notes that not even two months had passed before the wedding. Similarly, Hamlet harshly criticizes his mother for marrying his uncle in "wicked speed," and later refers to their union as "incestuous." Calling their marriage incestuous and wicked draws attention to the depth of feeling gnawing away at Hamlet, the complex emotions that drive his actions throughout the course of the play. Hamlet perceives their union as being against divine law by using words like "incestuous" and "wicked." The use of several mythological allusions during the soliloquy also underscores Hamlet's detachment from reality: Hamlet refers to Hyperion, satyrs, Niobe and Hercules.

Furthermore, the verses contain considerable foreshadowing, especially when Hamlet suggests that the marriage "cannot come to good." He senses doom even before becoming aware of the murder and being drawn into a plot to exact revenge for his father. Because of Hamlet's frank discussion of death, including his own, in the first soliloquy the audience is well-prepared for the bloody events to follow.