Use of Soliloquies in Hamlet

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Hamlet is one of William Shakespeare’s most successful plays, and includes some of the most significant lines from soliloquies. Today, people continue to remember some of the character Hamlet’s most important lines, even if they are not familiar with the play. Even though soliloquies are mostly intended to reflect the inner feelings of a character, three in particular from the first half of the play’s exposition mainly contribute to the importance of the development of the plot in Hamlet. The first soliloquy that contributes to the plot in the play is the “O that this too too solid flesh would melt” soliloquy (I, II, 129). The protagonist, Hamlet, speaks this line after discussing his recent troublesome behavior with his mother Gertrude and uncle Claudius. When Hamlet speaks this soliloquy, it is the first time that the audience is able to understand the reason for his despair as he discusses the feelings of grief, anger and sorrow, which have taken over his mind. Hamlet first introduces the idea of suicide in this soliloquy as he says “
Or that the Everlasting had not fix’d His canon ’gainst self-slaughter” (I, II, 131-132). In this line, he questions why suicide is wrong, as he doesn’t see the problem in ending his own life. Of this soliloquy, Sir John Gielgud writes, “I find this the most exciting of the soliloquies to speak partly because it seems to set the character once and for all in the actor’s and the audience’s minds, and partly for its extraordinary, forthright presentation of information as to the whole plot, matched unerringly in the march of the words and the punctuation of the sentences” (Gielgud pg. 38). This soliloquy contributes to the plot of the play foreshadowing future events such as Hamlet’s madness and his plans to seek revenge on the King. This also contributes to the plot of the play because we are able to see how heavily affected

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