This soliloquy shows Hamlet’s character is depressed, defeated, and essentially empty questioning all his moral faiths and contemplating death.
This soliloquy has been looked at many times and in many different ways. This may be one of the most famous soliloquies in Shakespearean literature. The ‘To be or not to be’ soliloquy above centers around the notion of death, dying, and morality in God’s eyes. Before this soliloquy takes place Hamlet is distraught, upset that suicide is an immoral sin and upset that he feels it is the best way to ‘get out’ of the situation he is in. Hamlet is struggling with the idea of suicide as well as killing Claudius during this speech and he is also showing the audience how taxing the whole situation has been on him. He has become so grief stricken and depressed that for the time being, does not think about his duty to kill Claudius but instead thinks about the easiest way to end his suffering in this situation; suicide. Hamlet is so distraught that he is willing to deliberate the idea of an immoral sin in God’s eyes; which will in turn put him in a much worse place than he is now. This soliloquy shows how Hamlet has become so overwhelmed with emotions that he actually thinks about what it would be like to die and what he would suffer in the afterlife, if he were to commit suicide. The depression that resulted in Hamlet throughout the event preceding this soliloquy lead hamlet to not only think about death but to question his very faith in God and justice; his moral faith.
This soliloquy shows Hamlet’s character is depressed, defeated, and essentially empty questioning all his moral faiths and contemplating death.
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