"To be or not to be: that is the question..." (III. i. 56)- thus begins 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 evident through his soliloquies, each of which shows him in a different state of mind. His first soliloquy exists simply to show his "deep melancholy and the reasons for his despair" (Mabillard "Part 1..." 3). He refers to himself as "...a thief and peasant slave" (II. ii. 577) in his second soliloquy and wishes he could "stir up his passions" (Mabillard "Part 1..." 5). As much as he wants to avenge his father's murder, he still does nothing because he wants everything to be planned exactly like this (Mabillard "Part 1.." 7). In Hamlet's best-known soliloquy, he "triggers an internal philosophical debate" (Mabillard "Part 1..." 9) with himself about suicide. In a later soliloquy, he "feels himself capable of perpetrating evil... -murder" (Mabillard "Part 1..." 9). Yet, in his next soliloquy, he does not act because "[Claudio] is praying, .../And so he [will] go to heaven" (III. iii. 77-79); ultimately, in his final soliloquy he is determined to act after deciding "...[he has] cause, will, strength and means / To do it" (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 only on revenge is very evident. Hamlet seems to have lost himself when he speaks in the first of his soliloquies. When he arrives at his castle after returning from school in Wittenberg (in another country), he finds that it does not look like his primary home (Cousins 1). According to Cousins, "The absence of his father and his uncle"... in the center of the paper... and. 4-16-05. 1-7.Saunders, J. G. The Soliloquies in Hamlet: The Structural Design The English Studies Review. Oxford University Press, 1995. 85-86.Shakespeare, William Hamlet Eds. The case of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark. Chance and proof of experience. Correl University Press: London, 1986. 246-253. Watts, Cedric Yet there is method in it: The Co-Ordination New Critical Introductions to William Shakespeare. Harvester-Whitesheaf: New York, 1998. 42-47.Wood, Robert E. By the Way, My Brains Soliloquies! Some necessary questions of the work. Bucknell University Press: Toronto, 1994. 91-108.
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