Figurative Language In Hamlet's First Soliloquy

In order to articulate Hamlet's inner feelings about events and relationships he expresses himself through various soliloquies. Shakespeare's “O, that this too too solid flesh would melt” soliloquy is the first soliloquy within the tragedy Hamlet. This soliloquy occurs after Hamlet speaks with Gertrude and Claudius about King Hamlet’s death. Gertrude proclaims that Hamlet should stop mourning the death of his father. She also states that people die all of the time and that it is common. After this, Claudius pitches in and tells Hamlet that he is being stubborn and unmanly for grieving after three months has passed. Overall, this conversation, and the death of King Hamlet, inspire the soliloquy. Furthermore, the soliloquy presents the main ideas that Hamlet is depressed, King Hamlet was more prestigious than the inferior Claudius, and that Gertrude is weak and insensitive. In Hamlet’s first soliloquy there are a variety of mood changes

To begin, Hamlet proclaims, “With which she follow’d my poor father’s body, / Like Niobe, all tears” (I.ii.150-151). In this allusion, Gertrude and her actions are being compared to Niobe. Niobe was a mother in greek mythology that was turned to stone after her children were slain. She now resembles a mother's grief and sadness. The use of this allusion symbolizes how hastily Gertrude stopped crying for the death of King Hamlet and got remarried. Next, Hamlet explains, “Seem to me all the uses of this world! / Fie on’t! Ah fie! ‘tis an unweeded garden, / That grows to seed; things rank and gross in nature / Possess it merely” (I.ii.136-139). This quote presents a metaphor that compares the world to an unweeded garden where there are unwanted things growing within it. Through the use of this metaphor Hamlet shows how he is depressed along with his hatred for Claudius and the situation at