While Hamlet remains introspective and melancholy throughout, the two contrasting soliloquies also reflect his deteriorating sanity as reason, justice, discretion, nobility, and poetic language give way to emotion, vengeance, rashness, pettiness, and angry profanity. Both speeches begin with Hamlet’s declaration of self-pity, referring to himself as “sullied flesh” and “a rogue and peasant slave.” In the first, he decides against suicide only because God had “fixed his canon ‘gainst self-slaughter.” In the second, he calls himself a variety of depressed epithets from “dull and muddy-mettled” to “pigeon-livered.” Furthermore, both soliloquies focus intensely on Hamlet himself. Instead of trying to understand the feelings or circumstances of other people–such as his mother or the …show more content…
In addition to his own problems, Hamlet also recognizes the corruption of Denmark’s royal court, poetically likening it to an “unweeded garden” rife with “things rank and gross”–namely, Claudius’s murder, usurpation, and incest. This acknowledgement shows that Hamlet can see past his personal issues and hold the bigger picture in mind. Hamlet knows that Claudius cannot hold a candle in virtue or capability to King Hamlet Sr.. In an eloquent analogy, Hamlet likens his father to Hyperion, a powerful god, whereas Claudius is but an uncivilized satyr. In addition, Gertrude and Claudius’s “incestuous sheets” trouble Hamlet. Therefore, Hamlet is not motivated solely by revenge; he also wants justice and to correct the rotten state of Denmark’s court–noble intentions indeed. Furthermore, Hamlet’s words exudes clear-headed thinking and wisdom. Despite his indignance toward Claudius and Gertrude, he evaluates the situation soberly, cautiously deciding that “I must hold my tongue.” Throughout the soliloquy, Hamlet displays all the qualities becoming of a prince: dignity, justice, and