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A summary of Act I: Scene i in William Shakespeare's Hamlet. Learn exactly what happened in this chapter, scene, or section of Hamlet and what it means. Perfect for acing essays, tests, and quizzes, as well as for writing lesson plans.
- Act I: Scenes III & IV
Hamlet views the king’s carousing as a further sign of the...
- Act I: Scene II
Summary: Act I, scene ii. The morning after Horatio and the...
- Act V: Scene II
Summary: Act V, scene ii. The next day at Elsinore Castle,...
- Act Iv: Scene Vii
Summary: Act IV, scene vii. As Horatio speaks to the...
- Act V: Scene I
Hamlet’s confrontation with death, manifested primarily in...
- Quick Quiz
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- Character List
The Prince of Denmark, the title character, and the...
- Full Play Analysis
Summary Hamlet Full Play Analysis. Previous Next . In...
- Act I: Scenes III & IV
Need help with Act 1, Scene 1 in William Shakespeare's Hamlet? Check out our revolutionary side-by-side summary and analysis.
- Hamlet's First Soliloquy: Act 1, Scene 2
- What Is A Soliloquy?
- Background
- Summary of Hamlet's First Soliloquy
- Line-By-Line Analysis of Hamlet's First Soliloquy
- Comments
O that this too solid flesh would melt, Thaw, and resolve itself into a dew! Or that the Everlasting had not fix'd His canon 'gainst self-slaughter! O God! O God! How weary, stale, flat, and unprofitable Seem to me all the uses of this world! Fie on't! O fie! 'tis an unweeded garden, That grows to seed; things rank and gross in nature Possess it me...
A soliloquy is a type of monologue in a play that is intended to advance the audience's understanding of a character, including his inner thoughts and feelings, his motivations, and, sometimes, what he plans to do next. In the case of this particular text, Hamlet's soliloquy serves the purpose of informing the audience of his intense negative feeli...
The first soliloquy takes place after King Claudius and Queen Gertrude urge Hamlet in open court to cast off the deep melancholythat, they believe, has taken possession of his mind as a consequence of his father’s death. In the opinion of the king and queen, Hamlet has already sufficiently grieved and mourned for his father. Prior to the soliloquy,...
Hamlet refers to the world as an ‘unweeded garden,’ in which rank and gross things grow in abundance. He bemoans the fact that he cannot commit suicide and explains in lines 335-336 that "self-slaughter" is not an option because it is forbidden by God. In the first two lines of the soliloquy, he wishes that his physical self might cease to exist on...
333-334:Hamlet is saying that he wishes his body would dissolve into a puddle of its own accord. In other words, he is saying he doesn't want to exist anymore.335-336:He also wishes that it wasn't against the laws of God to commit suicide.337-338:He is saying that all the joy has gone out of life and its pleasures.339-341:Hamlet likens life to a garden that has been allowed to run wild and grow gross and disgusting things in it as a result of a lack of tending.Alion April 12, 2020: 1-What are the main points we can find in Hamlet's first soliloquy? 2- Why did Laertes encourage Ophelia not to have a relation with Hamlet? Juanon January 23, 2020: I think I’m gay for Shakespeare Saraon November 04, 2019: hamlet is such a GREAT play i'm nearly 17 but i read it to my kids cmarkson July 24, 2019: I'm really no...
Act I, Scene 1. The play opens at midnight in Denmark as two sentries, Francisco and Barnardo, stand guard over Elsinore Castle. Barnardo has come to relieve Francisco of his watch, but they...
Summary Scene 1. The play opens during a bitterly cold night watch outside of the royal Danish palace. There is a changing of the guards: Bernardo replaces Francisco. Soon two more characters arrive, Horatio and Marcellus.
In that fight, our courageous Hamlet (or at least that’s how we thought of him) killed old King Fortinbras, who—on the basis of a valid legal document—surrendered all his territories, along with his life, to his conqueror.
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Act 1 sets up the circumstances around Old Hamlet’s death and Hamlet’s need for revenge – showing us how Hamlet feels about his mother’s new marriage and the promises he makes to the ghost of his father, to avenge his murder.
