First soliloquy

Hamlet is alone and exposes his inner most thought and feeling the
world seems to him an unweeded garden. Hamlet s tragedy is already in
progress, when he first appears on the stage. Hamlet does not move from the
stage of adversity and sufferings. His state of unhappiness cannot be attributed to
the death of his honored and beloved father. His unhappiness is because of the
incestuous marriage of his mother with a usurper who has become the king of
Denmark. Overwhelming cause of Hamlet s grief is revealed in this soliloquy. He
is extremely sorrowful at the incestuous marriage of his mother with his uncle.
The marriage between a man and his dead brother s wife not allowed according
to the law of church.
From religious point of view the marriage of Claudius and Gertude
is incestuous and unlawful and altogether null and void. The prince Hamlet is a
young idealistic person. Therefore, he believes that the honour of Danish royal
family is distorted and stained. Furthermore, traditionally incest is considered to
be an offence against whole society. In these circumstances, Hamlet has a public
duty to oppose Claudius. The present issue is not personal or domestic one. Hero
is one who stands against the existing corrupt and cruel order. For the people.
Pessimism and disappointment:
Hamlet s grief is so unbearable that he would take his own life, if
there were not religious injunction against the suicide. It is an ultimate act of
despair and thus it is a sin. He is utterly disappointed. This pessimistic approach
illustrates the prince s attitude toward his mother and her remarriage. Here is
crushing discovery of great evil by a young idealistic who is very sensitive.
He laments:
How weary, flat, slat and unprofitable
Seem to me all uses of this world
Here Hamlet uses perfect metaphors. He compares this world with an unweeded
garden. The growth of weeds destroyed order and distorted paradisic beauty of
this garden. The properly looked after garden symbolizes an orderly world. The
world unweeded symbolizes disease and corruption which has destroyed order.
Further, Hamlet identifies dead father with Hyperion. While
Claudius has been compared with Satyr. Hyperion is god of light. And light has
been attributed to with order and virtue. Satyr has attained the meaning of a
lecherous man. On his part, Hamlet clearly concludes that lust, not love,
determines the incestuous relationship between the king and queen. To moral
philosophy of Renaissance, lust is viewed as evidence of degradation. To
Renaissance Philosophy, lust makes a man unreasonable beast. So this sort of
beast challenges moral codes and ultimately is dragged to rejection of God.
Intellectual Power:
Hamlet sees his mother incapable of love. Thus, he refers to her earlier regard
for king Hamlet in terms of physical appetite. He has ability to move from
particular to general. He says:
Frailty thy name is woman.
He believes that if a mother and wife appeared so loving can so degenerate
herself. Then all women and all daughters of Eve are immoral. Hamlet had
placed his mother at a very high pedestal. He had idealized her. But his idealism
has shattered due to hasty and incestuous marriage. He is now a disillusioned
young man. He believes that all the women are corrupt.