her husband’s death, but yet she marries his brother a month later. Shakespeare then takes two metaphors (Hamlet to Hercules and the King to Claudius) and compares them. This shows how different and superior the King was to his brother. We see another allusion of Gertrude marring while the salt from her “Unrighteous tears,” are still on her face. This confirms the speed of her remarriage. The personification of tears also exemplifies the belief that Gertrude was acting to be sad. This is also appearance vs. reality. Then speed is personified to implement again how short the time span was. The sheets are also personified to be incestuous. This demonstrates that with the speed of the marriage it is illegal by the church. Shakespeare then ends the soliloquy with the personification of Hamlet breaking his heart by holding his tongue. This exhibits to the read that Hamlet is going to have a hard time holding all this in, but that he must not say anything to his mother. The first soliloquy plays a major role of setting up two themes (corruption and appearance vs. reality) and setting up conflict. It allows the reader to see into Hamlet’s mind and learn more about his character while possibilities of a conflict arise. The soliloquy also sets up a lot of background information. We learn about past events that other wise could not have been shown. The first soliloquy also sets a tone of frustration that continues until the second. ...
