Discuss the importance of soliloquies in Hamlet.

. A soliloquy is a speech made by a character when he is alone on the stage. It is a technical device used as a means of conveying to the audience the secret thoughts and feelings of a character, assuming that the character is talking to himself only, although in actual fact, the audience is listening to him. A soliloquy is sometimes used as a means of supplying information regarding the plot. It may also be used as a means of conveying to the audience the mental debate going on in a character. Thus soliloquy becomes a means of character revelation. The soliloquies in Hamlet stand out as essential pillars of the dramatic structure.

 There are as many as eleven soliloquies in Hamlet. Of these seven are uttered by Hamlet, the hero of the tragedy, three by   Claudius and one by Ophelia, the heroine. The first soliloquy is uttered by Hamlet after the King and the Queen have commented on his brooding melancholy over the death of his father. Here he   contemplates over death and suicide, and thinks that he could die if God had not made rule against suicide. The second soliloquy occurs   after his meeting with the ghost of his late father. In this soliloquy Hamlet in an overwrought emotional state says that the Ghost's call for revenge has wiped out everything else in his mind. It reveals Claudius as a perfect villain, and Gertrude as a pernicious woman. In   the third soliloquy (Act Ill, Scene Il) Hamlet accuses himself for   delay in taking revenge on his uncle as per the ghost's order. The fourth soliloquy "To be or not to be" which occurs in Act Ill, Scene I,   is the most famous one in which Hamlet, wishing to commit suicide   reflects on the mysteries of life and death.

 In the fifth soliloquy he expresses his anguish and resentment against his mother and in the sixth, he expresses his failure to kill the king at prayer. The seventh soliloquy (in Act IV, Scene IV) reveals Hamlet's irresolution and procrastination. Besides, there are three   soliloquies of Claudius and they throw light on his character.   Ophelia's only soliloquy in Act Ill, Scene I, expresses her grief over the "over thrown" condition of Hamlet and her own pitiful condition.

  Thus the soliloquies in Hamlet serve the dramatic purpose of revealing the hero's character and action. Without soliloquies the play would be a poor show. In a modern theatre these soliloquy may seem strange but the natural setting of Shakespeare's plays and his audience demanded this kind of entertainment.