Q The Importance of Hamlet's Soliloquy Are you engaged in a reading of Shakespeare's Hamlet with your students? If so, you know that there are many different pedagogical tacks you can take. The play is full of important themes like loneliness, intergenerational connections, and the polarity between thought and action. Shakespeare's language provides so many opportunities for poetic instruction, and the characters of Hamlet and Ophelia have complicated traits and motivations. One thing many teachers choose to do is spend some time dwelling on Hamlet's 'to be or not to be' soliloquy. There are many different reasons to focus intently on this speech. For instance: The soliloquy provides insight into Hamlet's character and everything that follows in the play. The soliloquy is alluded to frequently throughout literature and criticism, and students will be more culturally literate if they know it well. The soliloquy is a prime example of Shakespeare's ingenious use of language. One way you can get your students to focus deeply on the soliloquy is to have them write essays about it. Essays give students the opportunity to delve deeply into the text, form strong opinions, and justify literary arguments with textual evidence. The essay questions in this lesson will get students thinking carefully and critically about Hamlet's soliloquy. Lesson Course 2.2K views Questions About Hamlet's Character What do you think the soliloquy demonstrates about Hamlet's character? Choose three distinct character traits to focus on. Show how the soliloquy proves that Hamlet possesses these character traits, and explain how having these traits impacts his life and behavior. Hamlet sets up a lot of different oppositions in his soliloquy. What do these oppositions show about his way of viewing the world around him? What do you think has made Hamlet such a conflicted person, and what themes is Shakespeare getting at through his character's expression of these oppositions? What do you think Hamlet foreshadows about his character's behavior and life choices through his soliloquy? Offer specific examples of the lines he says that help you understand the direction his character is going to take for the remainder of the play. Speculate on why Shakespeare chose to foreshadow in this way. What does the soliloquy show about the major obstacles facing Hamlet as a character? To what extent is he aware or ignorant of his own obstacles and flaws?