In this soliloquy, Hamlet is thinking about his mother's
actions following his father's death. He is both angered and confused by her new
relationship with Claudius, his uncle.
In the beginning of
the soliloquy, Hamlet begins contemplating the end of his own
life.
"O that this too 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!"
Hamlet's agitated state is illustrated by
Shakespeare's use of hyphens and exclamation points throughout the
soliloquy.
He states examples of decisions his mother made
which he finds dishonorable:
"But two months dead!—nay, not
so much, not two" This refers to Gertrude's marriage to Claudius in such a short time
after the death of Hamlet's father.
"Frailty, thy name is
woman!—
A little month; or ere those shoes were old
With which she
followed my poor father’s body
Like Niobe, all tears;—" This describes
Gertrude's weakness in marrying Claudius... such a short time had passed that, Hamlet
believes, the shoes she wore to her onetime husband's funeral were still new. He also
discusses here how at the King's funeral, she was distraught and full of
tears.
Hopefully this will give you direction in continuing
to analyze the monologue.
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