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Soliloquy
Explanation and Analysis—Remember Thee:
In Act 1, Scene 5, immediately after relaying the circumstances of his death, the ghost disappears and leaves Hamlet alone. What follows is one of Hamlet’s soliloquies, in which he has the opportunity to express himself in a manner uninhibited by the presence of other people. Throughout much of the play, Hamlet conceals information from those around him, so his moments alone onstage provide important opportunities for him to reflect or make certain decisions. In this soliloquy, he uses his moment of solitude to reckon with the news of his uncle’s violent betrayal before his friends arrive. He is able to express the extent of his shock and horror for a limited period of time, and he uses it to consider the ghost’s parting words. He says:
Remember thee?
Yea, from the table of my memory
I’ll wipe away all trivial, fond records,
All saws of books, all forms, all pressures
That youth and observation copied there,
And thy commandment all alone shall live
Within the book and volume of my brain.
In this passage, Hamlet vows to clear out the contents of his brain in order to better remember his interaction with the ghost. The intensity of his response to the news of his father’s death is only felt because he has the opportunity to reflect alone. Once his friends return, he can communicate only fumblingly and mockingly. This moment of clarity, therefore, shows how seriously Hamlet will carry this interaction forward. This helps contextualize his actions moving forward, an understanding made possible by his time alone onstage.
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