In plays and in most novels, symbolism and imagery scatter the pages, hinting and disclosing information just by mentioning a single object. William Shakespeare’s Hamlet is no exception to this phenomenon. There is without a doubt several uses of imagery and symbolism distributed throughout its many acts and scenes, displaying the relationships among characters, their philosophies, and their personalities. Each one of these symbols and uses of imagery are what enable the play to be widely recognized by the mention of a simple item or entity. In Shakespeare’s Hamlet, imagery and symbolism are used as ways to express important events or represent important information that can foreshadow future events, or depict certain characters within the …show more content…
Alone, these three items reveal crucial traits, relationships, and ideas within the play that would not have been effectively expressed without them. Ophelia’s flowers each represent a character and how they have been affected by certain incidences in the play and who is affected by them, as well as certain relationships and how they have gone sour. Yorick’s skull is used to represent the philosophies of death and an obsession with death. Hamlet’s black clothing is used to represent how physical attire can denote a person’s state of mind, and to give a glimpse into what life was like in Shakespeare’s time. Nevertheless, the symbols and imagery used in Shakespeare’s Hamlet hold important information pertaining to the various characters and relationships within the play, creating an established work of …show more content…
In her hands, she held seven different varieties of flowers: fennel, rosemary, pansies, rue, daises, violets, and columbines. Through the gifting the flowers to each main character, it gives a brief overview of the traits of the dramatis personae and notable events that have taken place within the play. Because Ophelia withheld certain names of who she gifted the flowers to, the meanings of the flowers give hints to who she would have gifted them to. However, some flowers hold a higher significance than others. For this reason, only fennel, rosemary, and daises absorb the true nature and purpose of the
Manning, John. "Symbola and Emblemata in Hamlet." New Essays on Hamlet. Ed. Mark Thornton Burnett and John Manning. New York: AMS Press, 1994. 11-18.
The visual image most popularly associated with William Shakespeare's play Hamlet is that of young Ophelia's body floating in the river after her suicidal drowning as described in Act 4, Scene 7, lines 167-184. Shakespeare's captivating illustration of an unstable young woman finally at rest has been portrayed by several artists because of its beautiful, whimsical narrative. Ophelia's depiction throughout the play personifies not only youthful love, loss, innocence and naïveté, but also the dependent role of women in the time of Shakespeare.
Iterative use of vivid and detailed imagery in a piece of literature is often a way of expressing a theme or concept in a literary work. This is the case in William Shakespeare"'"s Hamlet, a revenge tragedy that continually depicts the vibrant metaphors of manifesting corruption and festering disease in order to auger the impending calamities in the state of Denmark. Throughout Shakespeare"'"s play, there are successive images of deterioration, decay and death. These images are skilfully accomplished through the use of metaphors of rotting and dead gardens. Shakespeare wonderfully creates these metaphors that add great dimension to the play of Hamlet.
Hamlet is Shakespeare’s most famous tragedy, which contains and portrays many themes in outstanding ways. Throughout this play, the title character, Hamlet, is obsessed with trapping a culprit and bringing him to justice. (Hamlet, 15) Sorting fact from fiction and appearance from reality is a major theme of the play. Appearance vs. Reality encircles throughout the play and remains constant. It’s about those characters that play their roles behind the veil of duplicity. Within the play, everything appears to be true and accurate, but in reality it’s vice-versa. (Hamlet- Appearance vs. Reality) In this play, Appearance vs. Reality is dealt with by many characters. The way Shakespeare used this theme in Hamlet is not only interesting, but quite astonishing in the way it affects the play in general, but the ending tremendously.
Concerning the Ophelia of Shakespeare’s tragic drama Hamlet, is she an innocent type or not? Is she a victim or not? This essay will explore these and other questions related to this character.
Manning, John. "Symbola and Emblemata in Hamlet." New Essays on Hamlet. Ed. Mark Thornton Burnett and John Manning. New York: AMS Press, 1994. 11-18.
The very act of engaging with fiction necessitates recognizing the possibilities and the limits of words. The audience of, for example, Hamlet obviously recognizes that the aim of words is not always to accurately describe reality. Yet, this recognition brings along with it a frightening realization: even when one tries, it is next to impossible to use words to accurately describe reality. In his 1951 article The Word In Hamlet, John Paterson argues that this crisis alarms Hamlet because of its relation to the greater chasm between appearance and substance; and that the crisis is ultimately solved by a reunion of word and deed in the play’s end. Yet, a closer reading of Hamlet’s death scene, while recognizing some superficial union of word and deed, suggests the ultimate failure of words to capture reality.
Through the elements of technique portrayed in this essay, it is clear to see that Shakespeare is able to influence the reader through soliloquies, imagery, and dual understanding. This overall influence being both the communication of a deeper meaning, and a more complex understanding of the events and statements within Hamlet.
In this visual created, I pulled relevant objects and topics that stood out in relation to Hamlet. Each symbol or idea represented what Hamlet was, whether it was about his emotions or his actions, there is a picture to summarize it. The skull located on the middle of the poster represents death and the amount of perish Hamlet had to go through. From the beginning of the play, the root of the storyline was based around the concept of murder, and as the play went on, the more death kept reappearing with Hamlet being in the mix of it. In the end, that amount of perishing caught up to Hamlet and took his life along will the others.
In Hamlet, imagery of disease, poison and decay, are used by Shakespeare for a purpose. The descriptions of disease, poison, and decay help us understand the bitter relationships that exist in the play and Hamlet’s own cynicism. We see Hamlet’s pessimism in his soliloquy when he contemplates suicide. The resentful relationship that exists between Claudius and Hamlet is heightened with the use of imagery when Claudius asks about Polonius. Imagery enhances Claudius’ abhorrence of Hamlet. Shakespeare uses imagery in this play to deepen our understanding of the emotions experienced.
In the play, Hamlet shows that his intense grief is honest. He recalls how his father loved his mother and how kind his father was to his uncle. Remembering his father’s good qualities, however only amplifies his agony. Because of the weight of his grief, Hamlet wishes to die to escape the pain and heartache. The way Shakespeare uses death as a transformation of beauty into ugliness also supports the fact that Hamlet is a death obsessed play. When Hamlet’s father appears as a ghost to Hamlet. Hamlet asks why the marbled coffin they laid him in had vomited him back. After Polonius is killed by Hamlet, Hamlet tells Claudius that Polonius is “at supper” where he is being served as the supper to worms instead of eating at it. Ophelia fell into the river and her clothes spread out in a “mermaid like” fashion as she suck to her muddy death. Yorick was the king’s beloved jester, who had a wonderful sense of humor and wit, however death reduces him to a jawless pathetic skull. These deaths all reflect the same pattern of death turning prettiness into nastiness. Finally, Hamlet addresses the fear of death and why people force themselves to tolerate “calamity.” He states that when someone dies, they are asleep and have dreams. Since these dreams are unknown to everyone, everyone fears death. With the emphasis of the entire play focused on grief, death, and the fear
Shakespeare is regarded as a master of language, with beautiful English writing constantly flowing from his pen. His mastery of words has the ability to instill images into the mind of the reader or viewer. In the dwindling world of the play Hamlet, Shakespeare incorporates a plethora of images that describe things as they truly are. Two of such images are indecision and poison: their developments serve a vital purpose to the play as a whole.
The imagery in the play of Hamlet is composed of disease, poison, and decay this adds to the overall atmosphere of horror and tragedy. First, hamlet uses images of disease to show the state of the country of Denmark and his mother. Second, the imagery of poison is used to describe his father’s death. Lastly, Hamlet describes his feelings toward himself and Claudius and his feelings toward his mother by using images of decay. In Hamlet, as in all literature, imagery adds to reader’s ability to imagine the feeling of the story.
Within Hamlet, there are numerous uses of theatrical metaphors and imagery (Lois Potter 129). The text is filled with words such as, applaud, prologue, act, prompted, perform, globe, and play. For instance, Hamlet responds to his father’s Ghost after being begged to remember him, “Remember thee? / Ay, thou poor ghost, whiles memory holds a seat / In this distracted globe” (Ham. 1.5.95-7). Moreover, Gertrude reflects, “To my sick soul, as sin’s true nature is, / Each toy seems prologue to some great amiss” (Ham. 4.5.17-18). These metaphors are examples of a more subtle form of meta-theatricality—and are more integrated into the fabric of the text—but assist in forming a continuous theatrical context.
Imagery is word pictures. Hamlet deals with the imagery of poison, disease and decay. This imagery adds a sense of reality and depth to how characters in the play take revenge on other characters. These word pictures make the reader more sympathetic towards Hamlet. I have chosen five examples in the play to help describe the imagery of poison, disease and decay. Two of these examples are of decay, one of disease, and a following two examples of poison.