Since the dawn of civilization, language has been recognized as a powerful tool to manipulate and control people. During the 5th century BC, the Sophists of Ancient Greece began to give lessons in rhetoric and argument. These philosophers for hire realized that the pen is truly mightier than the sword, or as Rosencrantz said, “…many wearing rapiers are afraid of goosequills.” (II.ii.357) This perceived importance of language is clearly evident in the play Hamlet, where words are important driving forces for the plot. For many characters in the play, words serve as weapons to manipulate other people and achieve their personal goals. The murder of King Hamlet with ear poison and the ghost’s revelation that the whole ear of Denmark has been rankly abused undoubtedly foreshowed the significant role words play as lethal weapons in the storyline. Hamlet, the most eloquent and articulate character in the story was the unrivalled wielder of these weapons. By winning his mother’s trust and proving Claudius’ guilt, Hamlet unquestionably used language effectively as a weapon.
The best demonstration of Hamlet’s skilful rhetoric and ability to control situations with his words is in Act 3, Scene 4. In this scene, Gertrude summons Hamlet to her chamber to chastise him for his actions during and after the play. However, Hamlet turns the tables and eventually wins Gertrude over to his side. Hamlet recognizes his powers with words and says to himself, “I’ll speak daggers to her but use none.” (III.ii.389) This metaphor is reciprocated by Gertrude as she says, “O, speak to me no more / These words, like daggers, enter in mine ears.” (III.iv.106-107) The multiple representations of Hamlet’s words as daggers affirms the idea that he uses language...
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...II.ii.616-617) Even as Hamlet killed Claudius by dousing him with his own poisoned wine, he continues to assault him with puns. “Drink off this potion. Is thy union here?” (V.ii.340) In one phrase, Hamlet referred to the pearl, Claudius’ incestuous marriage and the inadvertent murder of Gertrude. Though Hamlet did not kill Claudius on his terms, his way with words effectively unravelled the King’s murderous deeds.
Hamlet undoubtedly used language effectively as a weapon to manipulate other people and accomplish his ultimate goal of revenge. Using language and words, Hamlet reversed his mother’s moral stance and confirmed Claudius’ guilt. As American author, Washington Irving, once wrote, "A sharp tongue is the only edged tool that grows keener with constant use." Hamlet’s sharp tongue and wit were his greatest weapons, and his use of them proved very effective.
Because of this, Hamlet appears insane to others, but in fact remains true to his original statement of simply using an “antic disposition.” Hamlet is grounded in logic throughout the entire play. His logic is more blatant than the average man’s, therefore confusing some of the other characters. Rather than stating something profound in response to when Polonius asks what Hamlet is reading, he says only the most obvious and elementary of answers possible, “words, words, words” (2.2.192). The trend between Polonius and Hamlet continues.
William Powers is a New York Times bestselling author of the novel Hamlets Blackberry; a book that thoroughly expounds on the need for society to detach from technology. The inspiration for his novel blossomed during Powers’s research at Harvard University and his passion for the subject only grew from there. He developed into an esteemed author and won the Arthur Rowse Award for media and criticism twice. Powers’s passion for digital balance is very apparent in his life and in his writing. In Hamlets Blackberry he successfully uses many persuasion techniques to help establish and support his argument. In chapter thirteen, Powers utilizes many rhetorical modes such as narrative, Ethos, and Pathos to help support his
Hamlet's actions and words have a "method" to them; there appears to be a reason behind them, they are logical in nature. II, ii.
Literary Devices Identified in Hamlet’s Soliloquy O, what a rogue and peasant slave am I! Metaphor The purpose of a metaphor is to compare the similarities between two different ideas.
Hamlet's first words are rhetorically complicated, and also challenging and puzzling. Does he pretend to be flippant or boorish in order to keep his thoughts to himself, or to contain his pain? Or does he express rational criticism in savagely sarcastic comments spoken only to himself? Or is the energy of his mind such that he thinks and speaks with instinctive ambiguity? Words are restless within his mind, changing meaning, sh...
The court of Denmark is full of hungry ears, listening for news of the king’s death, how he died, scandalous gossip of the newly wedded Claudius and Gertrude, eavesdropping on conversations, catching whispered secrets, and sometimes lies. Such open ears in the court offer easy access for words, truthful or not, to slither into the mind and sake seed inside unsuspecting listeners. In fact, spoken words in Hamlet are apt to find their way into unguarded ears and have great effects upon characters in the play. Shakespeare uses prominent imagery of ears to illustrate words’ powerful influence on the actions and emotions of a person.
Shakespeare’s Hamlet (1603) is one of the most popular dramas in world literature, as it examines the intensely passionate, but poisonous ambitions of King Claudius. He murders his own brother, King Hamlet, because he desires his throne, power, and wife. As a result of King Claudius’ fratricide, he inherits the “primal eldest curse” of the biblical Cain and Abel, and the dispersion of poison lethally ends his relationship with several major characters. This includes, of course, Prince Hamlet, who falls into a suicidal depression over the death of his father whose ghost visits him. This essay will analyze Shakespeare’s trope of poison, embodied by King Claudius.
What drives Hamlet to his madness? How does it relate to Ophelia’s madness? Are Hamlet and Ophelia both truly mad? These are some questions that I contemplated as I read Hamlet. The main character, Hamlet feigns madness after learning of his father’s murder; however, he becomes mad later on in the play. Is it possible that Hamlet became so wrapped up in his father’s murder that he was unable to distinguish fantasy from reality?
Each person goes through life questioning the whys and what ifs, but seldom do people act on those revengeful feelings unless they reach a point of action. Hamlet reaches such a point in life where wordplay no longer suffices, and he must act not out of necessity but out of filial duty and honor. In this soliloquy, Hamlet sheds his attachment for words and begins to act on his deeply held feelings of revenge/
An author can reveal characteristics of characters in literature through several different methods. Some common methods of characterization include one’s appearance, speech, thoughts, name, actions, and emotions. However, unconventional means can also be used, such as imagery, which is visually descriptive or figurative language. In Hamlet, by William Shakespeare, imagery is used to characterize central characters to the play. Firstly, Hamlet’s characteristics are revealed through the imagery of death in his speech. Secondly, Claudius’ characteristics are revealed through the imagery in the Ghost and Hamlet’s descriptions of him, as well as his own thoughts. It is through this visually descriptive and figurative language, that readers can identify characteristics of these central characters.
Our first experience with Hamlet’s tendency to wander into the realm of the abstract comes even before he meets the Ghost. In Act I, Scene iv, as Hamlet, Horatio, and Marcellus await the spirit, they observe Claudius, who is drunk. His scholarly mind always searching for new intellectual morsels, Hamlet uses the king’s seemingly commonplace actions as the springboard for a discussion of the causes of evil in men. What stands out is how quickly he forgets about practical matters ¾in this case, meeting the spirit of his dead father¾ in order to ponder over a vague, philosophical question. As the play develops, it is this very trait that prevents him from achieving the prompt revenge he has promised.
Language Techniques in Hamlet by William Shakespeare Shakespeare used a variety of language techniques throughout Hamlet,
While the actual personality traits and each character’s motivations add more depth to Shakespeare’s overall belief, the language each character incorporates contributes more highly to the conviction – revenge causes one to act blindly in anger. By analyzing Hamlet’s use of language throughout the play, one can tell Hamlet is keen on avenging his father, but no heart or effort is put into the action. Speaking in disgust with himself, Hamlet says “That I, the son of a dear father murder'd, / Prompted to my revenge by heaven and hell, / Must, like a whore, unpack my heart with words, “ (2.2.584-586). Hamlet uses simile to compare himself to a coward and state that he has no...
Claudius begins his speech with an acknowledgement of Hamlet’s death and his own marriage to Gertrude. Claudius claims that the “green” memory of his “dear brother’s death” “befitted” Denmark to contract into “one brow of woe” (1.2). Despite Claudius’ affectionate reference to Hamlet, his hypocrisy is transparent. The colour imagery reveals the freshness of Hamlet’s death. The metaphor used suggests the kingdom is expected to unite and share the grief over its loss but the diction in “befitted” hints Claudius disapproval of expected mourning rites, causing the audience to doubt his sincerity. Furthermore, Claudius adds that “discretion fought with nature” causing him to think of Hamlet together with a “remembrance of [himself]” (1.2). The metaphorical conflict between “discretion” and “nature” contrasts Claudius’ hasty marriage to the expected mourning after Hamlet’s death. Moreover, in Claudius’ statement, the dependen...
Hamlet is one of Shakespeare’s most well-known tragedies. At first glance, it holds all of the common occurrences in a revenge tragedy which include plotting, ghosts, and madness, but its complexity as a story far transcends its functionality as a revenge tragedy. Revenge tragedies are often closely tied to the real or feigned madness in the play. Hamlet is such a complex revenge tragedy because there truly is a question about the sanity of the main character Prince Hamlet. Interestingly enough, this deepens the psychology of his character and affects the way that the revenge tragedy takes place. An evaluation of Hamlet’s actions and words over the course of the play can be determined to see that his ‘outsider’ outlook on society, coupled with his innate tendency to over-think his actions, leads to an unfocused mission of vengeance that brings about not only his own death, but also the unnecessary deaths of nearly all of the other main characters in the revenge tragedy.