Critical Essay on Literary Tools in The Tragedy of Hamlet

Introduction

The Tragedy of Hamlet by William Shakespeare is one of the best works in literature. The play is thematically-rich in some of the literary tools used to engage the audience. The play follows the tragedy of Prince Hamlet as he struggles to decide whether to avenge his father's death by killing his uncle. Some of the tools used to engage the audience includes Appearance vs. Reality, Play-Within-a-Play, Irony, Metaphors, Symbols, and Soliloquies. The following study analyzes the tools and their application in The Tragedy of Hamlet.

Is your time best spent reading someone else’s essay? Get a 100% original essay FROM A CERTIFIED WRITER!

Save 25%

Appearance vs. Reality

One of the themes which Shakespeare uses in his play The Tragedy of Hamlet is using appearance vs. reality to capture the audience. The theme helps question the boundary between the actors and the people. During the play, Hamlet questions how he can trust the ghost that appears before him. He wonders whether the ghost belongs to his father or not, or is it a ghost that will lead him to sin. The uncertainty in the play employed by Shakespeare is one of the elements which draws the audience to the play as the actions dictated by the ghost direct the rest of the play.

The play blurs the line between what is real and what is fake. As Act 1 begins, Hamlet states that he plans to feign madness. However, as the play progresses, it becomes clear that Hamlet's presence to be mad is more of a reality. One of the best examples is in Act 3, where Hamlet confuses Ophelia regarding his affection towards her. Throughout this scene, Shakespeare shows his brilliance by cleverly altering the language to reflect this confusion. When Hamlet tells Ophelia to go to the "nunnery," the audience can easily misinterpret the term as a brothel, which is usually an Elizabethan slang (Shakespeare 65).

On the contrary, the term "nunnery" can be interpreted as a place of honor and loyalty. The scene confuses both the actors and the audience in terms of the delivery of the message. The scene echoes the difficulties in interpreting reality, which leads to Hamlet finding a struggle with avenging his father's death.

Play-Within-a-Play

The theme of reality versus appearance echoes Shakespeare's play within a play. This coincides with the often-quoted phrase "all the world's a stage" As the audience observes the actors reenact the play Hamlet, they are coerced into focusing out of the stage and observe how they can be participants on the stage. For example, the way Hamlet feigns his madness and also Ophelia's compliance with his father's demands not to see Hamlet is another pretense as he does not want to heartbreak Hamlet. Hamlet tries to rope in the audience to observe the way we play as actors in our daily lives when we don't intend to be.

Irony

Irony helps the audience perceive themselves as smart as people like to view themselves as enlightened. In the play, dramatic irony usually takes place when the audience has an idea of what is happening while the characters don't know. In The Tragedy of Hamlet, the audience and the ghost have an idea of what led to Hamlet's father's death. However, other characters have no idea of the plot. Shakespeare employs the use of dramatic irony throughout the play to highlight themes of deception, distrust, and mischief.

Another instance is where Claudius addresses Hamlet as his son. Shakespeare uses verbal irony in this case, as Hamlet's response is a testament to Shakespeare's play of words. Hamlet's reaction to Claudius is, "Not so, my lord; I am too much I' the sun." (Shakespeare 13) The irony is that Hamlet considers himself Claudius's son being that they are technically a father and son. He uses a combination of "sun" and "son," which is witty and makes the point clear. However, Claudius hears the response as a reply to the weather conditions.

Metaphor

Hamlet is surrounded by metaphors, and the most remarkable are those related to nature. Hamlet associates the world with "an unweeded garden," which is a way of describing his issues (Shakespeare 15). Laertes designates Ophelia as "Rose Of May" he requests Ophelia to relate Hamlet's love to "a violet in the youth of primy nature," signifying that their love will not last (Shakespeare 20, 106). By associating the characters with nature and some of the worldly conditions, Shakespeare provides the audience with a deeper understanding of the perspectives, values, and beliefs of the characters. Hamlet says, "to die: to sleep, no more; and by a sleep to say we end; the heart-ache and the thousand natural shocks; that flesh is heir to." (Shakespeare 63) The phrase provides more profound meaning to the audience that though sleep offers us a reprieve from the troubles of life, only death makes it permanent.

Symbols

In The Tragedy of Hamlet, symbols are used to represent the motivations and internal emotions of the characters. Hamlet's central theme is to provide an insight into the inner conflicts the characters experience among themselves and see their thoughts and feelings. For example, the ghost in the play signifies the emotions and disturbing memories. The flowers and the gardens signify the lust and temptations while the clothes signify the boundary between outward and inward appearances.

In the play, physical objects don't help in representing thematic ideas. However, one notable exception is Yorick's skull, discovered by Hamlet. When Hamlet speaks to the skull of the king's old clown, he realizes the inevitability of death and the dissolution of the body. He prompts the skull to "get you to my lady's chamber, and tell her, let her paint an inch thick, to this favor, she must come" (Shakespeare 123). To Hamlet, no one can avoid death. He runs his fingers along the skills mouth and states, "here hung those lips that I have kissed I know not how oft" (Shakespeare 123). This show's Hamlet's physical infatuation with the results of death. This last idea is an important reason for all the work, as Hamlet often comments on the possible decomposition of the entire human body and states worms will eat even kings and that death does not identify social status.

Soliloquies

Soliloquies allow the audience to discover the innermost thoughts of a character. They play a central role in uncovering certain themes in The Tragedy of Hamlet. At the core is the meaning of life and suicide. This problem is expressed in almost every monologue written by Hamlet. At the beginning of the play, Hamlet thinks of suicide, but fears it will violate God's will, which would condemn him to hell if he did. Hamlet states, "or that the everlasting had not fix'd/ His canon 'gainst self-slaughter! o god! o god!" (Shakespeare 15).

The question of suicide continued to develop as the play progresses. However, this advances to a philosophical manner, as Hamlet states, "To be, or not to be." (Shakespeare 63) Hamlet continues to wonder whether it is okay for a man to suffer when he states, "Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer" (Shakespeare 63). Hamlet deals with the question of suicide in his famous soliloquy "To be, or not to be" (Shakespeare 63). When Hamlet thinks of suicide, he discovers that "the fear of something after death" prevents him. This theme is repeated in the skulls Hamlet finds in one of the last scenes. He is surprised by the anonymity of each skull that can't even recognize his favorite idiot, Yorick. This is why Shakespeare presents Hamlet's struggle to understand the mystery of death, which also separates us from the most fundamental aspects of our identity.

Conclusion

In conclusion, Shakespeare employs literary devices in the play to bring out themes that surround our daily lives. The use of soliloquies in the play is a reflection of the internal conflicts and questions that humans that we have to understand; what is the meaning of life? Through the characters, we get to see a reflection of the daily struggles of love, life, pain, and pleasure.

Works Cited

Shakespeare, William. "The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark." 1999, pp. 1-142.,