Motifs and symbols are two different types of literary elements that Shakespeare tends to use to display the development of a theme. A motif is an object or idea that repeats throughout a piece of literature while a symbol is an object or action to represent something else. Motifs tend to show up more in the literary piece while symbols occur maybe once or twice during the entire piece. Hamlet has multiple motifs and also a few symbols to tie to the main theme of the play. The major theme in the play is the idea of death. The entire play is about how Hamlet is going to kill Claudius and how other characters want people dead and in the end many people end up dying. In some ways, the play is very ironic because the people who thought about death
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Incest is very prevalent motif during this play. Claudius is Hamlet’s uncle but after his father dies, Claudius marries Hamlets mother, Gertrude. They were once brother-in-law and sister-in-law and have now become husband and wife. Claudius claims he loves Gertrude but yet kills her actual husband to become king and marry the king’s wife which is not loving at all. Another example of the incestuous idea is Hamlet’s actions towards his mother. Once his father died, he became bothered by his mother and uncle’s sex life which kept him thinking about what his mother was doing. When he got the chance, he brought her into her room to discuss her relationship with Claudius and after he ranted to her about how screwed up Claudius was, he made a plan to catch him in his lie. After they were done speaking, he kissed her on the lips. This can be taken as a sexual act towards his mother since he tends to be eyeing her …show more content…
Claudius is the number one component for this motif. He uses his words to manipulate what he truly is doing to make himself look better and more powerful. Dumping the poison into the king’s ear ties to this idea along with what Hamlet has written Horatio in a letter which was “I have words to speak in thine ear will make thee dumb” (Act IV, scene vi, 24). Another example is when the Ghost of King Hamlet is talking to Hamlet and is telling him that Claudius killed him and “the whole ear of Denmark/ Is by a forgotten of my death/ Rankly abused” (Act 1, scene v,
Incest is very prevalent motif during this play. Claudius is Hamlet’s uncle but after his father dies, Claudius marries Hamlets mother, Gertrude. They were once brother-in-law and sister-in-law and have now become husband and wife. Claudius claims he loves Gertrude but yet kills her actual husband to become king and marry the king’s wife which is not loving at all. Another example of the incestuous idea is Hamlet’s actions towards his mother. Once his father died, he became bothered by his mother and uncle’s sex life which kept him thinking about what his mother was doing. When he got the chance, he brought her into her room to discuss her relationship with Claudius and after he ranted to her about how screwed up Claudius was, he made a plan to catch him in his lie. After they were done speaking, he kissed her on the lips. This can be taken as a sexual act towards his mother since he tends to be eyeing her …show more content…
Claudius is the number one component for this motif. He uses his words to manipulate what he truly is doing to make himself look better and more powerful. Dumping the poison into the king’s ear ties to this idea along with what Hamlet has written Horatio in a letter which was “I have words to speak in thine ear will make thee dumb” (Act IV, scene vi, 24). Another example is when the Ghost of King Hamlet is talking to Hamlet and is telling him that Claudius killed him and “the whole ear of Denmark/ Is by a forgotten of my death/ Rankly abused” (Act 1, scene v,