“To be or not to be…” is one of the most famous literary lines from a soliloquy ever uttered in a play. In that famous monologue, Hamlet states a metaphor “the slings and arrows.” This is just one of so many metaphors used in the play The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark. The main characters of this play are King Claudius, Hamlet, Polonius, Horatio, Laeretes, and Ophelia. Hamlet is about a man whose father gets killed by his uncle, who then becomes king and marries his sister-in-law. Hamlet spends the whole play trying to get revenge for his father’s death. In the end, Hamlet gets his revenge but dies and Prince Fortinbras, of Norway, takes over the kingdom of Denmark. I plan on analyzing and discussing the three different types of metaphors
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The metaphor is used in Act One, Scene Five when Hamlet urges the ghost to let him know how to avenge his father’s death. Hamlet states, “Haste me to know 't, that I, with wings as swift as meditation or the thoughts of love, may sweep to my revenge” (Shakespeare 29). This quote means that Hamlet imagines an angel-like being taking revenge for his father’s murder. However, in the end, it is Hamlet that is the angel and takes vengeance in his last dying hour. Rhodri Lewis, of the University of North Carolina Press, wrote a paper describing Hamlet’s metaphors. At one point he states, “These metaphors enable Hamlet to misrepresent the reality of his inner life in response to the Ghost 's revelations, most notably in his pursuit of mnemonic erasure” (Lewis 629). To me, this means that Hamlet misinterpreted what the ghost said, for example, Hamlet thought an angel should avenge his father’s death, when it was Hamlet who did the avenging and this was also a way to always keep Hamlet’s father in his …show more content…
The metaphor used is, “Tis an unweeded garden that grows to seed. Things rank and gross in nature possess it merely” (Shakespeare 15). Hamlet feels as if the kingdom is a dying garden and is decaying under the current king, King Claudius. Claudius’s “weeds” are starting to sprout due to neglect, weak husbandry, and incompetent ruling. Both Claudius and Hamlet are imperfect in two separate ways. Claudius is imperfect by being a horrid king and Hamlet in not taking revenge quicker than he should have. Marra wrote, “The author states that the play establishes criteria that are of value and significant in interpreting action in its succeeding episodes. He mentions that the deeper structure of the play will be suggested by the theatre that serves as metaphor for the human situation.” (Marra 30). In Marra saying this, it goes along with the quotes in Hamlet describing how deep and meaningful the quotes are in the
The metaphor is used in Act One, Scene Five when Hamlet urges the ghost to let him know how to avenge his father’s death. Hamlet states, “Haste me to know 't, that I, with wings as swift as meditation or the thoughts of love, may sweep to my revenge” (Shakespeare 29). This quote means that Hamlet imagines an angel-like being taking revenge for his father’s murder. However, in the end, it is Hamlet that is the angel and takes vengeance in his last dying hour. Rhodri Lewis, of the University of North Carolina Press, wrote a paper describing Hamlet’s metaphors. At one point he states, “These metaphors enable Hamlet to misrepresent the reality of his inner life in response to the Ghost 's revelations, most notably in his pursuit of mnemonic erasure” (Lewis 629). To me, this means that Hamlet misinterpreted what the ghost said, for example, Hamlet thought an angel should avenge his father’s death, when it was Hamlet who did the avenging and this was also a way to always keep Hamlet’s father in his …show more content…
The metaphor used is, “Tis an unweeded garden that grows to seed. Things rank and gross in nature possess it merely” (Shakespeare 15). Hamlet feels as if the kingdom is a dying garden and is decaying under the current king, King Claudius. Claudius’s “weeds” are starting to sprout due to neglect, weak husbandry, and incompetent ruling. Both Claudius and Hamlet are imperfect in two separate ways. Claudius is imperfect by being a horrid king and Hamlet in not taking revenge quicker than he should have. Marra wrote, “The author states that the play establishes criteria that are of value and significant in interpreting action in its succeeding episodes. He mentions that the deeper structure of the play will be suggested by the theatre that serves as metaphor for the human situation.” (Marra 30). In Marra saying this, it goes along with the quotes in Hamlet describing how deep and meaningful the quotes are in the