Hamlet Symbolism Essay

William Shakespeare uses a multitude of major well-hidden symbols in his famous play, Hamlet. One of the first symbols to be uncovered early in the play is Hamlets father returning as an apparition. His father’s ghost reveals the plot of the play to the reader by telling Hamlet that Claudius, his uncle murdered him in cold blood and Hamlet must avenge him ultimately symbolizing death. Another a major yet well-hidden symbol within the play is the flowers that Ophelia hands out to her brother Laertes, the royal King Claudius and Queen Gertrude. Each type of flower handed out hint major clues about the characters that received flowers, which make them an extremely important symbol. The skull of Yorick is also a major symbol that hides vital

The Ghost’s appearance troubles Hamlet again in a different way at the end of Act Two, when Hamlet questions whether or not the apparition he has seen is really the ghost of his father. He believes that it is likely that what he saw was really an evil spirit trying to trick him into sinning, for, as he says, “the devil hath power / T’assume a pleasing shape; yea, and perhaps…abuses me to damn me” (2.2.628-32). His concern is legitimate; however, it causes him to delay further due to his worries about sin and what could happen to him should he decide to take action if the Ghost is in fact evil. When Hamlet attempts to work himself into a frenzy by insulting himself and climactically cursing Claudius with caustic epithets, he is incapable of maintaining his emotion and he orders his brains to turn about, bringing himself back down to logic and reason. He feels that he cannot act without some sort of proof of the truth of what the Ghost has said, and therefore he arranges to “catch the conscience

From the beginning of his and his mother’s conversation Hamlet was very angry and on edge with her for being with his father’s murderer. Hamlet somehow knew someone was eavesdropping on their conversation as he had been spied on previously. He suddenly decides to act out of fury thinking how angry he was at Claudius and kills who’s behind the curtain, thinking it was Claudius. Hamlet realizes after that he killed the wrong man, it had been Polonius that he killed but he didn’t care much saying that Polonius was a fool. Hamlet sees the ghost again after and the ghost tells Hamlet he still must carry out his revenge for his father because he had failed .

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.

The tragedy of Hamlet by William Shakespeare brilliantly recounts the tale of feigned and true madness as it delves into themes of betrayal, incest, revenge, moral corruption, and death. The play, set in the kingdom of Denmark, gives an account of how Prince Hamlet seeks exact revenge on his uncle Claudius, for murdering his own brother and Prince Hamlet’s father. After assassinating King Hamlet, Claudius succeeds the throne and becomes joined in holy matrimony to King Hamlet’s widow and Prince Hamlet’s mother, Queen

After analyzing these thoughts, they produce doubt like: if the ghost is coming from purgatory, why would the ghost commit another sin inciting his son to do something wrong? This will generates more punishment to the ghost, making him to have more chances to go hell. As this doubt came to my attention, it came to Hamlet's reflection too. Therefore this doubt causes Hamlet to delay in taking action since he needs more evidence to prove the ghost's words.

In the play by William Shakespeare, the ghost of King Hamlet approaches his mourning and depressed son, Hamlet, who is still affected by his death. The ghost explains to Hamlet how he died and demands that Hamlet avenge his death. Note how the ghost approaches Hamlet when he’s the weakest and still mourning to persuade and manipulate him into taking revenge for him. In Act one Scene 5 the ghost states, “If thou didst ever thy dear father love-/ Revenge his foul and most unnatural murder.” The way King Hamlet words his request is more as a challenge; in which Hamlet’s love for his dead father can only be proven by carrying out whatever his father wishes. The ghost influences most Hamlet’s behavior, which not only affects the plot, but also the relationships with other characters. The ghost influences the relationship between Hamlet and his mother, Gertrude. He becomes angry at Gertrude because of her fast marriage with his uncle Claudius. Through the use of innuendos, antic disposition, and metamorphic plays, Hamlet makes it his duty to get King Claudius back for killing his father. Hamlet agreed to avenge his father without second thought. As the play advances, Hamlet begins to doubt the apparition. In act 3 Hamlet begins to have second thoughts and states, “The spirit that I have seen/ May be a devil…” This shows Hamlet’s inner conflict between listening to his father and avenging his death or following his ethics. To be sure that Claudius

Throughout Shakespeare's Hamlet, intersperse various symbols to describe Hamlet’s mental state. As he does so, the symbols also show exhibit Hamlet’s great debate between acting and contemplating. Within the play, the ghost contributes to Hamlet’s actions to a great degree. Hamlet only seeks revenge because the ghost has asked him to do so and kill Claudius. The ghost symbolizes his haunting memories and the debate between reality and imagination. When the ghost first appeared before him, he has dedicated

Hamlet is a play written by William Shakespeare. Hamlet is about a prince who deeply misses his dad that was murdered. Hamlet’s mother Gertrude didn't really seem to mind her husband's death and remarries. She marries Claudius, King Hamlet’s brother. Hamlet does not like that his mother married Claudius. Hamlet sees his father's ghost and finds out that Claudius had murdered King Hamlet. Hamlet decides to kill Claudius, but let Heaven take care of Gertrude. Hamlet accidentally mistakes Polonius for Claudius and kills him. At the end of the play Hamlet is dueling Laertes, Polonius’s son. They are dueling because Laertes is upset that Hamlet killed Polonius. Laertes has poison on his sword to kill Hamlet and hits Hamlet with it. Laertes falls over a staircase accidentally and dies. Gertrude drinks from a cup to celebrate Hamlet winning two out of the three strikes against Laertes but the cup was poisoned and she dies. Claudius attempts to run away because he knew he had now killed Gertrude and Hamlet throws a sword at him which pins him to the throne chair and then a chandelier falls and hits Claudius. Then Hamlet runs over and opens Claudius’s mouth and

This belief relates to the play because the Ghost of Hamlet’s father decides to visit Denmark and makes everyone question his visitation. Clark states that ghosts appear to “obtain revenge”, although this appears to be true as to the reason Hamlet’s father’s Ghost appears, it is not the actual reason. The Ghost is there to ask Hamlet to “revenge his foul and most unnatural murder” (Shakespeare 57). In other words, the Ghost is not there to seek revenge physically, but to have Hamlet seek revenge on Claudius for killing him. The Ghost makes his visitation to specifically ask Hamlet to seek revenge on his murderer; however, he does not force Hamlet to seek revenge. Since the ghost does not force Hamlet to seek revenge he appears to the audience that he is a good ghost because he does not hurt anyone and does not appear violet. Therefore, because the Ghost has not been physical this situation allows the audience to become aware that he is a good ghost.

Hamlet says "the spirit that I have seen may be a devil, and the devil hath power t’assume a pleasing shape; yea, and perhaps, out of my weakness and my melancholy, as he is very potent with such spirits, abuses me to damn me" (2.2.627-632). Fearing deception, Hamlet has doubts, which initiate his inaction. His hesitation is somewhat resolved in the form of a play. In order to test the truth of the ghost, Hamlet devises a scheme to perform a play to "catch the conscience of the King"(2.2.634), by reenacting a scene similar to the events recounted by the ghost about King Hamlet’s murder, in order to prove Claudius’ guilt. Here, Hamlet’s inaction results not only from his distrust of his father’s apparition, but from his distrust of his own senses. Had Hamlet trusted his father in death as he had in life, Hamlet’s life would never have resulted in such a tragic end.

To start with, the ghost heavily influences the development of a few characters in the play which includes Hamlet and his friends. In the opening act, Hamlet’s friends encounter the ghost of the former king while standing guard on the wall of the castle. They are the first and only characters besides Hamlet that the ghost influences. They are also the only ones besides Hamlet that can see the ghost. This furthers the story by sending Hamlet’s friends on a mission to tell him of his father’s return. From the beginning of the play Hamlet is already depressed and down after being called home from school to return to Denmark to witness the funeral of his father. Following the funeral Hamlet meets up with his friends where they tell him of his father’s ghost. Immediately, this sparks Hamlet’s interest and he wishes to hear more of his father. ‘The king my father!/For God’s love, let me hear.” (1.2.192-95 Hamlet) Here Shakespeare shows Hamlet’s interest in the matter

Even though Hamlet seems ardent in his intentions of avenging his father’s death during his encounter with the Ghost, by the second act, Hamlet begins to doubt that the ghost was actually his father. While giving his soliloquy after he has seen

Hamlet is a critical thinker for the world around him, seeking opportunities to learn. When Hamlet is confronted with the ghost, he isn’t sure if his eyes deceive him. With further inspection, he learns it is his father who appears in front of him.

With the appearance of the ghost the reader is, whether they realize it or not, being challenged to take a position on Hamlet's state of mind. At first the reader may take it at face value assuming that a ghost is a ghost and should be accepted as such. But after a deeper look using the psychoanalytic perspective of critical evaluation, it becomes believable that the ghost is just a trick of Hamlet's mind used to justify his urges to avenge his father's death, a sort of madness. It is hard to decide what to think about Shakespeare's introduction of the ghost because of the two different ways he portrays it.