Puns In Hamlet

Of course, no Shakespeare play would be complete without the use of puns. Shakespeare uses this type of humor as a witty way to keep the dialogue fresh and flowing. The reader gets a taste of these funny little bits as early as the first act and first scene, when Brakenbury starts, “With this, my lord, myself have naught to

Wordplay plays a major role in Hamlet by William Shakespeare. Hamlet himself is very witty the whole time he’s in the play. His wordplay is rarely ever caught by the person he is speaking to and many of the readers. Hamlet’s puns also cause his foes to become confused and wonder if he could possible be insane. The reason Hamlet uses wordplay is to protect himself from his foes and to as a subtle weapon against a foe.

She means a lot to him, but now she has rejected him (by returning his

The reason I chose to create a visual representation as my creative response is because after reading Hamlet and thinking about it images from scenes would find their way into the thoughts. Another reason, at the instance of choosing what kind of a project I would do the image scheme popped into my head and I thought, “Hmm, let’s see if my artistic abilities are as good as I think they are.” Well, I can tell you now, they aren’t, that’s why I used photoshop.

William Shakespeare once said that “brevity is the soul of wit.” This is heavily evident in regards to Hamlet and all of his short, witty comments throughout the play. In Act I Scene II Hamlet 's wit comes out in full force during a discussion with his mother, Gertrude, and his uncle/stepfather, Claudius, with Hamlet’s very first words in the play:

It is interesting to note that Hamlet only puts his 'madness'; performance on for the characters he is suspicious of such as Claudius, Polonius, Gertrude, and Ophelia. When Hamlet is around Horatio, Marcellus, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, the Players and the Grave-Diggers, he acts rationally. He changes his disposition with ease and speed. During Act 2, Scene 2, Hamlet is speaking with Polonius. When Polonius asks if Hamlet recognizes him, Hamlet replies that 'You are a fishmonger.'; He goes on to insult Polonius further and calls daughter Ophelia a 'good kissing carrion';. When Rosencrantz and Guildenstern appear, Hamlet begins to behave cordially again. He warmly greets his friends and engages them in light philosophical humor.

Hamlet also compares himself to the demi god Hercules in Act 1 scene 2: "My father's brother- but no more like my father/ Than I to Hercules" (I, ii, 152-153). This mythological allusion is important because Hamlet is comparing himself to Hercules who is known as a strong warrior and earned a place on Mount Olympus with the gods. Hamlet is saying that his uncle is very much different than his father, like Hamlet is very much different than Hercules. Hercules is seen as a "superhero" of Greek mythology, which is a great difference of Hamlet because Hamlet is in no way seen as a "superhero" or someone to look up to. Hamlet

During their conversation, Hamlet calls the old man a “fishmonger” and illogically answers the man’s questions. Still, many of Hamlet’s seemingly lunatic statements disguise pointed observations about Polonius’s conceit and old age. In fact, Polonius himself comments that while Hamlet is not of right mind, his words are often “pregnant” with meaning (II.ii.206).

If you were an uneducated person watching a play that you didn’t understand for hours, you would very easily become uninterested and bored very quickly. To make sure that didn’t happen Shakespeare put those humorous scenes in his play to catch the attention of those audience members. Humor is also used to heighten the sense of the major theme in the play. Death is the major theme in hamlet, with main characters dying at every turn. One of the funniest scenes in the drama is the gravedigger scene where they’re making fun of death. He had different types of comedy in this drama to fit the different type of people in his audience. It was already mentioned that his audiences contained anywhere from royalty to the highly educated to the uneducated peasants. So his jokes needed to vary, he had these super sophisticated jokes that you only understood if you were educated enough. He also would throw in sex jokes and double entendres for his lower class audience members. Example of these comedic scenes takes place all over the play. Act 2 scene 2 is where we see our first example of outright comedy, Polonius approaches hamlet and asks him if he recognizes him, and hamlet replies “Excellent well sir. You are a

Throughout Hamlet, written by Shakespeare, Hamlet’s emotions, actions, and thoughts cause much trouble during the play. Hamlet encounters stages of sarcasm, inanity, suicidal tendencies/self-deprecation, and procreation/indecision which develop not only his personality but the play itself. Hamlet uses sarcasm to express his emotions, pretends to be insane (ultimately leading him to become truly insane), self-deprecates throughout the play due to family events, and procrastinates because he is indecisive. Hamlet encounters many life-altering events throughout the play such as his uncle poisoning his father and quickly remarrying Hamlet’s mother, to accidentally killing Polonius thinking it was Claudius, all the way to debating upon: his own

Polonius is, of course, not a fishmonger. Hamlet's motivation for speaking about honesty here is at best unclear. And why Hamlet suddenly spits out deep philosophical truths - as he does in the final line above - is nothing short of mysterious. Yet somehow Polonius, who can see Hamlet where we can only read his words, finds meaning in them: "Though this be madness, yet there is method in it" (2.2.207-208).

  Well aware that several hours of unrelenting angst would be a bit much for his audience to take, William Shakespeare strategically placed several humorous scenes throughout his masterpiece, Hamlet.  In particular, the character of Polonius fills the role of the comic fool; he is in two essential comedic scenes, one with his own children and then one with Hamlet.  Shakespeare's acute ability to weave humor into this very heavy play is noteworthy, as his use of comedy goes beyond merely providing much-needed comic relief.   In fact, the rather numerous comedic scenes serve as a foils to, as well as reflections of, the intense action of the play.   In every case where humor is used in Hamlet, it is

Polonius’ interactions with Hamlet are often the source of misinterpretations that Polonius is a bumbling fool. In every conversation, Polonius appears oblivious to the witty and cruel remarks Hamlet makes in response to his persistent questioning. Even when explicitly called a “fishmonger,” Polonius feigns surprised ignorance and suggests that Hamlet is insane rather than sarcastic (II.ii.187). He appears to continue ignoring Hamlet’s thinly veiled insults even when Hamlet compares Ophelia to “maggots in a dead dog,” assuming that Hamlet is “still harping on [his] daughter” (II.ii.669). However, Polonius is not the “tedious old fool” that he appears to be; just as Hamlet confessed to being “not in madness,/But mad in craft,” Polonius merely feigns stupidity (II.ii.224; III.iv.204-5). By pretending to be clueless, Polonius is able to question and study Hamlet further without

Polonius' pre-occupation with his courtly duties overshadows his character as the wise old man and marks his role as the fool. As the fool, Polonius provides comic relief, and a "busybody" messenger for the court. His speech, for all its wisdom, "makes him so comic and absurd. All his ludicrous exhibitions of pedantry and expertise, his mouthings of clichés and commonplaces, his observations and definitions--all imprison the mind's potential range in littleness" (Long 137). In addition to his speech being superfluous, Polonius' messages to Hamlet are quite ironic. The arrival of the Players and Gertrude's request to speak with Hamlet have already been relayed to Hamlet before Polonius repeats the messages. This foolish redundancy is comic and even more so is Polonius'

Allusions can be found in nearly every work of literature and art due to the influence they have in creating a universal understanding. Biblical and mythological references are the most common allusions because they are regarded as primary sources for the basis of human reason. William Shakespeare alludes to both religion and mythology in Hamlet in order to emphasize the importance and failure of religion and to reveal the nature and psychological complexes of characters.