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The Use Of Rhetoric Devices In Shakespeare's Hamlet

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There is an excessive amount of premeditated planning that goes into the writing of any kind of text. From things as sophomoric as the names of the characters to the challenging decisions of how paragraphs and sentences should be structured, structure in literature is key. The term 'literary structure' can refer to a plethora of things, it is most often be summarized as the rhetoric devices utilized within a text. Things like word play, organization, diction, word choice and even the general plot structure are all considered to be rhetoric devices. Rhetoric is necessary in the formation of a structurally sound text. A text without rhetoric and literary structure is considered to be very bland, and often time leave readers wanting to pick up …show more content…

The title character himself, Hamlet, is introduced into the text with an immediate use of word play, allowing readers of the text to see just how clever and witty not only the character is, but the author himself. While speaking to the antagonist of the play, Claudius, his uncle who has murdered his father and taken the throne, Hamlet states, "Not so, my lord, I am too much i'th'sun." (Hamlet, 1-2-68) When asked why he is so upset, Hamlet replies that he is too much in the sun, which at first appears to be a rather bland answer to a normal question, though really holds a double meaning. Hamlet is being asked this question by his uncle, and newfound stepfather, and when he states that he is too much in the sun, he actually means that he is now Claudius' son, and that has become the cause of his distress. Immediately, it becomes easy to see the ways in which Shakespeare employs structural techniques such as this one that allows the readers to take in a deeper understanding of what the text is attempting to say without having to explain everything excessively. Word play is one of the most frequently used methods of rhetoric in the structure of literature, deriving its power from the ability to appeal to readers that are actually paying real attention to the text at hand. For the readers that were …show more content…

Within Hamlet, Shakespeare employs this use of plays within plays in order to create tension and depth. The play within a play in this case is a mirror image of the situation in which Hamlet's father was killed, and Hamlet makes the new king watch this play with the hope that it will bring back memories of the murder and he will act out harshly. Hamlet states specifically that, "I'll have the grounds / More relative than this. The play's the thing / Wherein I'll catch the conscience of the King." (Hamlet, 2-2-592) Shakespeare creates an incredibly interesting dynamic through this utilization of literary structure, allowing the audience to experience two things at once, while maintaining an atmosphere that does not feel too overwhelming. It is not uncommon to include plays within plays in writing, however, it is not often that playwrights have the ability to actually integrate these texts into the plot in such a way that they become a main device in the literary structure. Shakespeare uses a relation of texts on the most fundamental level, by actually including the text itself into his text, displaying not only some of the ways in which relations can be made between works but also the ways in which other texts can be used as literary devices. Shakespeare's texts have never

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