Imagery in Hamlet By Ms. Bokpe

Imagery of disease, poison and decay  Help us understand the bitter relationships that exist and Hamlet’s own cynicism  To deepen our understanding of the emotions experienced

Imagery of decay  Helps us understand Hamlet’s depression in the lst soliloquy about suicide  “O that this too sullied flesh would melt,/Thaw, and resolve itself into a dew,” (I,ii )  Image of rotting flesh  We feel his pain and desire for death

Images of decay and rot  Most likely are present in Hamlet’s mind and revealed in his language  “So, oft it chances in particular men,/That for some vicious mole of nature in them,/…Carrying, I say, the stamp of one defect…Doth all the noble substance of a doubt/To his own scandal. (I.iv.26-41)  He describes how human nature may be brought to decay through a tiny birth-mark, just as from one “dram of evil” a destructive effect may spread over the whole organism.  THEME: corruption through a “dram of evil”

Imagery of decay  Helps us see the corruption of Denmark  “Something is rotten in the state of Denmark” (I,iv,99)

Hamlet’s imagery  “Shows us that whenever he thinks and speaks, he is at the same time a visionary, a seer, for whom the living things of the world about him embody and symbolize thought” (Clemen 227)  “A little month, or ere those shoes were old/With which she follow’ed my poor father’s body/Like Niobe, all tears” (I.ii )—keen observations of reality

What Hamlet’s use of imagery reveals about him  Prefers to keep his language within the scope of reality, within the everyday world—gifted with keep powers of observation  “I know not seems”

Hamlet’s use of imagery reveals  Educational background –Metaphors taken from natural sciences (emphasize his powers of observation) –Classical antiquity (Greek mythology)  His many-sidedness –Familiar with the theatre/acting –With fine arts, falconry/hunting  The extraordinary range of his experience –“courtier, soldier and scholar” (Ophelia’s comment - III.i.163)

Imagary used to unmask others  Simile of fortune’s pipe – shows Rosie’s and Guildie’s true intentions  Unmask’s Rosie – calls him a “sponge” “that soaks up the king’s countenance” (IV.ii.11-20)So Hamlet sees through men and things. He perceives what is false, visualizing his recognition through imagery.

The graveyard scene  Yorick’s skull –– more than a lifeless object –Hamlet is more deeply moved by the reality and significance of these earthly reamins –“the noble dust of Alexander”

Imagery of poison  The ghost’s description of his poisoning by Claudius  “and in the porches of mine ears did pour/The leperous distilment;whose effect/Holds such an enmity with blood of man…Most lazar-like, with vile and loathsome crust,/All my smooth body” (I.v.47-96)  The healthy organism is destroyed from within  Corruption of land and people in Denmark  The poisoning of all the major characters in the last act