Allusion In Hamlet

Without a clue, every person changes throughout their life. Thinking allows the manipulation of the mind and a person’s internal self. In the play Hamlet, William Shakespeare utilizes allusion and rhetorical questions to portray Hamlet’s change from doubt to a well-defined and bold prince. He demonstrates that some people might change their values as time passes on due to the pressures present in their life. From the very start of the play, Shakespeare employs allusion in Hamlet’s soliloquys to demonstrate the change in Hamlet’s confidence throughout the play. In his first soliloquy, Hamlet expresses “Hyperion to a satyr; so loving to my mother, / That he might not beteem the winds of heaven” (1, 2, 144-145). Hamlet is referring to newly dead

Towards the start of the play, Hamlet expresses that, “Am I a coward? / Who calls me ‘villain’? Breaks my pate across? / Plucks off my beard and blows it in my face?” (2, 2, 595-597). Hamlet has not acted upon the request of the ghost therefore he feels guilty for being too wimpy to kill. The questions that he is asking himself are challenging him to act instead of just thinking about doing the deed. Hamlet makes excuses by saying he does not know if the ghost told the truth or is a devil in disguise. At the end of Hamlet’s last soliloquy, he states “Which is not tomb enough and continent/ To hide the slain? O, from this time forth/ My thoughts be bloody, or be nothing worth” (4, 4, 67-69). Hamlet is explaining that he wants to stop thinking about getting revenge on his uncle and actually execute it. He cannot hide anymore because his uncle wants to get rid of him by sending him to England so he is compelled to act. Hamlet’s lost opportunity to kill Claudius makes him regret it since he will be separated from the new king. Hamlet yearns to actually start doing something. By questioning himself whether to act or wait, he strengthens his motivation to kill since Hamlet is lost and this gives him purpose in life. In the play Hamlet, Shakespeare makes Hamlet change from being confused over the state of his family to assuring himself into doing the right thing using allusion and