Allusions In Hamlet's Soliloquies

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Shakespeare’s soliloquy in Hamlet reveals Hamlet’s mental state by offering an insight on his own well being by inquiring various literary devices. He implements such tools to showcase a deeper state of mind of what Hamlet is going through with the death of his father and his quick replacement. One such example is the various allusions used throughout. Hamlet references characters from Greek mythology as parallels to the people in his life of whom he respects and despises. For example, how Hamlet compares King Claudius to a “satyr”, a half man half goat creature renowned for its overindulgences and disregard for women, because how much he hates him. Then comparing his father as “Hyperion”, a child of the greek titans, as Hamlet admires his father more …show more content…

Shakespeare reveals the deep connections of how deep Hamlet’s hatred is of the situation as follows. For he views his uncle as weak and disrespectful for marrying his sister-in-law, otherwise Hamlet’s mother after his father’s passing, by comparing him to a “satyr”. And saying how much the passing of power have stepped down by going from a god to a lesser creature from Hamlet’s father to Claudius. There is also the concern of Hamlet’s mother being compared to “Niobe”, who had all of her children killed because of her hubris and then turned into a weeping statue out of grief. Hamlet is disgusted with his mother’s weak morals for giving in to Claudius and marring him despite it being considered “incestous” and compares her to Niobe because she, in his eyes, turned to stone because of how quickly she moved on. Because she moved on in only a month after the father’s death, resulting in Hamlet believing her to be an

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