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Examples Of Rhetoric In Hamlet

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Rhetoric throughout Hamlet
Throughout Shakespeare's writing you can see rhetoric. Rhetoric is the art of persuasive writing or speaking. The overall goal of persuasion is to change the audience's point of view or to leave an impression on them. Aristotle's three theories of rhetoric is logos, ethos, and pathos, which are theories based on logic, ethics, and emotion. Hamlet tells a story about avenging deaths and tragedies. “There is no great genius without a mixture of madness.”(Aristotle). As you read the play you can see how these tragedies affect the characters throughout.

Logos is an argument based on evidence, facts, and reason. In the play you can see logos take place when Hamlet found out the truth about how his father King Hamlet being killed. It all began when Horatio and the guardsmen caught a glimpse of what seemed to be the Ghost of king Hamlet himself. As soon as this took place they decided it was best tell Hamlet of the news. When Hamlet found out he went to see for himself and found out that it was the ghost of his father. While he spoke to the ghost he found out that his father’s death was was not by accident his own brother Claudius had killed him and Hamlet was asked to avenge his death. “One may smile, and smile, and be a villain.” …show more content…

In the play you can see how ethos is used by the character Claudius. Claudius is the brother of King Hamlet, who later murders King Hamlet. Claudius is the character that has everyone fooled by his fake actions and emotions. One example of his fake emotions was for his admiration for King hamlet’s wife Gertrude, which soon after married Claudius after the loss of her husband. He also showed great love and care towards his nephew Hamlet. “To be honest, as this world goes, is to be one man picked out of ten thousand.” (Hamlet 2.2.8). Claudius was the most dishonest person throughout the play and is perhaps the reason why all these tragedies take

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Claudius expresses his thoughts on Hamlet to many people including Gertrude: “His liberty is full of threats to us all” (iv.i.14). Hamlet makes attempts to expose Claudius for murdering his father by putting on a play that mirrors the murder and he shames his mother for marrying Claudius. After seeing the play and hearing of Polonius' murder, Claudius felt even stronger about Hamlet being a threat. In order to prevent Hamlet from convincing everyone Claudius should not be king. He tells the people around him that Hamlet has gone mad and must leave.

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Claudius is then compared to the internal organs of slaves and a man without morals, remorse or kindness (Ham.2.2.607-608). The powerful metaphors and adjectives used to describe Claudius not only express Hamlet’s intense contempt and disdain towards him, but also serve to convince Hamlet to commit murder. However, Hamlet depicts himself as a whore, a prostitute, and a swearing kitchen maid (Ham.2.2.614-616), reiterating the notion that he is worthless, as well as weak for expressing his emotions through words rather than actions. The shift from metaphors to similes indicate Hamlet’s failure to move past his cowardice and proceed with an act of revenge that would inflict

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This defines how weak loyalty was made by orders of Claudius as they did not know that Claudius was the real culprit. It raised internal affairs between family and demonstrates that internal enemy manipulation could destroy peace without the acknowledgment of others. Furthermore, actions of Claudius led to moral corruption and contaminated integrity. He married Queen Gertrude two months after the death of King Hamlet. “Heaven and Earth, must I remember?

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This comparison highlights Hamlet's belief that Claudius is beneath him and not deserving of comparison to his father. Death and morality are shown at the beginning of the play, but death is the center of the whole play. He's been attempting to make sense of everything and figure out why people act or believe the way they do ever since his father passed away. Another theme shown in the play is insanity and madness. Through the soliloquy and play, he has been obsessed with avenging his father and ended up driving himself to insanity.

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First of all, King Claudius’s ambition to become the next King of Denmark causes him to lose his conscience. As King Hamlet’s ghost reveals the truth of his death, he anguishes, “Thus was I [King Hamlet], sleeping, by a brother’s hand, Of life, of crown, of queen at once dispatched” (1.5.81-82). The throne of Denmark motivates King Claudius to slay his own biological brother to succeed King Hamlet’s “crown”. His desire to gain power has overwhelming covered up his moral values.

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However, Hamlet soon discovers that Claudius has been lying to him, and Claudius’ real motive is to kill Hamlet in order to exterminate all possible threats to his reign. Claudius’ role play affects the entire country of Denmark, and he convinces the people that he is the rightful king, when he is not, and has murdered his brother for the throne. Gertrude, too, takes on a role; throughout the play, she seems oblivious to her wrongdoings. She claims that she loves Claudius, and did not just marry him for political reasons.

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