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Poison In Hamlet Quote Analysis

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In William Shakespeare’s play Hamlet, there is an abundance of literal and metaphorical poison that creeps into the lives of the characters that are stationed throughout the play. Therefore, a death of a family member can be a temporary emotional poison, and can be received as both literal and metaphorical. Shakespeare uses the symbol of literal and metaphorical poison to not only illustrate the fall of the characters in the play, but comment on how greed, lust, and a desire for revenge can corrupt a person. Every incorporation of poison contains a significance to the play. William Shakespeare begins the play Hamlet, by introducing poison and planting the seed of death in Denmark. Claudius poisons his brother King Hamlet for the throne of …show more content…

Hamlet discovers that his father’s death was murder, and from his mother’s new husband, King Claudius. This fuels Hamlet with the poison of rage and revenge. With Hamlet fuelled with vengeance, he displays rebellious actions affecting the kingdom. In the midst of Hamlet’s blind anger he kills Polonius in haste. Claudius uses the situation to his advantage to persuade to Laertes that Hamlet is at fault for his fathers and sisters death. The kingdom continues to become poisoned when Laertes and Hamlet engage in a fencing match. However, Claudius prepares poison on Laertes sword, in addition to a poisoned goblet, “ I’ll have prepared / him / A chalice for the nonce, whereon but sipping, / If he by chance escape your venomed stuck” (4.7.181-184). As the kingdom continues to have to the spread of the poison, it is very hard to …show more content…

The love and betrayal she feels for Hamlet, and also the unjust murder of her father poisoned her mind. This causes her to go mentally insane, and drives her to madness. Laertes says in the beginning, “The canker galls the infants of the spring / Too oft before their buttons be disclosed” (1.3.43-44). He tells his sister, the “infant of the spring”, that she is too young, and innocent to have her heart broken by Hamlet, the “canker”. Hamlet’s love is a poison to Ophelia, evident when he says he no longer loves her as she becomes upset since she believes she has been “deceived”. However, the death of Ophelia’s father is what truly pushes her over the edge into complete madness. The deep grief she feels since her father dies is like a poison to her mind. Ophelia is eventually driven so mad by the poison in her mind that she drowns herself, therefore the poison literally kills her as

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150-153), whom he holds accountable for his father's murder. Claudius's presence in their lives serves as a constant reminder of this betrayal, escalating Hamlet's feelings of hostility toward his mother. Hamlet's resentment towards Gertrude for marrying Claudius fuels his desire for vengeance and causes him to act impulsively and recklessly, further pushing him towards his inevitable destruction. Ultimately, Hamlet's inability to forgive his mother for marrying Claudius and let go of his hostility, contributes to his tragic fate leading

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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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1924 Words | 8 Pages

This hunger for revenge encapsulates Hamlet in a casket of anger and hatred for Claudius who struck Hamlet’s father down in cold blood soon after Hamlet converses with the ghost of his father, the late King Hamlet. Through this dialogue, Hamlet learns that Claudius played a key role in the slaying of King Hamlet and had kept it from the view of the public. After this revelation occurs, Hamlet then commits to dispersing all life from the body of Claudius, quickly following the newly discovered, heinous actions of the suspected tyrant. However, Hamlet’s anger and fury clouded his judgement and heavily influenced the monumental decisions that he made during the poem to be, less than adequate as a whole. The story of Hamlet signifies the theme of revenge in a manner that defines how it can corrupt and destroy a person both, emotionally and physically.

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798 Words | 4 Pages

Hamlet has come to see his mother, Queen Gertrude, and ends up stabbing Lord Polonius, which ultimately leads to his death. Lord Polonius’ final words include “O, I am slain!” Even though this provides a slight amount of comic relief to the reader, it has a reverse effect on Ophelia’s mental state. Her father’s death seems to be the potent punch in this fight because she officially goes mad after this final event. This is apparent in Scene IV Act I, when Laertes has come back to visit his sister and check on her well being.

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Laertes believes Hamlet is to blame not only for his father’s death, but also for Ophelia’s death because the death of her father is ultimately what drove her to killing herself. Once Laertes returns, he asks King Claudius who is responsible for the death of his father and is informed that Hamlet is the one to blame. Ophelia enters and reveals to everyone that she has gone crazy and ends up killing herself. Hamlet returns to Denmark and is surprised to find out that Ophelia has died. Laertes and Hamlet start fighting at her burial service and Hamlet says he wants to be

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When Ophelia returns all his letters and gifts he tells her that he has never loved her and that she should “get thyself to a nunnery.” This is one example how his mood changes throughout the play. Then after all this her father, Polinous, is murdered by Hamlet. The Hamlet is sent away to England All of these actions result in her feeling such stress that she becomes insane in the end.

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Ophelia goes mad throughout the story. She is overwhelmed by the loss of her father and the rejection of Hamlet. Her character is seen spiraling down a dark path that also ends in death. Ophelia is depicted as not having control over her actions; speaking and acting erratically. While Hamlet is speaking erratically and behaving oddly, he still maintains control over his actions and movement throughout the story.

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Her madness is a result of her fragile self leaving her to be exploited and maltreated by the people whom she loves dearly to her heart. The love of Ophelia's life was Hamlet, the prince of Denmark. Hamlet's way of speaking to Ophelia was harsh. Even though he powerfully voiced to her, she did not say anything back to him.

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Claudius kills his brother and is arrogant to the people of Denmark and his own son Hamlet, so his death is deserved. Claudius schemes with Laertes to have a backup plan to kill Hamlet. First, they will poison the tip of Laertes’s sword to try to kill Hamlet during their fencing match. If that plan falls through, there will be poison in the drink to kill him when he gets thirsty from fencing (4.7.146-158). Claudius murdering his own brother to marry his wife and become King of Denmark was enough to deserve his death, but planning to kill his own son is by far worth it.

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Maggie Kaprosch Professor Sheerin ENGL 3336.01 February 3, 2016 Word Study In Hamlet, William Shakespeare uses language to develop his characters, their actions, and themes central to the play. One word that recurred throughout the play and seemed significant to the overall theme of the play (which I deemed to be death/mortality, corruption, and revenge) was “poison.” Poison, both in a literal and metaphorical sense, affected the lives and actions of several characters in Hamlet.

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Hamlet eventually kills Claudius like his father told him to, but only did it after his mother, Gertrude, drank the poison that Claudius meant to give Hamlet. This is a result of external action from all the sorrows that was building up in Hamlet’s life. This brings us to our next character, Gertrude, Claudius’s wife and Hamlets

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But more often than not, one's course for revenge can take violent turns. Hamlet's choice for revenge causes the deaths of his mother, Claudius, Laertes, Ophelia and Polonius. However, Hamlet takes specific delight in the death of Claudius when he states, "Here, thou incestuous, murderous, damnèd Dane, / Drink off this potion. Is thy union here? / Follow my mother."

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Hamlet has not only become distraught from his conniving and lying stepfather but also his mother, Queen Gertrude as well. The unfaithfulness that Gertrude shows to Hamlet’s father and Hamlet has a toll on him and plays a part in his insanity. The facade that Hamlet displays slowly leads to his insanity, causing him to show mistreated love towards Ophelia. In the beginning of the play, Ophelia displays a very honest

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Ophelia is grieving the loss of her father after Hamlet kills him. Ophelia doesn't know that Hamlet killed her father. But Ophelia has gone mad from learning about her father's death. Also, after Hamlet telling Ophelia that she needs to go to a nunnery, Ophelia is a little bit discouraged. She is discouraged because Hamlet had told her before that if Ophelia would sleep with him that they would get married.

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1301 Words | 6 Pages

Ophelia stops loving Hamlet when her brother and father told her. Also, the news that Hamlet turned into a mad person weakened her more. Her father's death makes her more insane. Ophelia kills herself because she could not take the death of her father being killed by her love. And Hamlet asked her to become a nun which weakened her and eventually made her kill herself.

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