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How Does Symbolism Play In Hamlet

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What is the role of symbolism in Hamlet?

Hamlet is a tragic drama piece written by William Shakespeare during the Jacobean era. The gloomy and melancholic preference of King James VI of the time sets the dark tone of this play. Hamlet is the longest and one of the most potent plays of Shakespeare. Also, throughout the years it has influenced many other works of art, such as “The Lion King”. The play is set in Denmark and takes place in the royal palace where Prince Hamlet sees the ghost of his dead father instructing him to revenge his murder made by his uncle Claudius, now the new husband of his mother, Gertrude, and the ruler of the throne of Denmark. Denmark is also in a feud with Norway and an invasion by Young Fortinbras is expected. At the same time, Hamlet is thought to be going insane. He is also in love with Ophelia, daughter of Polonius or the Lord of Chamberlain. Symbols have a significant role in this play in the sense …show more content…

She gives certain types of flowers to certain people which shows that each individual carries a different meaning for her. First, she gives a rosemary to Laertes, which symbolizes remembrance. She gives pansies to Laertes, which represents thoughts of love. Although she gives both to Laertes, Ophelia most likely has Hamlet in her mind when she says, “There’s rosemary, that’s for remembrance; pray you, love, remember; and there is pansies, that’s for thoughts” (Lines 173-175). To Claudius she gives flowers that represent flattery and no faith in marriage. They were both given to Claudius because of his incestuous marriage and betrayal. Ophelia gives daisies to both King Claudius and Queen Gertrude representing deceit and lies, because they both betrayed King Hamlet, lied to the public. Horatio receives violets which represent faith. Horatio is the only person Hamlet still trusts and has faith in as well as Ophelia

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The play begins by having Hamlet's uncle marry Hamlet's recently-widowed mother in order to become the new King of Denmark. Hamlet, while mourning the death of this father, is disappointed at his mothers lack of loyalty at the same time. The guards of Denmark's Elsinore castle see a ghost that resembles Hamlet's deceased father and decide to tell Hamlet. In act 1 scene 5 the ghost appears to Hamlet, stating that he is the ghost of his father, and that Hamlet's uncle murdered him. This is a huge turning point in the play as Hamlet swears vengeance for his father.

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Then some rather disturbing images are shown to represent the relationship that has grown between Hamlet’s mother and uncle, Claudius and Gertrude. Finally we see an old man place a crown upon his head (CITE). Many different ideas can be inferred from the images that were shown in the movie but one of the more powerful symbols seems to be how the rose symbolizes Hamlet’s father’s life, it starts off in full health but after he’s poisoned it

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Then Hamlet lies to her saying he never really loved her which made her situation worse. And she was set up to see why hamlet is acting crazy and is spied on by Claudius to see where hamlet is week. So, as you can see Ophelia is put

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Ophelia feels that she needs to express her feelings about her father, and she does this by handing out flowers instead of verbally aggravating the king and queen. Although Ophelia controls herself, she still has her moments: “Thought and affliction, passion, hell itself, she turns to favor and to prettiness” (Shakespeare 4.5.186-187). However, the flowers of Ophelia contradict each other. Some of them represent sadness and grief, while others are associated with positive memories: “There’s rosemary, that’s for remembrance. And there is pansies, that’s for thoughts” (Shakespeare 4.5.174-176).

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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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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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His suicidal thought and his erratic behavior cause for the king, queen, Ophelia and his friends to begin to spy on him just pushes him over the edge. His action cause concern for King Claudius who shows in ways that he is not trusting of Hamlet because of this the King begins to plot with Laertes to kill hamlet in fencing dual. During this dual Hamlet is stabbed and dies from the poison that was on the blade. Gertrude is seems to be a shallow woman in some ways yet King Hamlet, Hamlet and King Claudius are all devoted to her.

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This is what causes Hamlet to compromise his love for Ophelia, as she is stunned and disrespected by his attitude. Similarly, Claudius wanted to gain power, and uses his ambitious attitude to murder his brother, quickly marry his widow, and take the throne himself. Despite their similar nature the two men are driven by different goals. Claudius works to gain and keep power, while Hamlet is working to seek revenge for his father. However, Claudius continues to rule in his power, and dwell in his wronged achievements allowing himself to pursue his

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Hamlet views Ophelia as a naive and ignorant girl who is nothing but Polonius and Claudius's puppet. This was revealed when Hamlet said "God has given you one face and you make yourself another. . You jig and amble, and you lisp, you nickname God's creatures and make your wantonness your ignorance." (III, i, 143-146) In this quote Hamlet knows that Ophelia is spying on him for Polonius and Claudius.

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This aids the reader in analyzing the motives for each of the intricate characters and how every action has a motive that can tie back to Hamlet’s grand scheme which is to get revenge for the kingdom overtaken by an authority figure who did not earn that title, honor his father’s legacy that is taken from him in the crossfire of jealousy, and for the good of Denmark. Between the murder of King Hamlet and Polonius, Ophelia’s death, and the disloyalty of many characters, we enable ourselves to see the mood of confusion

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In William Shakespeare’s Hamlet there are many male characters, but the only two significant female characters are Ophelia and Gertrude. Ophelia is the daughter of Polonius, a high ranking official in the court in Denmark who serves as a love interest and an object of desire for Hamlet, although it is often unclear which at many point during the play. Gertrude is the wife of King Claudius, the widow of the former king, King Hamlet, and the mother of Hamlet. In Hamlet the women often appear as if they do not have a significant role in the play. However, Ophelia’s interactions with Hamlet exaggerate his apparent madness and by being a foil to Hamlet.

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King Hamlet’s ghost in Hamlet plays a very significant role in Shakespeare’s play even though he only appears briefly in the very beginning and two other times throughout the play. King Hamlet’s ghost furthers the play in many ways. He affects action by setting the play in motion, he affects the theme of revenge, and he helps develop other characters, specifically his son, Hamlet. He sets the play in motion by causing the wheels to spin inside of Prince Hamlet’s head, the ghost is the whole reason for Hamlet trying to extract revenge upon his murderous Uncle Claudius who is now the King of Denmark. The ghost affects the theme of revenge by causing Young Hamlet to be seized by vengeance, the whole play turns into a story of Prince Hamlet trying to avenge his father’s wrongful death.

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Unaware of the role Hamlet is playing, Ophelia feels rejected and hurt. Eventually, Ophelia’s heartache, along with the death of her father, causes her to commit suicide. Next, Claudius and Gertrude’s role play affect their relationship with Hamlet. At the beginning of the play, Claudius takes on the role of a kind, just king; he seems to genuinely care for Hamlet. He often gives him fatherly advice, and shows affection for Hamlet in ways that an uncle would.

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“Something is rotten in the state of Denmark” (I.v.90). Hamlet is about a young prince who is mourning the loss of his father. He then tries to seek revenge on his uncle Claudius because he poisoned his father. Throughout the play Hamlet’s behavior starts to change which causes him to become mad. The theory about all this is a Psychological Approach.

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The play’s turning point happens on a dark night at Elsinore Castle in Denmark, where the ghost of King Hamlet reveals to prince Hamlet that he has been murdered by his brother, Claudius, for the inheritance of the royal throne. With Hamlet’s

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