Allusions In Hamlet

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In the first soliloquy of the play, Shakespeare develops Hamlet’s character as a grudge-filled and depressed man through spiteful diction against his mother, Gertrude, and frequent allusions to past events to convey uneasy feelings over his mother’s recent marriage. Throughout the excerpt, the diction Hamlet uses about his mother puts off a strong feeling of animosity due to her newly founded relationship with his uncle Claudius (who has now become king following his father's death). Furthermore, Hamlets shifty emotions are also addressed through allusion to give a contextual illustration of why he seems frustrated in the soliloquy. Ultimately, both literary devices in the passage reveal Hamlet’s current state of misery in the play.
In the …show more content…
In essence, the reason Hamlet bears depression is because he is unhappy with the grudges he holds. Shakespeare first conveys these attributes towards the end of the soliloquy where Hamlet alone remembers his father “Why, she would hang on him As if increase of appetite had grown By what it fed on, and yet, within a month—Let me not think on ’t” (I.ii.141-145). Left by himself Hamlet makes references to the past when his mother and father were still together. He looks back on their relationship as a loving bond and shows how he had great appreciation for their marriage. However, towards the last part he lets out a bit of disgust due to his mother moving so quickly on towards a new man. He expresses this idea by his refusal to even contemplate, “Let me not think on’t” (I.ii.146). Hamlet is deeply offended by his mother's actions and can’t seem to find empathy to what his mother is going through emotionally. Shakespeare reiterates the same idea of discontent and grudge towards the final bits of the passage when he states, “O God, a beast that wants discourse of reason would have mourned longer!—married with my uncle, my father’s brother, but no more like my father than I to Hercules.” (I.ii.146-149). Here, he alludes to an animal to compare how he views his mother in terms of loyalty. Essentially, he equates his mother to a …show more content…
The allusion that Shakespeare uses gives context to the play which makes Hamlet’s frustration much more understandable and passionate in the play. By giving a backstory Shakespeare also shows how Hamlet is a somewhat troubled man who can’t let go of the past and even feel any empathy for his own mother. Shakespeare's use of spiteful diction furthermore conveys a new characteristic of Hamlet, as irrational and somewhat
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