Allusions In Hamlet

In Shakespeare’s play Hamlet, Hamlet angrily confronts his mother Gertrude in a poignant monologue, begging her to look in the mirror and reflect on her relationships with Claudius and King Hamlet. This monologue displays Hamlet’s inner feelings, as he desperately attempts to communicate the range of emotions that lay behind his rage surrounding Gertrude’s decision to marry Claudius: sadness, grief, and fear. By utilizing the elements such as allusion, figurative language, and tone, Shakespeare conveys Hamlet’s complex emotional and mental turmoil to his mother and the audience.

One of the literary devices Shakespeare uses to display Hamlet’s complex emotions is allusions. In lines 4-6, Hamlet alludes to Roman gods, exclaiming “Hyperion's

The primary tone of the monologue is angry, yet small sections of sadness are sprinkled throughout, displaying the complexity of Hamlet’s feelings. The lines 11-15 display Hamlet’s anger, when he sarcastically quips “Here is your husband; like a mildew'd ear,/Blasting his wholesome brother. Have you eyes?/Could you on this fair mountain leave to feed,/And batten on this moor? Ha! have you eyes?”. Hare, Hamlet argues that metaphorically, Gertrude does not. He believes Gertrude “cannot see” Claudius’ ugly qualities, and insults him, comparing him to a mildewed ear. However, Hamlet’s sadness is still apparent in the midst of his anger with the phrase “Blasting his wholesome brother”. This line makes it clear that not only does Hamlet feel hateful towards Claudius, but genuinely saddened and disappointed by Gertrude’s betrayal of his father, whom he loves dearly. Shakespeare’s utilization of multiple tones displays the depth and intricacy of Hamlet’s emotions—the sadness, hurt, and grief Hamlet shields behind his anger—and in turn, reveals the true complexity of his feelings toward and relationship with his