How Does Shakespeare Present Grief In Hamlet

The Aloe flower in the play Hamlet represents grief. The main character of the play, Hamlet, had lost his father and was grieving over his death. Hamlet then found out that King Claudius, Hamlet’s uncle, was the one who murdered Hamlet’s father. As the novel progresses, Hamlet adds grief to those around him. When he kills Polonius, he causes an extensive amount of grief for Polonius’s children, Ophelia and Laertes. Since Ophelia was in love with Hamlet, she was anguished by his actions. As a result of her misery, Ophelia took her own life which only added grief to Hamlet. After his father’s death Hamlet tells his mother that, “‘Tis not alone my inky cloak, (good) mother,/ Nor windy suspiration of forced breath,/ No, nor the fruitful river in the eye,/ Nor the dejected havior of the visage,/ Together with all forms, moods, shapes of grief” (1. 2. 80-85). Hamlet is describing that his grief goes farther than his outward appearance. Even his mourning clothes can not express the level of grief that Hamlet is experiencing after the loss of his father. After Ophelia drowns in a river, both Hamlet and Laertes are distraught. Hamlet always loved Ophelia and Laertes was still shocked by his father’s death.