ipl-logo

The Dark Tone In William Shakespeare's Hamlet

611 Words3 Pages

Why is when someone is closed off and mysterious that people are drawn to them? In the play Hamlet by William Shakespeare 's, young Hamlet is shown to be a character who hides many secrets and is a mystery to the outside world. Hamlet shielding himself shows that he is conflicted with his place in the world. The use of dark language and word choice creates a mysterious tone in the play; which brought upon will the consistent talking of death and decay. Displaying Hamlet’s complex character of having many different dimensions and the conundrum of every time his character is shown, he has a different persona.
Shakespeare 's use of language is dark by the talk of murder and revenge, words that have a negative connotation associated with them. …show more content…

In this passage of the play, Shakespeare wrote it with a dark tone and an emphasis on death. Shakespeare uses language to create the dark tone. However, in the towards the beginning of the play Hamlet’s personality is shown to be clinically insane but there was no violent action. Thus displaying the many dimensions of his persona. It is the word choice, the emphasis on death, that shows that Hamlet has more than this passive stance, that he is willing to do real harm. The conceit of death (with the soldiers) and the bed emphasises the negative language in the play. This language creates a dreary and draconian tone. It shows how Hamlet finally has the strength to finish the deed which is death. In line 66, Hamlet states, “My thoughts be bloody, or be nothing worth.” This emphasis both dark language and tone. He is saying that unless his thoughts are bloody, unless the death of his uncle is blood, there is no worth. The world choice of bloody shows his consistent talking about death and the mysterious mood it sets for the play. The mood as long with the language shows the shift in the story where Hamlet wants to take action; illuminating a new part of Hamlet 's personality. What goes in hand with Shakespeare 's tone is the language used to display his new found aggressive personality.
Hamlet by William Shakespeare used dark language and word choice, such as death and killing, to convey a dark and dreary tone throughout the play. The use of language conveys the complex

Show More
Related

  • Hamlet's Perception Of Death In Hamlet By William Shakespeare

    421 Words  | 2 Pages

    In William Shakespeare's renowned tragedy, Hamlet, the titular character's thoughts on death are frequently expressed throughout the play. Hamlet's perception of death evolves as he experiences the consequences of his actions and begins to understand the true nature of life and mortality. At the start of the play, Hamlet is already contemplating the nature of death, and he speaks of it as an escape from life's pain and suffering. In his first soliloquy, Hamlet expresses his frustration with his mother's hasty remarriage to his uncle, who has become the new king of Denmark.

    Read More

  • Grief In Hamlet's Grief

    1071 Words  | 5 Pages

    In Shakespeare’s Hamlet, Hamlet struggles to cope with his late father’s death and his mother’s quick marriage. In Act 1, Scene 2, King Claudius, Queen Gertrude, and Hamlet are all introduced. Hamlet has just finished publicly speaking with his mom and the new king, and after he is interrupted by his good friend Horatio, who reveal the secret about King Hamlet’s ghost. Hamlet’s soliloquy is particularly crucial because it serves as his initial characterization, revealing the causes of his anguish. Hamlet’s grief is apparent to the audience, as he begins lamenting about the uselessness of life.

    Read More

  • Futility Of Life In Hamlet

    962 Words  | 4 Pages

    He maintains that his life has no value throughout the play and contemplates suicide. Hamlet's questioning thoughts on life's worth is further expressed the ten lines of 203-212 in act V scene i. which read ““No, faith, not a jot, but to follow him thither/ with modesty enough and likelihood to lead it:/ Alexander died, Alexander was buried, Alexander retur-/ neth to dust, the dust is earth, of earth we make/ loam, and why of that loam whereto he was con-/ verted might they not stop a beer-barrel?/ Imperious Caesar, dead and turn'd to clay,/ Might stop a hole to keep the wind away./ O that the earth which kept the world in awe/ Should patch a wall t' expel the winter's flaw!” Hamlet speaks these lines during an exchange with the gravediggers, one who was singing and juggling skulls while he worked. In these lines, Hamlet explains how no one's life is really worth anything because, in the end, we are all reduced to corpses, skulls, dust, and clay. By using Alexander and Caesar as examples, two influential and powerful leaders of

    Read More

  • Isolation In Hamlet, Grendel, And Beow

    727 Words  | 3 Pages

    Hamlet pushing away others causes his descent into madness. As he slowly loses his sanity, the idea of death looks more and more appealing. Shakespeare shows this idea through Hamlet’s soliloquy: “To be, or not to be: that is the question” (Shakespeare, line 57). The fact that Shakespeare used a soliloquy in this scene shows how much Hamlet’s solitude has affected how he views his life. His thoughts of suicide race as he finds himself alone, separating himself from the betrayal in his family.

    Read More

  • Diction And Syntax In Hamlet's Second Soliloquy

    602 Words  | 3 Pages

    In Hamlet’s self-deprecating comments, the use of alliteration in phrases such as “muddy-mettled” and “damned defeat” places an emphasis on the severity of Claudius’s crime against King Hamlet and on the necessity of Hamlet’s revenge (II.2.526, 530). Further, the alliteration enhances the strength and the emotion of the soliloquy by subconsciously adding volume and intonation to the speech’s sound. Similarly, Shakespeare applies both consonance and assonance in the phrases “remorseless, treacherous, lecherous, kindless villain” in order to underscore Hamlet’s hatred for Claudius (II.2.542). In addition, the use of asyndeton makes this line sound even more distinctly powerful to the audience. Shakespeare is also a master of diction.

    Read More

  • Suicide And Suicide In Shakespeare's Hamlet

    840 Words  | 4 Pages

    Throughout the play, suicide is mention by Hamlet and the suicide that he mentions is something that is related with death and decay. The prime idea of this play is about a mystery of death which then causes revenge. This prime idea then lead every single action of Hamlet throughout the play as, his action mostly is in order to seek revenge for the death of his death father, King of Denmark. Hamlet’s father appears to Hamlet as a ghost and tells him that he was murdered by Claudius.

    Read More

  • Values And Beliefs In Shakespeare's Hamlet

    1262 Words  | 6 Pages

    The reader's beliefs of revenge are re-assessed following Hamlets meeting with the ghost of King Hamlet. In Act One scene five, Hamlet states “ o villain, villain, smiling damned villain.” The

    Read More

  • Hamlet Mental Illness

    1533 Words  | 7 Pages

    Death is one of the most prominent themes in Hamlet, appearing in different forms. Shakespeare displays death through the suicide of Ophelia, Hamlet’s own thoughts and eventual suicide, and the murder of King Hamlet and Polonius. Hamlet displays suicidal tendencies throughout the play through his soliloquies. The first time that Hamlet contemplates committing suicide is when Gertrude and Claudius tell him that he has to stay in Denmark in Act one. “Oh, that this too, too sullied flesh would melt, thaw, and resolve itself into a dew, or that the Everlasting had not fixed his canon ‘gainst self-slaughter!

    Read More

  • His Father's Death And Death In Hamlet

    1156 Words  | 5 Pages

    In the beginning of the play Hamlet, the main character, is struggling with events that have taken place in his life. His Father has recently died and his Uncle has now married his Mother. With sorrow and pain, Hamlet tries to understand and unravel the aberrant events that have taken place with his family. The events have amended the way Hamlet views death. After his Father’s death, Hamlet questions the afterlife; whether it offers a “peaceful slumber” or an “everlasting nightmare”.

    Read More

  • The Affects Of Hamlet's Perspective On Life

    402 Words  | 2 Pages

    He is later disgusted by his mother’s quick remarriage to his uncle, Claudius, almost two months after the death of his father who was also his mother’s husband. After Hamlet’s conversation with his father’s ghost in which Hamlet was told that his father was murdered by Claudius, he became filled with even more grief because he has a difficult duty of killing his uncle in order to avenge his father’s death. This is seen in the “to be or not to be” soliloquy.

    Read More

  • Hamlet Death Theme Essay

    873 Words  | 4 Pages

    When Hamlet meets with the ghost King Hamlet in the opening scene, he realizes that his father is murdered by Claudius. From Act I scene 5, the ghost King Hamlet is asking Hamlet to seek for revenge, “So art thou to revenge, when thou shalt hear” (1.5.12). By knowing this, Hamlet starts the revenge for his father and sets the tone of the entire play where death, revenge, murder, and suicide become the symbols of the whole play, and leads to the deaths of almost all the characters, including Claudius, Laertes, Polonius, Ophelia, Queen Gertrude, Rosencrantz, Guildenstern, and Hamlet himself. Also, because of his father’s death and his mother’s quick marriage with Claudius, Hamlet has the idea of committing suicide. From Act I scene 2, "O, that this too sullied flesh would melt,Thaw, and resolve itself to dew" (1.2.133-134).

    Read More

  • Hamlet Strengths And Weaknesses

    1844 Words  | 8 Pages

    Hamlet is William Shakespeare 's renowned tale of mystery, intrigue, and murder, centered on a young misguided prince who can only trust himself. Some may say that the actions of Prince Hamlet throughout the play are weak and fearful, displaying a tendency to procrastinate and showing an apathetic nature towards his family and peers. Others spin a tale of a noble young scholar, driven mad by the cold-blooded murder of his father by his uncle. In truth, I believe Hamlet is neither of these things. Hamlet is a sort of amalgamation of the two, a bundle of contradictions thrown together into one conflicting but very human mess of a character.

    Read More

  • Insanity In Hamlet Analysis

    1053 Words  | 5 Pages

    In the play, Shakespeare portrays Hamlet as a dynamic character to cause a mental state conundrum among the audience and explore the themes of suicide, spying, friendship, madness, providence, love, hate and humour. Furthermore, by utilising literary devices such as soliloquy, characterisation, dialogue, personification, metaphor, dramatic and situational irony Shakespeare exploits these themes and questions Hamlet’s sanity. In the beginning, Hamlet is portrayed as an overthinking person, claiming to act an antic disposition. However, as the play advances his manic rage and irrational acts such as Polonius’s murder and

    Read More

  • Death Theme In Hamlet

    847 Words  | 4 Pages

    In his soliloquy, he is asking himself whether it is better to live or to die, which he is considering to commit suicide. Also, in the soliloquy, Hamlet states that “Who would fardels bear, To grunt and sweat under a weary life, But that the dread of something after death, The undiscovered country from whose bourn No traveler returns, puzzles the will And makes us rather bear those ills we have Than fly to others that we know not of?” (3.1.84-90). He explains that no one would like to live in an exhausting life, unless they don’t know what is going to happen after they die because they are afraid of what their after life is going to be. Both these quotes prove that the death symbol is always surrounded by Hamlet and he has a hard time to choose between life and

    Read More

  • Theme Of Death In Hamlet

    1306 Words  | 6 Pages

    Shakespeare presents death as an inevitable act of life, noting that all that is living must eventually come to an end. Due to “Hamlet” being a Shakespearean tragedy, the theme of death recurs throughout the play. Additionally, Shakespeare can be seen as using revenge as the main motive of a character’s murder, which makes “Hamlet” a revenge tragedy. The tragic nature means that by the end of the play, majority of the characters would have died. In this case, many of the characters have died due to murder or suicide.

    Read More

More about The Dark Tone In William Shakespeare's Hamlet

Open Document