4 Motifs In Hamlet
In the story their are four motifs that take place in the play of hamlet. Revenge, decay & corruption, sanity vs insanity, and appearance vs reality. introduced in Act One.
Queen Gertrude asks Hamlet why he is still so heavily mourning the death of his father, claiming that he seems to be grieving more than is necessary. He responds to this by saying ‘Seems, madam! nay it is, I know not ‘seems’’ (Act 1, Scene 2, line 78), highlighting the idea that there can be a schism between what things appear to be and what they really are.
The king and Polonius are trying to figure out what might lurk beneath Hamlet’s madness, for instance, while the prince is feigning the appearance of madness to obscure his secret mission to reveal the king’s
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(Yet, contrary to this, he pretends to be a trusting parent when Laertes asks him for advice.) The next motif is insanity vs insanity and it was in the story a lot. Hamlet faking his insanity is a part of sanity and also how ophelia death snaps hamlet out of his facade. The insanity part is when ophelia goes crazy after hearing the news of her father's death. The next motif is decay and corruption where hamlet had a lot to do with this, "Hamlet speaks of his mother's sin as a blister on the 'fair forehead of an innocent love' " (Surgeon 209). This quote states that Hamlet disapproved of his mother's actions. It is believed that her actions and those of his uncle is what drove Hamlet to his decay.
This corruption is, in the words of Claudius, 'rank' and 'smells to heavens' so that the state of things in Denmark which shocks, paralyses and finally overwhelms Hamlet, is as the foul tumour breaking inwardly and poisoning the whole body." (Spurgeon 211) This quote states that the crimes going on in Denmark- the murder of his father, corruption of his mother, and his uncle's plan to kill him- finally overwhelm Hamlet and lead him to his own corruption and
Queen Gertrude asks Hamlet why he is still so heavily mourning the death of his father, claiming that he seems to be grieving more than is necessary. He responds to this by saying ‘Seems, madam! nay it is, I know not ‘seems’’ (Act 1, Scene 2, line 78), highlighting the idea that there can be a schism between what things appear to be and what they really are.
The king and Polonius are trying to figure out what might lurk beneath Hamlet’s madness, for instance, while the prince is feigning the appearance of madness to obscure his secret mission to reveal the king’s
true …show more content…
(Yet, contrary to this, he pretends to be a trusting parent when Laertes asks him for advice.) The next motif is insanity vs insanity and it was in the story a lot. Hamlet faking his insanity is a part of sanity and also how ophelia death snaps hamlet out of his facade. The insanity part is when ophelia goes crazy after hearing the news of her father's death. The next motif is decay and corruption where hamlet had a lot to do with this, "Hamlet speaks of his mother's sin as a blister on the 'fair forehead of an innocent love' " (Surgeon 209). This quote states that Hamlet disapproved of his mother's actions. It is believed that her actions and those of his uncle is what drove Hamlet to his decay.
This corruption is, in the words of Claudius, 'rank' and 'smells to heavens' so that the state of things in Denmark which shocks, paralyses and finally overwhelms Hamlet, is as the foul tumour breaking inwardly and poisoning the whole body." (Spurgeon 211) This quote states that the crimes going on in Denmark- the murder of his father, corruption of his mother, and his uncle's plan to kill him- finally overwhelm Hamlet and lead him to his own corruption and