MB UNIUD

HAMLET

After the king of Denmark's death, the Queen married the king's brother. King's ghost appears to Hamlet  and tells him that he was murdered by his brother and so Hamlet wanted to revenge his father .

In this text's extract  Hamlet is speaking to his mother. He shows to the Queen two pictures : his father and uncle's portraits. Portraits in the Renaissance were important because they were metaphors, as a matter of fact they expressed the characteristics of a person. The first verb is "Look here" Hamlet is using the imperative so we can understand that the protagonist is angry . Successively Hamlet describes his father like a God. "Hyperion's curls", Hyperion was a Titan and so Hamlet underlines his father's strength; "The front of Jove himself"  Jove was a leader like Hamlet's father; "An eye like Mars" Mars was the god of the war and a good ruler like the king; "A station like the herald Mercury" Mercury was fast and skilful like the king. So Shakespeare compared his father's qualities to Gods'. "New lighted on a haven-kissing hill" is a conclusive phrase that underlines the previous positive comparison between the king of Denmark and Gods.

" This was your husband" is an immediate phrase that sticks in the reader's mind. After that Hamlet  uses again the imperative "Look on you" and begins the description of the second picture. "This is your Husband" is a statement that seems like the previous one, but now Hamlet speaks about the present: "was"..."is". So in this way Shakespeare underlines the contraposition of the two description. While the king's description is a mythological description the uncle's one is realistic: "mildew'd ear" . Than Hamlet makes significant questions. In this way he wants his mother to reason ,as a matter of fact he underlines the differences between the two brothers. So she hadn't eyes because she prefers "moor" to "feed". "Have you eyes?" is repeated two times because it explains Hamlet's thought.

Hamlet respect his mother and he is sure that she isn't fall in love with Claudius. As a matter of fact he emphasizes two times that she has " judgment" because she is old and so "The hey-day in the blood is tame". But the senses make her madness because she had passion on the consequence she doesn't realize the big differences. A key word is "madness". In the Renaissance heroes' madness caused heroes' faults.

Successively Hamlet continues to provoke the queen with rhetorical questions that emphasizes Hamlet's  mood. He is incredulous, his mother has lost he reason and the sense. Shakespeare uses a synestesia and oximoro because he names the senses but she puts it near in a wrong way for example :"Eyes...feelings";" Feelings...sight"; "Ears...hands or eyes". In this way the poet underlines his mother's irrationality.  The following paragraph shows us the top of the climax in which irate Hamlet nomines the shame two times. It means that the reason's lost and the wrong's choice provoke the shame. He also accuses his mother's passion that had driven her to married Hamlet's uncle. In this paragraph Shakespeare uses a literary language that sticks in the reader's mind because he uses words that remind the passion :"hell, fire, flaming, burn".    Hamlet wants his mother to reason about her incestuous relation with Claudius. Gertrude is astounded: Hamlet understand her, and his words hit her inside. As a matter of fact she wants Hamlet to stop talking and said:" O Hamlet, speak no more". She had to reflect about his mistake. The word "Eyes" is an important word repeated more than once in the text. In the Renaissance  eyes were considered the reflection of the soul. Gertrude admit her mistake and so he said that her soul is black. In the following Hamlet's exchange of dialogue he affirms indirectly that he know what Claudius did. Now Hamlet speaks about Claudius using a low register. "sweat of an enseamed  bed"; "corruption"; "nasty sty" are words that connote Claudius behaviors and refer to the murder.

Gertrude interrupted again Hamlet's speech. She repeated once more "O, speak to me no more". This statement shows that Hamlet reached his objective: his mother seem to understand her error. The powerful of the words kills the woman : "These words, like daggers, enter in mine ears" . In the last exchange of dialogue Shakespeare uses again sharp words that focuses the reader's attention on the differences between his father and Claudius . He continues the comparison, Claudius was "murdered, villain, vice cutpurse, a king of shreds and patches". Concluding the poet uses a low register to connotes Claudius, it follows that his uncle has poor qualities; while the superlative connote the superiority of his father. At the end the Queen is struck by remorse for her association with Claudius.