DENOTATIVE ANALYSIS OF HAMLET (1-21)

We are analyzing the first scene from act third from Hamlet by Shakespeare.

The scene is about a dialogue between Hamlet and his mother.

The content of the dialogue is Hamlet's comparison between his dead father and his uncle (now, the new king and the new husband of his mother). He shows two portraits to his mother (one portrait is of his father, and the other is of his uncle) because he wants to show her that his father was better.

Hamlet wants to draw his mother's attention on the qualities and virtues of his dead father. He compares him with Greek divinities: Hyperion, Jove, Mars and Mercury. On the contrary, Hamlet criticezes his uncle and asks his mother how she could stay with such a low and despicable person.