The closet scene

The scene starts with a dialogue between Hamlet and his mother. The content of the dialogue is Hamlet's comparison between his dead father and his uncle. He wants to show to his mother that his father was better.

The protagonist starts to speak using an imperative form: "Look here, upon these picture, and on this, the counterfeit presentment of two brothers". Shakespeare uses these verb tense to underline Hamlet's mood. The reader can immediately understand that he is angry and rather aggressive with his mother.

In the second line the writer makes us understand that Hamlet wants to compare the portraits of two brothers. The word "counterfeit" means that they are modified. You have to remember that the portraits at that time had especially the function of showing the personality and the importance of a person.

After that Hamlet starts to show to his mother, his father's portrait. He uses again the imperative form: "See, what a grace was seated on this brow;". In the following lines Hamlet compares his father's qualities and skills to classical gods.

Hamlet compares his father's curls to Hyperion's. Hyperion was a Titan who ruled the sun. Hamlet wants to underline with this metaphor the importance of his father: he was light and he lit all. Hamlet compares his father to Jove who was the god's father. It means that his father represented the supremacy over all the other kings, like Jove. Hamlet compares his father to Mars who was the god of war. He wants to convey the idea of a great fighter. The protagonist associates his father to Mercury who was the messenger of the gods. In particular he uses the word "station" to underline his father's great build.

At line 7 there is a metaphor: "new-lighted on a heaven-kissing hill". Shakespeare uses the word "hill" because he is referring to the mother. The presence of the word "combination" means that the father was a mixture of positive qualities. The word "seal" means that the identity of the father cannot be discussed.

The sentence "This was your husband" is very significant. As the matter of fact this is the last part of a particular organization: The same line is interrupted by a full stop. After that Hamlet introduces the other part of comparison: he starts to speak about his uncle ("Here is your husband"). Now Hamlet doesn't use classical mythology to refer to his uncle. He considers his uncle an inferior husband for his mother. There is an interrogative form "Have you eyes?" with which Hamlet wants to open his mother's eyes. He wants to make her understand the deep difference between the two men. After that there is another association: "could you on this fair mountain leave to feed, and batten on this moor?". Here Hamlet compares his father to a fair mountain and his uncle to a moor. You can immediately understand that Hamlet wants to underline the importance of his father and at the same time the contempt for his uncle.