The OBJECTIVE CORRELATIVE

The term "objective correlative" was made famous by T.S.Eliot who used it in an influential essay on Hamlet in the year 1919.

(Mr.Eliot refers to the play and not to the character)

In this essay Eliot compares Shakespeare’s Hamlet and Macbeth in order to extract the deep reasons that move Shakespeare to create a literary communication. 

They are two dramas, so T.S.Eliot analyzes if Shakespeare’s plays effectively communicates character’s feelings to listeners.

Lady Macbeth’s sleepwalking and Hamlet’s climate are two metaphors used to convey human nature. Shakespeare relates character’s behaviours to individual’s feelings (objective correlative).

According to Mr.Eliot only in Macbeth Shakespeare’s communication is effective. In Hamlet he abuses language (over-described).

T.S.Eliot comes to the definition of the objective correlative because he is searching a way to convey emotions, that they are unspeakable. Poetry is a way to tell the unspeakable.

In order to well communicate emotions in poetry there has to be a perfect balance of form and matter.

The OBJECTIVE CORRELATIVE DEFINITION: 

[ITA] Il CORRELATIVO OGGETTIVO è uno strumento linguistico attraverso il quale T.S.Eliot cerca di analizzare il problema della comunicazione delle emozioni da parte dell’artista.

[ING] The OBJECTIVE CORRELATIVE is a linguistic tool through which T.S.Eliot tries to analyze the problem of the communication of feelings by the artist.