Within Shakespeare’s Hamlet, juxtaposition is
used to achieve many purposes such as to enhance mood, re-establish themes and to illustrate characterization
. The characters of Hamlet and Ophelia are an example of how Shakespeare uses juxtaposition to clearly illustrate traits of his characters.
What are some examples of juxtaposition?
- What’s good for the goose is good for the gander. …
- When it rains, it pours. …
- All’s fair in love and war. …
- Better late than never. …
- Beggars can’t be choosers. …
- Making a mountain out of a molehill. …
- When the cat’s away the mice will play. …
- You can’t teach an old dog new tricks.
What devices are used in Hamlet?
Throughout the play, it is evident that Hamlet is able to reveal his inner thoughts and feelings through literary devices such as
soliloquies, foreshadowing, irony and asides
which further develop the theme of revenge and Hamlet’s constant desire to gain vengeance for his father.
Is to be or not to be juxtaposition?
The famous “To be, for not to be” soliloquy from William Shakespeare’s Hamlet employs numerous literary techniques or poetic devices, including the following: Juxtaposition, in which two ideas (often opposites)
are placed side-by-side
, often for purposes of contrast, as in “To be, or not to be” (3.1. 55).
What literary theory is Hamlet?
Freud also viewed Hamlet as a real person: one whose psyche could be analysed through the text. He took the view that Hamlet’s madness merely disguised the truth in the same way dreams disguise unconscious realities. He also famously saw Hamlet’s struggles as a representation of the Oedipus complex.
How do you identify a juxtaposition?
Juxtaposition occurs
when two things are placed side by side for comparison
, often to highlight the contrast between the elements. The simplest example would be the yin-yang symbol.
What are three types of juxtaposition?
Types of Juxtaposition
The most common are
foils, antitheses, and oxymorons
. These are characters whose personalities, backgrounds, or ideas contrast with one another.
What is the irony in Hamlet?
The irony is that
while Claudius believes the play to be fiction, Hamlet, Horatio, and the audience know that Hamlet wants it to look like the real murder
. Here Hamlet finally makes the decision to kill Claudius but stops when he sees him praying.
What does mirth mean in Hamlet?
mirth.
great merriment
.
With an auspicious and a dropping eye
, With mirth in funeral and with dirge in marriage, In equal scale weighing delight and dole,–
What is a motif in Hamlet?
A motif is
a recurring idea or contrast examined in a work of literature
and these will usually relate to the themes being explored. There are several major themes and motifs in Hamlet. One of the central themes in Hamlet is action versus inaction. Hamlet is the epitome of inaction in many ways.
What is Hamlet’s tragic flaw?
The word ‘tragic flaw’ is taken from the Greek concept of Hamartia used by Greek philosopher Aristotle in his Poetics. Shakespeare’s tragic hero Hamlet’s fatal flaw is his failure to act immediately to kill Claudius, his uncle and murderer of his father. His tragic flaw is ‘
procrastination
‘.
Do be or not to be?
“To be, or not to be” is the
opening phrase of a soliloquy given by Prince Hamlet in
the so-called “nunnery scene” of William Shakespeare’s play Hamlet, Act 3, Scene 1. In the speech, Hamlet contemplates death and suicide, bemoaning the pain and unfairness of life but acknowledging that the alternative might be worse.
Who is Hamlet talking to in To be or not to be?
Polonius
hears Hamlet coming, and he and the king hide. Hamlet enters, speaking thoughtfully and agonizingly to himself about the question of whether to commit suicide to end the pain of experience: “To be, or not to be: that is the question” (III.
Why Hamlet is a tragic hero?
In Hamlet, Shakespeare uses the tragedies and deaths to make the play a tragedy; Hamlet is a tragic hero because
he is a person of high rank who violated a law
, and he poses a threat to society and causes suffering to others through violating the law, which are all characteristics of a tragic hero.
What Does TS Eliot say about Hamlet?
For Eliot, the most glaring is that Hamlet’s emotional response to his situation exceeds the realities of that situation as dramatized in the play itself:
“Hamlet (the man) is dominated by an emotion which is inexpressible, because it is in excess of the facts as they appear.”
How Hamlet is a revenge tragedy?
Hamlet turns revenge tragedy on its head by taking away the usual obstacles to the hero’s vengeance
. In a typical revenge tragedy like The Spanish Tragedy, the hero faces two obstacles: to find out who the murderers are, and then to get himself into a position where he can kill them.
