1 of 1

Write now Article Tools

Good Literature would not be good literature without the effective use of motifs and symbols. The play Hamlet, written by William Shakespeare, contains numerous recurring motifs, woven masterfully into the text. Not only do motifs possess symbolic meaning, but, if implanted correctly, they can add to the overall mood, or feeling, of the text. Shakespeare uses the motifs of death, incest, and misogyny to lend to the overall mood of the play - one consistently dark, somber, emotionally stirring, and brutal.

The motif of skulls, and further the theme of death, is the primary factor to the dark mood of Hamlet. Death is the ultimate mystery. Man's conundrum. In Act I, the beginning of the play, Shakespeare establishes the overall mood of the play by entering the ghost of King Hamlet. This ghost represents a crucial role, he begins Hamlet's play long obsession with death. The ghost does not have flattering things to say about death. He states, [I am] doomed for a certain term to walk the night and for the day confined to fast in fires till the foul crimes done in my days of nature are burnt and purged away (15-18). Shakespeare immediately sets the mood of the play by implanting a terrible image of King Hamlet burning in Hell on a daily basis.

Hamlet's obsession with death and his continual contemplation of the afterlife leaves the reader unsettled, and lends to the overall somber mood of the play. The famous 'to be or not to be' soliloquy is the case in point. Hamlet is questioning the point of living a painful, brutish life, when the afterlife could be so tranquil. This speech leaves the reader in a state of discontent; is Hamlet eluding to his eventual suicide? Is death really better than life? These questions further the darkness around death created in Act I. Potentially the most famous image in literature, Hamlet grasping Yorick's skull, reveals more about Hamlet's feelings toward death, as well as adding to the overall mood of the play. Hamlet, after four acts of analyzing death, finds yet another perspective in which to contemplate the afterlife. After gazing at Yorick's skull, Hamlet realizes that every human is the same in death. Whether that be Yorick, court jester, or Julius Cesar, ruler of the Roman Empire. This realization paints a morbid picture in the mind of the reader, and lends to the dark mood of the play.

Shakespeare also employs the recurring theme of incest to add to the somber feel of the play. Incest is one of the taboo topics in humanity;

• 1
• 2
• next page >>

Add your voice

Know something about Hamlet: How motifs affect the overall mood?
We want to hear your view. Write now!