Act V Symbolism

Symbol

Yorick's Skull: The former court jester's skull is defiantly the most recognizable symbol from Hamlet altogether. The skull represents and presents the inevitability of death to Hamlet. this also goes hand in hand with the overwhelming theme of death in the final act of Hamlet, with the opening of the act in the graveyard, the funeral, and the deaths of nearly every major character in Hamlet, for death became a reality.

Allusion


"How the knave (The Gravedigger) jowls it to the ground, as if it were Cain’s jawbone, that did the first murder!" act 5, s1 78-79

An allusion to Genesis 4:1-2, The Gravedigger throws skulls on the ground as if it were the instrument of the first murder, of course the skull is of Yorick, which takes Hamlet to the realization that all men will soon enough become dust.  

-Spencer  

Symbols and Allusions

Symbol

Flowers
In Act IV scene v, when Ophelia begins to lose her mind, she starts handing flowers out to everyone. She speaks of the symbolic meaning behind each flower as she hands them out. 

• Fennel: flattery and deceit 
• Columbines: infidelity 
• Rue: sorrow and repentance
• Daisy: disguise or conceal 
• Violets: faithfulness 

It is significant to note who she hands each flower to. She hands the fennel and columbines off to King Claudius. This represents the lies and betrayal Claudius has committed throughout the whole play. To Gertrude as well as herself, she hands the rue and states, "You must wear your rue with a difference." This is told to Gertrude in order to distinguish the difference in the two meanings between herself and the queen. For Gertrude, she meant the rue to symbolize repentance (for the wrongdoings of her hasty marriage to her husband's brother) and sorrow for herself (Hamlet denied ever loving her and her father is dead leaving her with her brother, who was off in Paris). Daisies went to the queen as well to symbolize her disguised love for Claudius. The violets were handed to an "imaginary" Hamlet, for her faith in him has "withered all when my father died." She was no longer able to trust him nor love him again.

Allusions
In Act IV, scene ii, when Rosencrantz is questioning Hamlet where he put Polonius' body, Hamlet replies with, "Compounded it with dust, whereto 'tis kin." This is a biblical allusion to Genesis 3:19. Here, Shakespeare states that Polonius is back mixed with the earth where it was originally formed.

"By the sweat of your brow

    you will eat your food

until you return to the ground,

    since from it you were taken;

for dust you are

 and to dust you will return.”

xoxo, Kara

Act III
Symbols
Lee Sims

"...for in that sleep of death what dreams may come..." (III.i line 74) Dreams are often referred to throughout "Hamlet" as something that is either a shadow or accompanied by death; this idea of dreams never being "real" is very important because Hamlet's dreams symbolize his pure and naive hopes for the world. Hamlet sees the world as a prison, especially Denmark, and has hopes and aspirations that one day, everything will turn out okay, but, much like his dreams, it never will.

"He kills Polonius by thrusting a rapier through the arras," Polonius uses the arras/tapestry to hide himself and eavesdrop on the Queen and Hamlet but only ends up being killed by Hamlet. The tapestry that is used to conceal Polonius could symbolize the consistently present theme that not everything is what it seems.

Symbols Act 2 DeAnna

Hello fellow sea slugs! Here are some symbols I found interesting for ACT 2:

Night and Day- in IIii 85-95 during Polonius' response to the King and Queen, he says, "what majesty should be, what duty is, what day is day, night night, and time is time. Were nothing but to waste night day and time." Is symbolic to the situation with the key word being should. Everything should be what it seems. Therefore, Polonius makes the assumption that Hamlet is in love with Ophelia. But this isn't true because he is not outward with his emotions or that he is not what he seems. Night is not night but rather day. Night and day in this case symbolize deception.






Hercules-  In II ii 365-375 Hercules is mentioned, referring to when they are talking about whether Denmark is winning the war with Norway, and Rosencrantz says they are not only winning but they are carrying Hercules load too. In ACT 1, Hamlet compares himself to Hercules, so maybe this is Rosencrantz way of saying Denmark is paying for what your father did, and now they are carrying Hamlet's burden as well. Hercules is strong, but self-destructive in the end, similar to Hamlet.


Sincerely.
DeAnna Slug

Symbols and Allusions of Act I

Hyperion and the satyr

In Hamlet's soliloquy of I.ii, he compares his father the King to Claudius, saying that such a pairing would be like that of Hyperion and a satyr. Hyperion is the sun god, obviously standing for radiance, light, purity, righteousness and morality. Satyrs are mythical creatures that were half man, half goat and often associated with terrible immorality and lewdness. Hamlet's opinion of Claudius becomes apparent at this point, as before the reader wasn't exactly sure how he felt about his uncle. However, by comparing Claudius to a well-known creature of ill-propriety, the reader is able to grasp the poor feelings that Hamlet has towards his uncle. It's interesting to note, though, that Hamlet chooses a creature whose primary stereotype is one of lust and lechery; it's possible that much of Hamlet's disdain stems only from the fact that Claudius married his mother, with no other reasonable evidence to accuse him of being of poor character.

Drink (alcohol)

Different forms of alcohol and drinking are often referenced in Act I: Claudius celebrates throughout the night with a drinking game, Hamlet jokes that the drinks from his father's funeral were served at his mother's wedding and Hamlet speaks about how his country's reputation is often ruined by their drinking habits. The actual purpose of alcohol is to drink, for a celebration or to have fun. Often people go too far and end up getting drunk and making inattentive mistakes that are always harmful in some way. One must be wary with alcohol; it's fun up to a point, where the fun sharply takes a turn in a polar opposite direction. In a way I feel that this could be a symbol for Hamlet himself. An air of mystery seems to surround him and, as evinced by Ophelia,  people are drawn to him and pine for him from afar, like a kid would view driving a car. But Ophelia is warned to stay away from Hamlet, told that his proclamations of love are fabricated and I feel as if this is similar to alcohol's effect. It's a wonderful thing until you reach a certain point, marked by a fine line, where it becomes something that causes you and the people around you harm.

xoxo, Rachel Cantore