(Hamlet) Power

?
  • Created by: NHow02
  • Created on: 28-05-19 10:38
View mindmap
  • Power
    • Cycle
      • 'sick at heart'/'That I might by the  organ'
        • Claudius presents the 'body' of the state (leads others to corruption)
          • Time of uncertainty as Elizabeth was old and hadn't named her successor
        • Opportunities for direct anatomical dissection were restricted during the Renaissance
          • Shakespeare possibly disagreed with the monopoly on knowledge (totalitarian)
          • 'ripe in my device' (means the same as 'rotten')
            • Play of paradoxes
    • Religion
      • 'bow, stubborn knees' (Act 3, Scene 3)
        • Command 'bow' suggests he's incapable of genuinely good behavior
          • His words are a facade because he fears Hell
          • Reference to Wittenberg = Shakespeare rejected Catholic indulgences
      • 'shuffle off this mortal coil'
        • 'coil' suggests Hamlet is trapped by morals while Claudius has none
          • Refuses to kill Claudius in a sacred place
          • Machiavellian- 'The Prince' in 1532 (one had to be 'ruthless' to be the best ruler)
        • 'uniscovered country'
          • Hamlet is wondering whether the afterlife is real
    • Surveillance
      • 'like a mildewed ear' (Act 3, Scene 4)
        • Simile refers to Claudius murdering Old Hamlet by pouring poison into his ear
        • Fungus-like imagery (obscures/ infects reality)
          • This exemplifies Claudius’ manipulation of language to persuade and distort the truth.
      • 'draw', 'gather' + 'glean' (Act 2, Scene 2)
        • Shakespeare worked in a legal office for a short time
        • Represents Elizabethan surveillance state (predatory effect)
          • Knight: 'enmeshed by the chain of casualty'
    • Women
      • 'That sucked the honey of his music vows'
        • 'the soul lends the tongue vows'
          • 'lends' creates a temporary effect (Hamlet can afford to play around)
          • Protestant belief that the Devil arrives in disguise
          • 'Mermaid-like'
            • Mermaids seen as sinister creatures who lured sailors to their deaths
        • Christian belief in temptation. Ironic as women were seen as 'temptresses'
        • Sensual words 'honey'/ 'music' creates an alluring effect

Comments

No comments have yet been made

Similar English Literature resources:

See all English Literature resources »See all Hamlet resources »