In Shakespeare's dramatic play Hamlet, Claudius and Hamlet intertwine their ambitions and emotions into the structure of the royal language in which they speak. As the newly, recently crowned King of Denmark, Claudius attempts to develop his image as the new dominant monarch of the kingdom and father of the royal family. He heavily inflates his dominant, superior image through his elongated speeches, which demonstrate that underneath the thick layer of royal, reverential language, the new king is concealing his true ambitions and emotions. On the other hand, the mournful Hamlet reveals a much more complex pattern of speech, in public and in private. When surrounded by other people, his entire speeches consists of little words that hint at his emotions at the moment;yet in soliloquies, his phrases are short with multiple interruptions, often demonstrating his bewildered and contrary thoughts and emotions at the moment. Hence, though Hamlet and Claudius conceal their ambitions and emotions in reverential, complex royal language, Hamlet's short phrases reveal his emotional bursts of bewildering thoughts whereas Claudius' lengthy speeches develop Claudius' facade as a dominant king and father.

While Hamlet reveals his fractured, bewildered state of mind in his fractured soliloquy, the King calmly enforces his image as the new authoritative figure and father through his excessively respectful and royal language. In his first opportunity to be alone onstage, Hamlet demonstrates to the audience his bewildered and roused thoughts and emotions mourning his father's death. As revealed through his exclamatory and abrupt phrases, Hamlet's speech portrays his uncontrollable emotions, "Or that the Everlasting had not fix'd/ His canon 'gainst self-slaughter! O God! God!"(1.2.131-132). Exaggerating his likeness towards suicide, Hamlet demonstrates the torturous pain that his father's death is causing him. His short exclamations for the Lord correspond with the grievous loss of his father and the quick marriage of his mother to his uncle. While Hamlet grieves in private, the King attempts to develop his false image as the new, exemplary authoritative figure and father. Much to the chagrin of Hamlet, King Claudius emphasizes the paternal qualities he demonstrates for Hamlet as his son, "And with no less nobility of love/ Than that which dearest father bears his son,/ Do I impart toward you"(1.2.110-112). Despite the fact that Hamlet is his nephew, he ignores the parental relationship Hamlet's father had with Hamlet and embraces Hamlet as his son. Through his royal, reverential language, King Claudius portrays his relationship to Hamlet as an exemplary, loving. paternal relationship.

Figurative Language

Writers use figurative language to derail their pieces of writing from monotonous, literal language to metaphorical, imaginative language that communicates ideas and feelings beyond the denotation of words. To use figurative language is to communicate the story to the reader through means of senses, exaggeration and connotation of words, and other similar means. Some common examples of figurative language are metaphors, personifications, similes, and hyperboles. In the dramatic play Hamlet, Shakespeare frequently utilizes figurative language to add to the mood and tone of the scenes and to further help the reader familiarize himself with the plot and circumstances in the scenes. For instance, to describe Hamlet's supposed reaction to the afterlife, the Ghost of his father affirms that Hamlet's hair would stand stiff "like quills upon the fretful porpentine." Through the addition of a simile, Shakespeare's play communicates to the reader a sharper, distinct image of Hamlet's hair standing sharply stiff and emphasizes the fear that Hamlet would experience if he were to be told of the afterlife.

Settings

In many plays, poems, and novels, the setting is the literary device that serves as the first platform for the reader to land upon before he interacts with the story. The setting involves the introduction of the time and place in which the plot takes place, along with the social and political circumstances surrounding the environment and its inhabitants. To develop a setting is to help the reader familiarize himself with the environment and its mood and the circumstances the characters experience. In Jane Austen's novel Pride and Prejudice, the setting is an eighteenth century rural English village, where families encourage the female youth to romance and court with the wealthy, young, socially active and revered men. In this type of setting, the reader views the social circumstances as humorous, once the author develops her satirical portrayal of this society. However, in Shakespeare's Hamlet, the setting is much more dark and ominous, as the story begins with the mourning of the previous king of Denmark. The play develops mostly in the estate of the royal family at a time before the sixteenth century.

Speech: Hamlet V Claudius

Throughout Act I of Shakespeare's Hamlet, Hamlet's speech patterns convey similarities to those of Claudius in that both attempt to conceal ambitions and emotions. For Hamlet in public, his language appears to restrain his emotions at the moment, rather only hinting at them through subtle sarcasm or humor. For Claudius, his speech patterns reflect his attempt to create his image as the new dominant, authoritative king of Denmark, whilst attempting to conceal his motives and ambitions, including the murder of his brother, the previous King of Denmark. In addition, his language leans too heavily on the proper mannerism of the royal language and the use of the royal "we", further suggesting that he wants to develop his image as a dominant monarch and that he is quite self-absorbed in his actions. On the other hand, in private, Hamlet speaks in fragmented speeches, with multiple interruptions from his bewildered thoughts, suggesting the dominant control his emotions have over his words once unrestrained.

Intro for Hamlet

In Shakespeare's dramatic play Hamlet, Claudius and Hamlet intertwine their ambitions and emotions into the structure of the royal language in which they speak. As the newly, recently crowned King of Denmark, Claudius attempts to develop his image as the new dominant monarch of the kingdom and father of the royal family. He heavily inflates his dominant, superior image through his elongated speeches, which demonstrate that underneath the thick layer of royal, reverential language, the new king is concealing his true ambitions and emotions. On the other hand, the mournful Hamlet reveals a much more complex pattern of speech, in public and in private. When surrounded by other people, his entire speeches consists of little words that hint at his emotions at the moment;yet in soliloquies, his phrases are short with multiple interruptions, often demonstrating his bewildered and contrary thoughts and emotions at the moment. Hence, though Hamlet and Claudius conceal their ambitions and emotions in reverential, complex royal language, Hamlet's short phrases reveal his emotional bursts of bewildering thoughts whereas Claudius' lengthy speeches develop Claudius' facade as a dominant king and father.

Characters

In a play or a novel, characters play the essential role of developing and progressing the plot and the structure of the story. The interaction between characters leads to conflict among one another, and these external conflicts drive the plot. To develop the characters, the narrator often does so through direct or indirect characterization to reveal their personalities and opinions through actions. Or, the character may reveal his personality, or perhaps his perception of his own personality, through a soliloquy in a play, where he is often alone to speak.
In Austen's Pride and Prejudice, Elizabeth remains in conflict with another character, Mr. Darcy, and the several dialogues between the two conflicting characters develops the conflicting personalities and opinions of the two. Ultimately, Elizabeth experiences an epiphany about her perception of Mr. Darcy with the help of other minor characters. She realizes that she allowed her prejudice to immediately convey her opinion of Mr. Darcy without considering the motives behind his actions. By the end of the novel, Elizabeth appears to have matured in her relationship with Mr. Darcy. In Shakespeare's Hamlet, the play helps develop Hamlet's character through the dialogue between the King and him. Throughout the dialogue, Hamlet sarcastically replies towards the new King(his uncle), showing disgust for the King's assumption of the throne in a mere two month's after the previous King's death. Afterwards, the play introduces Hamlet's soliloquy, which demonstrates Hamlet's hidden, dramatic responses to the current events and reveals to the audience the private perspective of Hamlet.

Hamlet:Act I- Claudius' Speech

In Act I of Hamlet, the play introduces the recently crowned King of Denmark Claudius with a slight confrontation between Hamlet and him. Though Claudius briefly respects the mourning of the death of the last king, he disrespects the last king's throne through his marriage to the queen, who was his sister in marriage before being king. Throughout his speech, Claudius calmly commands an authoritative atmosphere as befitting a king, as if he had assumed and controlled the position of king for quite some time. In response to Hamlet's mourning, he assumes the position as father to Hamlet and claims his "paternal" love for his son. He uses this newfound relationship as reason to demand Hamlet's stay in Denmark and not to travel back to school in Wittenburg. In short, his speech highlights the new king's attempt to appear dominant and smoothly assume the role of the king and his relationship to the kingdom and the royal family.