Ray Yuan and Vincent Liu

Mrs. Tsuji

AP English Literature Period 6

18 October 2015

Hamlet Allusions Chart

Greek Mythology

Explanation/Description: What does Shakespeare achieve by employing this allusion?  How does the

allusion enhance the meaning in relation to the character or the situation?

Act I, III, V: Julius

Caesar/the death of Caesar

Supposedly a descendent of the Trojan prince Aeneas, Julius Caesar was one of the Roman Empire’s most prominent rulers. He acquired his power through negotiations and alliances, the first of which was the First Triumvirate. He then started to conquer more lands and gain more power, alarming his political partner, Pompey. Eventually, Caesar went to war with Pompey, successfully pursuing him into Egypt and driving the nobility out of Italy. He then set out to improve the Empire, relieving the debt, reforming the legistature, and amending social issues. However, he took careful measures to secure his authority as well by maintaining allies in the Senate, which granted him royal privileges. Caesar’s increasing power alarmed his enemies, whom he had also put in the Senate. Dubbed “the liberators”, these enemies assassinated Caesar on the Ides of March. He quickly became a martyr and was the

“In the most high and palmy state of Rome,A little ere the mightiest Julius fell,The graves stood tenantless and the sheeted deadDid squeak and gibber in the Roman streetsAs stars with trains of fire and dews of blood,Disasters in the sun, and the moist star” (Shakespeare 1.1, 113).

Bernardo is comparing the kingdom of Denmark to the Roman Empire under Julius Caesar’s rule. He mentions that the night before Caesar was murdered by his conspirators, there were various omens. Specifically, the dead were agitated and supernatural phenomena like an eclipse, the moist star, and

first Roman to be deified. dews of blood were present, as if to foreshadow impending disaster. The state of Denmark is currently under the threat of an attack launched by Prince Fortinbras. Because the Ghost, clad in war gear, has appeared ominously before the guards on several occasions, Bernardo and the others fear that this apparition that resembles the omens that appeared before Caesar’s downfall would ultimately lead to the ruin of the kingdom of Denmark.By tying his play to a historically significant event, Shakespeare is able to elucidate the situation and explain the Ghost’s appearance. The Ghost’s ominous appearance in the play can seem confusing to some and detract from the validity of the plot. However, when Shakespeare connects this event to several supernatural events that led up to Caesar’s death, the Ghost is more believable. Its presence also ominously foreshadows future strife.“Imperious Caesar, dead and turned to clay,Might stop a hole to keep the wind away.Oh, that that earth, which kept the world in awe,

Should patch a wall t' expel the winter’s flaw!” (Shakespeare 5.1, 193).

Hyperion Hyperion, the Titan god of light, was the son of Ouranos and Gaia. He was one of four brothers who helped Kronos defeat Ouranos. Each one held down one limb while Kronos castrated Ouranos. Hyperion became one of the four great pillars that holds the heavens apart from the earth. As the father of the morning sun, he was considered the pillar of the east. When he and the other Titans were defeated by Zeus and cast into Tartarus, they became the bearers of the cosmos.

In his first soliloquy, Hamlet expresses discontent with many of the event that have just happened in his life, one of which is Claudius ascension to the throne. In Hamlet’s eyes, his father, the deceased King Hamlet, is far more superior to Claudius. He compares the two by comparing them to Hyperion and a satyr. Hyperion, the son Titan, embodies light, power, and glory. His participation in the castration of his father gives him a rebellious nature and authority. Similarly, King Hamlet defeats King Fortinbras of Norway, acquiring respect and authority from the lands that he gains. King Hamlet fully lives up to his royal title in this manner. However, Claudius does not achieve nearly as much. He replaces the hasty funeral for King Hamlet with a wedding for himself and King Hamlet’s widowed wife. These two acts by themselves outrage Hamlet, who considers these incestuous and disrespectful acts as inferior to what is expected from a king.By emphasizing the difference between a sun-

Titan and a goat-man, Shakespeare highlights the stark contrast between King Hamlet and Claudius. The comparison between the two not only reflects Hamlet’s absolute abhorrence of Claudius, but also gives the reader a good idea of how the deceased King was. By being compared to the great Titan Hyperion, King Hamlet takes on a heroic and great persona. On the other side of the spectrum, Claudius lowers himself to the status of a goat-man by failing to respect the dead king’s achievements and marrying his wife. Hamlet himself decries these acts, setting up his motivation for revenge later on.

Satyr Satyrs were rustic beasts that were half goat and half man. They have bristly ungrizzled hair and small hornlike protuberances, as well as a tail. Their hoof-like feet liken them to the nature god Pan, and all their wild animalistic characteristics highlight the satyrs’ wild being which mirrors the unhibited forces of nature.They were close with some Gods, but mainly spent time in the forest attempting to connect with nature and seduce nymphai.

“So excellent a king, that was to thisHyperion to a satyr” (Shakespeare 1.2, 139).

Although satyrs possess human characteristics, they are more animal than human. Humans consider themselves superior to other animals  and thus rank themselves above other animals, including goats. When Hamlet compares his father to Hyperion and Claudius to a satyr, he really is emphasizing the difference in status between them. Essentially, he

is comparing a god, someone far more superior to a human, to an animal. By highlighting a discrepancy between these two contrasting figures, Shakespeare elucidates Hamlet’s feelings towards his uncle, whom he believes deserves no respect because of his disrespectful and incestuous actions. In Hamlet’s eyes, King Hamlet was a king worthy of being deified who is succeeded by the detestable Claudius. A deeper understanding of Hamlet’s emotions helps the reader understand his desire for revenge later in the book. It also sets up the tension between Claudius and Hamlet that prevails throughout the play.

Niobe Niobe bore seven sons and seven daughters and boasted her progenitive superiority to the Titan Leto, who only had two children of his own, Apollo and Artemis. To punish her pride, Leto had Apollo kill all of her sons and Artemis kill all of her daughters. The dead bodies lay unburied for nine days because the civilians had been all turned to stone. On the tenth day, Zeus and the other gods buried them. Niobe returned to her Phyrgian home, where she pleaded the gods for mercy. Zeus felt sorry for her and turned her into a rock on Mount Sipylus. Even as a rock, she continued to grieve,

“A little month, or ere those shoes were oldWith which she followed my poor father’s body,Like Niobe, all tears” (Shakespeare 1.2, 149).

Hamlet is alluding Gertrude to Niobe in this first soliloquy in a sardonic manner to mock how quickly she marries Claudius after King Hamlet’s death.When Niobe’s sons were all killed, she was extremely mournful and let that sadness become her entire being. By saying that

shedding tears that formed a constant stream of water that seeped out of the rock.

Gertrude was “Like Niobe, all tears” Hamlet is describing his mother’s sadness after King Hamlet’s death. However Hamlet introduces a bitter and sarcastic tone by highlighting that although Gertrude grieved tremendously after King Hamlet’s death, she remarried his brother such a short time later. Essentially, he is implying that her sadness is not as deep and ingrained as that of Niobe, and that her action of marrying Claudius is detestable and unjust because she should still be mourning King Hamlet’s passing.

Hercules Hercules is mostly remembered as the most powerful mortal to ever live, even stronger than many gods. However, his limited intelligence provided a qualification for his strength and bravery.  His father is Zeus and his mother is a mortal woman. Hera was extremely jealous of Zeus’s affair with another woman and tried to strangle Hercules with snakes after his birth. This proved unsuccessful, however, since Hercules displayed his tremendous power at an early age by killing both the snakes with his bare hands. Hercules’s most known feats were his twelve tasks that were assigned to him by King Eurystheus. Each task was extremely difficult and taxing, but Hercules succeeded in all twelve, underscoring his prodigious strength and unrivaled

“My father’s brother, but no more like my fatherThan I to Hercules” (Shakespeare 1.2,153).

To compare Claudius to his father, Hamlet compares himself to Hercules. Hercules is superhuman, displaying strengths that rival even those of some gods. Hamlet, however, is an ordinary person. Thus, when he compares himself to Hercules, he states that he cannot achieve anywhere near Hercules’s level. He uses this comparison to highlight the differences in status between Claudius and King Hamlet. Hamlet deifies his father as a

bravery. Additionally, Hercules is the only man to turn into a God after he dies.

“Hercules” figure while characterizing Claudius as someone of inferior status. This is only one of several analogies Hamlet draws between King Hamlet and Claudius. Through his repeated expressions of his hatred for Claudius, Shakespeare clearly conveys his animosity for the new king and builds up the tension between the two. Even though Hamlet is angry, he cannot fully commit to avenge his father’s death, highlighting yet another difference between him and Hercules. His lack of resolve exposes his vacillating mindset and enables to the reader to see the emotional and mental conflicts that affect him through the play.

Act II: Hecuba

When she was pregnant with her child Paris, Hecuba had a bad dream that she gave birth to a torch covered in snakes. The prophets told her that this was a omen and meant that the child would be the downfall of Troy if he survived. Therefore, after Paris’s birth, Hecuba ordered her servants to kill him. However, they could not bear to do such an act and left him on a mountain to die. As predicted by the prophets, Paris survived and caused the ruin of Troy. He started the Trojan War by taking away Helen, whom all of the Greek rulers swore to protect. As a result, Troy was sacked and

“Oh, what a rogue and peasant slave am I!Is it not monstrous that this player here,But in a fiction, in a dream of passion,Could force his soul so to his own conceitThat from her working all his visage wanned,Tears in his eyes, distraction in his aspect,A broken voice, and his whole function suitingWith forms to his conceit? And all for nothing—

destroyed.

After the Trojan War, Hecuba became Odysseus’s slave. Before the war, her youngest son had been placed in the care of King Polymestor of Thrace. However, her journey with Odysseus took her through Thrace, where she found out that he had instead killed her son. Enraged, she tore out his eyes and murdered his two sons. When Odysseus tried to subdue her, she turned into a dog and cast herself into the sea. Her tomb stands as a landmark for sailors.

For Hecuba!What’s Hecuba to him or he to HecubaThat he should weep for her? What would he doHad he the motive and the cue for passionThat I have?” (Shakespeare 2.2, 516).

In this soliloquy, Hamlet reflects upon Player King’s moving monologue about Hecuba. The Player is so engaged that he moves himself to tears. Afterwards, Hamlet questions how someone so disconnected from Hecuba’s emotions can produce such an intense reaction. He also finds himself guilty for not being able to react like so even though he has experienced his father’s death and witnessed the incest within his family. The fact that Hamlet has so much to mourn for yet does not find himself moved by the actor’s monologue demonstrates the expectations he has for himself. He so desperately wants to avenge his father’s death through the assassination of Claudius, yet he lacks the passion that he admires in the actor. Hamlet recognizes his lack of anger and passion. The purpose of Hecuba in the play is to reveal

Hamlet’s struggle to find the emotions he needs to drive him to murder Claudius.

Trojan Horse

The Trojan War had already been going on for a long time when Odysseus crafted a plan to ensure victory for the Greeks. He planned to use chicanery to enter the well fortified walls of Troy by means of building a giant hollow wooden horse. Odysseus planned to fill the horse with Greek soldiers and leave it outside the walls of Troy, and then pretend to walk off in defeat. The Trojans fell right into the Greeks’s trap and brought the horse inside their city as a means of gloating over their supposed victory.However, at nighttime, the Greek soldiers snuck out of the horse and decimated all civilization in Troy. The incident of the Trojan Horse is epitome of deception and subterfuge.

The rugged Pyrrhus, like th' Hyrcanian beast—It is not so. It begins with Pyrrhus—The rugged Pyrrhus, he whose sable arms,Black as his purpose, did the night resembleWhen he lay couchèd in the ominous horse,Hath now this dread and black complexion smeared” (Shakespeare 2.2, 423).

In the play as a whole, the Trojan horse serves to represent the themes of deception and revenge. In the Trojan War, this Horse was used to deceive the Trojans into thinking that they had won. Also, the Trojan horse is how Pyrrhus was able to avenge his father’s death. By hiding inside, he was able to breach the external defenses and carry out his mission once inside. Similarly in Hamlet, Hamlet feigns madness in order to avenge his own father’s death. Another theme that the allusion to the Trojan horse brings up is that of sons avenging their fathers deaths. Pyrrhus primarily uses the horse to avenge his father’s death. In Hamlet, Hamlet is

not the only one who seeks revenge. Laertes also wants to avenge his father’s death. His ardent desire causes him to believe that Hamlet is responsible for Polonius’s death. Hamlet himself is trying to kill Claudius for murdering his father. However, the difference between the two is that Laertes has the motivation to accomplish his task, whereas Hamlet cannot compel himself to assassinate Claudius. In this manner, Shakespeare highlights Hamlet’s failure to do so by including the Trojan horse.

Aeneas and Dido

Aeneas and Dido met when Aeneas was shipwrecked on the shores of Carthage, where the widowed Queen Dido took him and his men in. They soon fell madly in love, as designated by the gods. However, Aeneas was quickly reminded by Hermes that his ultimate goal was Rome, not in Carthage. Thereafter, he guiltily left Dido, who could not bear to be separated from her new lover. As a result, she climbed a funeral pyre and stabbed herself.

“One speech in it I chiefly loved. ‘Twas Aeneas’ tale to Dido and thereabout of it, especially where he speaks of Priam’s slaughter” (Shakespeare 2.2, 418).

Hamlet says he loves the speech about Aeneas and Dido, but the connotation is that Shakespeare is alluding Hamlet to Aeneas and Ophelia to Dido.Just as Aeneas recognizes that Rome is his ultimate goal, Hamlet understands that he must focus on avenging his father’s death, and not be distracted by Ophelia. This comparison also implies, although Hamlet denies it, that Hamlet does

have true feelings for Ophelia. In Act I, Hamlet sends Ophelia love letters and even makes an oath on God to love her. However, as the story progresses and Hamlet realizes he must focus on the quest his dad gives him, he explicitly states that he has no feelings for her.

Priam Priam was the last king of Troy. Among his many wives was Hecuba. According to the Iliad, he had 50 sons and many daughters. Hector and Paris were his most favorite sons. When he sent Paris on a journey to fetch his sister, Hesione, he instead returned with Helen. Her abduction angered the Spartans and caused the Trojan War. In this war, Priam saw his sons slain one by one. The Greek warrior Achilles slew 13 of his sons himself, among whom was Hector. Hector’s death signified the end of Troy and also broke Priam’s spirit. Priam’s love and courage for his son Hector drove him to obtain the corpse from Achilles. After the fall of Troy, Priam was slain by Achilles’s son Pyrrhus..

“One speech in it I chiefly loved. ‘Twas Aeneas’ tale to Dido and thereabout of it, especially where he speaks of Priam’s slaughter” (Shakespeare 2.2, 418).

Shakespeare alludes Claudius to Priam in order to demonstrate the hesitancy in Hamlet to kill Claudius.Pyrrhus initially is ambivalent to killing Priam, and does not know if he should, which is synonymous to Hamlet when he says “ the spirit I have seen may be a devil(Shakespeare 2.2, 418-420). Essentially, Hamlet has a slight suspicion that the ghost of his father could possibly be a devil . Additionally, Pyrrhus is on a quest to kill Priam to avenge his father, just as Hamlet is. Pyrrhus’s success in that venture foreshadows that Hamlet will succeed in killing Claudius eventually.

Pyrrhus Pyrrhus, or Neoptolemus, was the son of Achilles and the great-grandson of Aeacus. He was brought to Troy by Odysseus, who was told that the city could not be captured without the help of a descendant of Aeacus. Pyrrhus helped capture Troy, but committed sacrilege by slaying the king, Priam, at an altar. He was murdered at Delphi, where he had gone to demand Apollo to make amends for Achilles’s death.

The rugged Pyrrhus, like th' Hyrcanian beast—It is not so. It begins with Pyrrhus—The rugged Pyrrhus, he whose sable arms,Black as his purpose, did the night resembleWhen he lay couchèd in the ominous horse,Hath now this dread and black complexion smeared” (Shakespeare 2.2, 423).

Pyrrhus was a determined person with strong resolve. He exhibited his fortitude when he viciously murdered Priam, who was begging for mercy. Pyrrhus was driven by his desire to avenge his father’s death. Hamlet, too, wants to avenge his father’s death. However, the importance difference between them is their abilities to carry out such a task. Whereas Pyrrhus was strong enough to commit murder, Hamlet is not, as evidenced by his procrastination of his plans. By including an allusion to Pyrrhus, Shakespeare highlights Hamlet’s inability to fulfill his task and portrays him as a character without a strong resolve.

Act III: Nymph

Nymphs were female spirits of nature and resided in forests, rivers,

“Soft you now,The fair Ophelia!—Nymph,

mountains, and seas. They are largely responsible for crafting nature’s beauty. Aside from being companions of the gods, some were also nurses. The first class of nymphs is categorized based on their domains. Water nymphs presided over lakes and rivers that inspired those that drank from them. Because of this, water nymphs were thought to have prophetic powers. Forest nymphs resided in trees in the forest and were believed to occasionally appear and frighten travelers. Because their livelihoods were so intertwined with those of the trees, they died with their arboreal dwellings. The second class of nymphs is usually associated with a people, who sacrificed various animals to honor them. These nymphs were usually portrayed as beautiful women.

in thy orisonsBe all my sins remembered” (Shakespeare 3.1, 89).

Hamlet addresses Ophelia as a nymph, implying her pure nature. However, Hamlet uses this comparison in a rather accusatory manner. Because she is sinless, Hamlet wants her to pray for him. This situation brings up some possible misconceptions that are held by some of the characters. Hamlet does not express any feelings of love towards Ophelia, as witnessed later when he tells her to go to a nunnery, but merely wants her to pray for him. His comparison of her to a nymph also highlights the lack of love in this relationship. However, the other characters do not see this and believe that Hamlet is madly in love with Ophelia. By describing Ophelia as a nymph, Shakespeare proves that Hamlet indeed does not love her.

Nero Nero was a Roman King who ascended to the throne after his adopted father, the emperor Claudius. Nero developed antipathy for his mother shortly after his reign as emperor began as they had a huge argument. He suspected that his mother was plotting to kill him and ordered his own troops to murder his

“O heart, lose not thy nature, let not everThe soul of Nero enter this firm bosom.Let me be cruel, not unnatural” (Shakespeare 3.2, 356).

Hamlet speaks these lines

mother. Although the mother was a key figure to the Roman household, most of the Romans applauded Nero’s decision because they realized that his own life was at risk. There is a story of doubtful authenticity that when a great fire decimated Rome, Nero remained indifferent and played with his fiddle. This incompetent leadership earned him an air of infamy that still exists today.After the fire, Nero continued persecuting Christian and passed many controversial policies. These edicts caused the people of Rome to revolt and many Romans began to grow hate for him and plot to assassinate him. Nero realized his own demise was inexorable and fled, and eventually decided to suicide.

before he talks with his mother, who is angry with him for offending Claudius with his play. Although he is very angry with both Claudius and Gertrude, Hamlet follows the Ghost’s directions to not harm his mother. When he says that he does not want “the soul of Nero [to] enter this firm bosom” (Shakespeare 3.2, 357), Hamlet is praying that he not possess Nero’s cruel soul. Nero was a cruel Roman emperor who not only stirred up resentment among his people but also ordered his mother to be killed. Because Hamlet does not want to harm his mother in any fashion, he desperately does not want to experience the same antagonism that Nero had. However, at the same time, Hamlet wishes to be more hostile so that he can have the fortitude to murder Claudius. By alluding to Nero, Shakespeare conveys Hamlet’s opposing feelings of wanting to be both fair and cruel. His dilemma in this situation reflects his indecisiveness throughout the play. In addition, his desire to house opposing sentiments at once characterizes him as a wishy-washy character and reveals his inner conflicts.

Act V: Alexander the Great

Alexander the Great ascended to the throne of Macedonia after his father Phillip II died. He had many kingdoms within Macedon and had them mercilessly executed to maintain and cement his power. Phillip had conquered many empires outside of Macedonia, and these kingdoms tried to take advantage of the power transfer to Alexander in order to gain their own freedom. Alexander, with exceptional speed, defeated and regained control over all of Greece with his powerful army and cunning military tactics. He also reasserted his control over Illyria,Thrace, and Tribilia. Even with this tremendous empire, Alexander still looked to advance further East, defeating the Persians and even successfully conquering India. His desire for power galvanized him to try and advance even further east, but his troop finally refused, and Alexander had no choice but to return home. This seemingly invincible emperor finally died from a ravenous fever at the age of thirty-three.

“Dost thou think Alexander looked o' this fashion i' th' earth?” (Shakespeare 5.1, 173).

“To what base uses we may return, Horatio. Why may not imagination trace the noble dust of Alexander till he find it stopping a bunghole?” (Shakespeare 5.1, 178).

“Alexander died, Alexander was buried, Alexander returneth to dust, the dust is earth, of earth we make loam—and why of that loam, whereto he was converted, might they not stop a beer barrel” (Shakespeare 5.1, 189).

Hamlet mentions Alexander the Great several times in Act 5 for a couple reasons. The first reason is the more literal one that reveals Hamlet’s recognition that all things will ultimately be reduced to nothing more than dust and dirt. He comes to understand that death is a part of life. Hamlet specifically refers to Alexander the Great because he was a great ruler who assumed the responsibilities of ruling a powerful empire at an early age. Hamlet himself is rather young and he also has to take on the burden of avenging his father’s death.

To Hamlet, this task is an immense one for his age that he is wholly unprepared for. In addition, Alexander the Great died relatively young at the age of thirty-three. Hamlet, too, ends up dying at a young age.

Pelion and Mt.

Olympus

Pelion was the summer dwelling of the Greek gods and the homeland of the Centaurs, the wisest and calmest of which was Chiron. Also located on Mount Pelion was the cave which people to ask Zeus for rain during the hot summer months.

Mount Olympus was the home of the gods, who controlled it after overthrowing the Titans. The gods would convene there at Zeus’s command, as he was the supreme god. Olympus was also portrayed by the Greeks as a utopia in which the gods enjoyed perfect weather and divined feasts of nectar and ambrosia. Any god or goddess could reside there, but no mortal could ever enter. This was tested by Bellerophon, who rode a Pegasus up the mountain. However, Zeus merely sent a gadfly that irritated the Pegasus so much that it threw Bellerophon from its back.

“Now pile your dust upon the quick and dead,Till of this flat a mountain you have made,T' o'ertop old Pelion or the skyish headOf blue Olympus” (Shakespeare 5.1, 227).

Pelion and Mt. Olympus are both massive mountains. If they are not that tall in real life, they at least symbolic of unattainable heights in Greek mythology. Laertes commands the others to fill in the grave so much that the pile of dirt is almost infinitely tall. Since they are both places that mortals cannot be in, Laertes is highlighting the fact that he will die and is okay with it as long as he can be buried with his sister Ophelia.

Biblical Allusions

Acts I, III, V:  Cain and

Abel

Cain is the first son of Adam while Abel is the second, making them the third and fourth humans to live on

“O, my offence is rank it smells to heaven; It hath the primal eldest curse

Earth, excluding Lilith.  Cain became a farmer, while Abel discovered his vocation as a herder of animals. One day, Abel sacrificed some of his sheep as an offering to God while Cain made an offering of some fruits that he grew. God liked Abel’s offering more, leading Cain to grow extremely jealous and vindictive. Cain eventually killed Abel, making him the first human to commit the act of murder. God found out and sentenced Cain to isolation. However, Cain complained that his punishment was too hard, and surprisingly God acquiesced and branded Cain with a mark so that anyone who killed him would die, along with six of his or her family members. God eventually disowned this method of dealing with violence, and after the Great Flood, decided on the principle of the unforgivable immorality of murder.

upon 't, A brother's murder” (Shakespeare 3.3, 37).

Claudius alludes to Cain and King Hamlet to Abel in order to portray himself as an unforgivable murderer as well as display remorse for his action of poisoning King Hamlet. By stating that his offence is “rank to heaven” , Claudius implies that God detests it and will punish him, just as he does with Cain. Additionally, Claudius recognizes the horror of the murderous act he commits and admits that he should not have done it, just as Cain realizes after killing Abel. However, Shakespeare draws a contrast with Claudius and Cain in the sense that Cain believes his punishment is too hard and asks for God’s forgiveness. However, Claudius does not plead for God’s forgiveness since he knows it himself that the murder he committed was too heinous to be forgiven. That signifies an understanding of his evil, and provides foreshadowing for a possible future acknowledgement and apology.

Act I:  The The serpent was one of the animals “A serpent stung me. So the

Serpent that God created, but it was also the most cunning and sly of them all. Although Adam and Eve were restricted by God from eating the fruit of the central tree in the Garden of Eden, the serpent convinced them that it was okay. After God found out, he sentenced the serpent to be forever hated by mankind and having to always crawl on its belly, which implies that it originally had legs or wings of some kind.

whole ear of DenmarkIs by a forgèd process of my deathRankly abused. But know, thou noble youth,The serpent that did sting thy father’s lifeNow wears his crown” (Shakespeare 1.5, 36).

Shakespeare alludes to the Serpent from the Garden of Eden in order to manifest the Claudius’s sly duplicitous nature. The Serpent in the Garden tricks Adam into eating the apple just as Claudius tricks the entire Kingdom of Denmark that King Hamlet dies from a snake bite. Additionally after God finds out, he severely punishes the Serpent. In Hamlet,Hamlet refers to God in this scene because after his dad tells him about how he dies by Claudius’s murder, Hamlet takes it upon himself to try and exact revenge, which is synonymous to the punishment that God enacts on the Serpent.

Act II: Jephthah

Jephthah was the son of Gilead of Israel and a prostitute. Gilead also had sons with his real wife, and these kids were technically Jephthah’s brothers. However, they kicked Jephthah out of Israel not only because he was born from a prostitute, but also because

“O Jephthah, judge of Israel, what a treasure hadst thou” (Shakespeare 2.2, 375).

“If you call me Jephthah, my lord, I have a daughter that I love passing well”

they did not want him to take their inheritance. Many years later, the brothers asked Jephthah to return to lead the Israelites against the Ammonites. Jephthah won the war but made a deal with God that if God grants him the victory, he would sacrifice the first living being that came to greet him when he returned home. To his dismay, this being was his daughter. And  although Jephthah was heartbroken, he followed through with his word to God and sacrificed his daughter.

(Shakespeare 2.2, 383).

Hamlet alludes to Jephthah and Jephthah’s daughter as a sardonic disparaging remark towards Polonius. Instead of sacrificing his daughter’s life like Jephthah did, Polonius sacrifices his daughter’s love, like barring her from marrying and restricting her chastity. Essentially, Hamlet is commenting snidely that Polonius’s excessive devotion to Claudius, like Jephthah’s excessive devotion to God, will result in the sacrificing of his daughter. However, Jephthah truly loves his daughter and is heartbroken when she must dies, but Hamlet suggests that Polonius does not love his daughter as much as Jephthah does and is only restricting her to save his own face.

Act III: Herod

King Herod is originally the Jewish king of Rome. One day, he heard an omen from three wise men that a baby would take over as the Jewish ruler. Frightened and worried, Herod went so far as to attempt to massacre all the two-year-old children in Bethlehem. However, he was not completely successful in that venture and Jesus’s family managed to escape. All in all, Herod was egregious, ruthless, and villainous. He committed many acts of murder, including that of his wife, brothers, and thousands of people who

“I would have such a fellow whipped for o'erdoing Termagant. It out-Herods Herod. Pray you, avoid it” (Shakespeare 3.2, 12).

Hamlet outlines the consequences of this play should it not be received and honored. He claims that the punishment that would follow would be far greater than Herod’s worst doings. Since Herod was extremely savage

refused to subject themselves to Roman rule.

and heinous in his mass killings and grasps for power, Hamlet is saying that the punishment he would carry out would be far worse. Hamlet designs this play for Claudius and wants to see his reaction to a murder scene that inevitably reflects Hamlet’s suspicions. If Claudius does not receive the play well, Hamlet thinks that this unfavorable reaction would mean that Claudius is guilty of murdering King Hamlet himself because he cannot bear to watch a reenactment of his guilt. The punishment that Hamlet has in mind “out-Herods Herod”, or outdoes Herod’s wickedness. By comparing this machination to Herod’s evil deeds, Hamlet reveals just how much he wants to exact revenge on Claudius. Yet at the same time, the reader knows how conflicted Hamlet feels about carrying out such task.

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