Discuss the issue of justice in Hamlet on a global scale.
Justice is one of the most important issues that William Shakespeare develops throughout Hamlet. The entire play is concerned with the illegitimate government that is controlling Denmark. This untenable situation arose within the year prior to the beginning of the play’s action. The murder of King Hamlet was quickly followed by the denial of the country’s rulership to the legitimate heir, his son, Prince Hamlet. Claudius rationalizes his usurpation by pegging it to his marriage to Queen Gertrude, but his actions generate widespread opposition. The fact that he does not legally occupy the Danish throne means that justice has been denied to all the people of Denmark. Hamlet is not operating as an individual on his own behalf but is the embodiment of his people.
Throughout the play, Hamlet struggles to find the best way to achieve justice. Although he personally desires revenge on Claudius for murdering his...
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father, he wants his course of action to be just. Hamlet personally believes whatthe ghost has told him, but he knows he must find proof.
He tries numerous ways to verify Claudius's guilt, including the dumb show and questioning his mother. He is also very concerned not to replicate the kinds of crimes that Claudius has committed. Killing one king in revenge for killing another would not achieve the goal of justice for the Danes; it would make him a murderer as well. In addition, because his mother is still the queen, he wants to ensure that she is treated justly. Therefore, he seeks evidence of her innocence as much as of his uncle’s guilt.
How does figurative language in Hamlet represent the global issue of justice?
Figurative language is an everyday word used in a non-literal manner. For example, when someone says "love is a battlefield," they do not mean it is a literal battlefield, but rather than love can be difficult or painful. Shakespeare was a master of figurative language and uses it to extensive effect in Hamlet.
When it comes to the theme of justice in the play, Shakespeare uses figurative language techniques to illustrate how the injustices perpetuated in Elsinore's court affect not only the nobles and other members of the ruling class, but Denmark at large. Such figurative language is used in act 1, scene 5, when Hamlet hears from his father's ghost how he was murdered by Claudius:
'Tis given out that, sleeping in my orchard,
A serpent stung me; so the whole ear of Denmark
Is by a forged process of my death
Rankly abused: but know, thou noble youth,
The serpent that did sting thy father's life
Now wears his crown.
Notice how not everything the ghost says is to be taken literally. When he calls his own ear "the ear of Denmark," he is speaking of his body as a symbol for the country he ruled over. By betraying his own brother, Claudius has betrayed Denmark as well.
He also likens Claudius to a venomous serpent, both because he used poison to kill him and because the serpent is linked with the figure of the talking snake in the Book of Genesis. Recall that the talking serpent tempted the first humans to disobey God and in a sense "seduced" Eve, just as both the ghost and Hamlet believe Claudius has seduced Gertrude. This is a metaphor, linking Claudius with a seemingly unlikely object in order to comment on how he is an unjust tyrant.
Taken altogether, the figurative language is linking Claudius with corruption and injustice, and Old Hamlet with destroyed virtue. The state is linked with the body of its king in both instances due to the figurative language on display: with Old Hamlet, Denmark is poisoned by an unpunished murderer and with Claudius, there is indeed "something rotten" in the whole of the kingdom.
The representation of religious belief in Hamlet is complex. To take the single issue of the afterlife, Hamlet refers to God's "canon 'gainst self-slaughter" in one soliloquy, while in another, he contemplates suicide and decides against it precisely because he does not know what to expect after death. Later still, in act 3, scene 3, he sees Claudius praying and contemplates killing the king while he is on his knees. The figurative language with which he articulates his reasons for not doing so is varied and striking.
First, Hamlet says that to kill Claudius while at prayer would be "hire and salary, not revenge." To kill a man and send his soul to heaven would be a just reward for work well done, not a punishment. This suggests that Hamlet has a more sanguine and even a more banal vision of divine justice for others than he has for himself.
He then says that Claudius killed King Hamlet when he was "full of bread." In this metaphor, bread stands not for redemption, but for the gross, earthly thoughts and sins which weighed down the king's soul. In the last lines of the scene, however, Claudius unconsciously contradicts Hamlet. His words are light, meaning that they "fly up," but not to heaven, since they are unaccompanied by thoughts. This imagery leads the audience to visualize how Claudius views his own guilt and how his religious perspective differs from Hamlet's.
In Hamlet, as your question already notes, identity is developed and shaped through figurative language. Female identity and sexuality seems to be a particular target for the men of Hamlet. They seem intent on trying to manage and control it.
Think about the speech Ophelia’s brother gives her in act one, scene three. He’s trying to tell her why she should wait to have sex till she’s married. He says,
The canker galls the infants of the spring
Too oft before their buttons be disclosed.
In just two lines, Laertes lets loose several gender stereotypes. There’s the “infants of the spring,” which plays into the infantilization of women. There’s also the figurative “buttons,” which reinforces the domesticity of women. The “buttons” make me think of women confined to their homes, sewing buttons in their living room or kitchen.
Obviously, this is figurative language. It’s not literal “infants” or actual “buttons.” Yet the figures connect to literal oppression and harm for Ophelia and the other women of Hamlet.
Another example of how figurative language shapes female identity and sexuality is when Hamlet declares, “Get thee to a nunnery.” Perhaps Hamlet really wants Ophelia locked up in a nunnery. It’s also possible Hamlet is being figurative. He wants Ophelia punished for her supposed sins or somehow cleansed of her alleged misdoings. Either way, the possibly figurative nunnery continues the pattern of men trying to control, manage, penalize, and discipline female identities.
The male gender is subject to censure and opprobrium as well. Hamlet lambasts himself for his inaction over his dad’s death. He likens himself to a “whore” and scolds his tendency to “unpack” his “heart with words.”
With this figurative language, Shakespeare reveals the pressures of masculine identity. Hamlet is not an actual whore—he doesn’t do sex work. Furthermore, his heart isn't a cardboard box or a piece of luggage, so he’s not unpacking anything. Yet by emoting so heavily, Hamlet’s own gender identity is put into question. In the context of sexist gender norms, the figurative language highlights how Hamlet is not behaving like a strong, silent, decisive man. Rather, he’s conducting himself like a hysterical, desperate woman.