Figurative Language

       Figurative language is language that uses figures of speech such as simile, metaphor, personification, hyperbole, understatement, irony, and paradox. Figurative language is a useful technique that authors utilize to draw the attention of the reader to an event within a play or novel. In William Shakespeare’s play, Hamlet, figurative language is commonly used to convey dramatic effects. For instance, within Hamlet’s soliloquy, there are numerous instances in which he uses figurative language.  An indirect form of personification is used when he says, “Frailty, thy name is woman” because he is giving an adjective the characteristics of a person. By doing so, he is showing the degree of disgust he has for his mother, who married his uncle less than two months after his father’s death.  Another example of personification is when he refers to his uncle and mother’s bed as “incestuous sheets.” By giving the sheets, humanlike characteristics, Hamlet is able to further show the disgracefulness of his mother’s marriage to his uncle. A simile is used when he says,” My father’s brother, but no more like my father than I to Hercules.”  This simile is showing how his uncle, King Claudius, is far from being as kind and as excellent a king as his father. He shows the dissimilitude of King Claudius and his father by comparing himself to an intangible character such as Hercules. A metaphor is used when he says, “ ‘tis an unweeded garden, that grows to seed; things rank and gross in nature possess it merely.” The metaphor is used to draw attention to Hamlet’s vision of the world. Shakespeare uses such figurative language regularly throughout his plays, especially Hamlet.