There are many representations of power in Shakespeare's Hamlet. This assignment is going to consider three, the power of language, the power of love and the lack of power of the two female characters.
             In Act I, we can begin to build a profile of the characters through the language they use. Claudius' language suggests a forceful, manipulative, strong individual. In Act 1 Sc II where Claudius holds court his first speech is confident, firm and assertive. The whole speech glows with a polish that suggests thorough preparation even his grief and happiness are formally balanced with a series of beautifully poised oxymoron's.
             "Have we, as 'twere, with a defeated joy,
             With one auspicious, and one dropping eye,
             With mirth in funeral, and with dirge in marriage"
             Claudius is good at manipulating his courtiers and at double-speak. His fawning address to Hamlet 'Tis sweet and commendable in your nature, Hamlet...' (Act 1, Sc II page 34 Line 11) shows him to be a master of persuasiveness.
             Hamlet's use of language is obviously a crucial key to his character. Hamlet's language reveals that he is constantly wrestling with something inside, something, which torments him, something at times he clearly would not like to think about but which he cannot dispel from his thoughts. Hamlet shows little inclination to listen to other people sensitively and he frequently uses language as a shield to protect himself from interacting with the world. Hamlet's vocabulary features short colloquial word evocative of a mood of exhaustion and contempt, a range of feelings of extreme unpleasantness: "fardels," "grunt," "sweat," "nasty sty," "vicious mole," "rank" and gross," "slave's offal."
             Hamlet does not easily express himself verbally. For example, he feigns indifference towards Ophelia despite his obvious passionate feelings for her, while contradictions between what Hamlet says and what he
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