What do you find interesting about the Imagery in Hamlet
             Metaphor's, similes and personification are common to Shakespeare's art in general and Hamlet is no exception. The imagery in Hamlet is the vehicle Shakespeare uses to create interest for the audience, and is the fundamental part that makes Shakespeare's work so memorable. The play mainly consists of meetings, conversations and most often the release of inner thoughts and feelings (soliloquy) of characters, and few elements of action or adventure appear, to make it exciting for the audience. This leads Shakespeare to make an impact on the audience with his choice of powerful and often poignant images that seem to exist in clusters. Negative themes of sickness, disease, corruption, all arise, and seem to overlap throughout, to give an overall unhealthy impression of Elsinore. The themes present in Hamlet are consistent, and combine to give a very sombre but particular tone, often encouraging us to sympathise with a number of characters, most often Hamlet.
             Elsinore is established as a tainted and tarnished setting from the opening scene. We get a glimpse from the way Shakespeare establishes a mood of anxiety and dread, by the ways the verse is irregular and does not flow. Questions follow with few answers, and the irregular, sharp sentences develop into broken rhythms, which generate an atmosphere of unease. Beginning on a question "Who's there?" leads to another six questions in the next twenty lines, setting up a feeling of confusion and apprehension. The sinister edge is apparent when questions are not answered; we never learn why Francisco feels "sick at heart"(line 9), and this unexplained phrase anticipates the images of sickness that colour the whole play. It also prepares us for Hamlet's melancholy in the next scene. This opening scene functions also as do some of other Shakespeare plays as a narration of events, but also an ...