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

Hamlet paints a picture of his father's love for his mother on an epic scale: he was so loving to her "That he might not beteem the winds of heaven / Visit her face too roughly" (line 141-2). This idea of a protective figure that would shield Gertrude from all dangers is then opposed to Gertrude's attitudes and actions, for she has hastily re-married, and Hamlet comments on her sexual depravity by the way he compares her to an experienced post-horse. The disgust on behalf of Hamlet is reinforced by the hissing sounds of Hamlet's words. 'Unrighteous', 'incestuous', and 'dexterity' have sharp 's' sounds that convey the man's nausea at his fascination with the disgusting image he has of his mother and uncle in bed together.

With such dexterity to incestuous sheets!

In the rank sweat of an unseamed bed

Some common words found in the essay are:
Scene II, Claudius Shakespeare, Act Scene, King Hamlet, Day Judgment, Hamlet Elsinore, Hamlet Metaphor's, Elsinore Hamlet's, Marcellus Barnardo, II Shakespeare, mother uncle, king hamlet, imagery hamlet, scene ii, shakespeare words, late king hamlet, act iii, ophelia act, apparent shakespeare, themes sickness, iii scene, act iii scene,
Approximate Word count = 2213
Approximate Pages = 9 (250 words per page double spaced)