OPHELIA
My lord, as I was sewing in my closet,
Lord Hamlet, with his doublet all unbraced;
No hat upon his head; his stockings foul'd,
Ungarter'd, and down-gyved to his ancle;
Pale as his shirt; his knees knocking each other;
And with a look so piteous in purport
As if he had been loosed out of hell
To speak of horrors,—he comes before me.
Meaning
Hamlet, having decided to play the
part of a madman in his plan to
determine Claudius’ role in the
death of King Hamlet, confronts
Ophelia. With his clothing
disheveled and “foul’d,” his face
pale, his legs shaking, and with an
expression on his face as if he’s
escaped from the “horrors” of hell,
Hamlet thoroughly convinces
Ophelia he is indeed mad--she is
terrified.
Understanding the Play
Perhaps because Hamlet suspects
Ophelia will report the nature of
his appearance and behavior to
Polonius (who will, as a complete
sycophant, immediately report to
Claudius), Hamlet quite
successfully plays the role of a
madman. His efforts are rewarded
as Ophelia confides in her father,
who determines Hamlet is mad
from love-sickness, thus he can
pose no threat to Claudius.
Hamlet
2.1.74-81
Literary Devices : Identification, Definition, Use
My lord, as I was sewing in my closet,
Lord Hamlet, with his doublet all unbraced;
Parallelism
Simile
No hat upon his head; his stockings foul'd,
Ungarter'd, and down-gyved to his ancle;
Pale as his shirt; his knees knocking each other;
And with a look so piteous in purport
As if he had been loosed out of hell
To speak of horrors,—he comes before me
Parallelism: similarity of structure in a pair or series of related words, phrases, or clauses.
• Used here, the parallel structure of the list of the many “flaws” in Hamlet’s appearance
emphasizes the enormity of Hamlet’s emotional disintegration (as if the evidence is literally
“piling” up);
• Creates the visual image of a totally disheveled and disordered young man, one
who cannot be “in his right mind.”
Simile: a comparison between two otherwise unalike objects or ideas by connecting them with
the words "like" or "as."
• Visually makes the connection between Hamlet’s facial expression and the “horrors” of hell;
• Creates a visual image of a staring madman.