Hamlet: Theme and motif
12 lenses on theme and motif for Hamlet by William Shakespeare. Count lenses are exact for our text. AI lenses are our reading and cite only quotes that passed a word for word check.
Jump to: J1 J2 J3 J4 J5 J6 J7 J8 J9 J10 J11 J12
J1. Where is the theme first stated, and by whom? AI
The theme of revenge and its cost emerges in chapter 5 when the ghost demands vengeance. Hamlet's struggle with whether to act and how to act drives the moral question throughout.
Scenes (numbered through the play): Scene 5, Scene 10, Scene 11, Scene 15, Scene 20
Revenge his foul and most unnatural murder. (Ch 5, para 13)
The time is out of joint. O cursed spite, That ever I was born to set it right. (Ch 5, para 67)
That would be scann’d: A villain kills my father, and for that I, his sole son, do this same villain send To heaven. (Ch 10, para 15)
J2. The theme question, and how each subplot answers it. AI
The main theme asks: is revenge justice or destruction? Hamlet's plot answers yes to both. Laertes's revenge (16 to 20) mirrors and amplifies Hamlet's, showing revenge's cycle. Fortinbras's arrival (20) suggests order restored without revenge.
Scenes (numbered through the play): Scene 5, Scene 10, Scene 11, Scene 15, Scene 16, Scene 18
Revenge his foul and most unnatural murder. (Ch 5, para 13)
The time is out of joint. O cursed spite, That ever I was born to set it right. (Ch 5, para 67)
That would be scann’d: A villain kills my father, and for that I, his sole son, do this same villain send To heaven. (Ch 10, para 15)
J3. Motif tracker: recurring images by chapter. Both
Poison, Madness, Theatre and performance. See the full lens on the book page.
J4. Symbols, and how their meaning shifts. AI
Poison symbolises hidden corruption and treachery. It kills the old King (5), nearly kills Hamlet (20), and represents Claudius's moral decay. The poisoned sword and cup (18, 20) make poison literal and fatal.
Scenes (numbered through the play): Scene 5, Scene 9, Scene 10, Scene 18, Scene 20
Revenge his foul and most unnatural murder. (Ch 5, para 13)
The serpent that did sting thy father’s life Now wears his crown. (Ch 5, para 17)
Do it, England; For like the hectic in my blood he rages, And thou must cure me. Till I know ’tis done, Howe’er my haps, my joys were ne’er begun. (Ch 14, para 35)
J5. Theme words and their frequency over the book. Count
Theme words and how often they come in each tenth of the book.
| Word | Total | By tenth |
|---|---|---|
| death | 39 | 4 2 4 0 3 2 11 5 8 0 |
| madness | 22 | 0 1 4 0 3 6 4 0 4 0 |
| poison | 14 | 0 0 0 0 7 0 2 0 5 0 |
| revenge | 13 | 0 3 1 0 2 1 3 2 1 0 |
| guilt | 10 | 1 1 3 0 1 1 2 0 1 0 |
| truth | 6 | 1 1 3 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 |
| silence | 5 | 1 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 2 0 |
| delay | 3 | 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 1 0 0 |
| decay | 1 | 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 |
| performance | 1 | 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 |
J6. The moral argument: who stands for which side? AI
Hamlet stands for truth and justice but becomes corrupted by revenge. Claudius stands for ambition and deception. Gertrude is caught between them. Horatio represents loyalty and witness. The ghost demands revenge; Fortinbras represents order.
Scenes (numbered through the play): Scene 2, Scene 5, Scene 9, Scene 10, Scene 11, Scene 20
foul deeds will rise, Though all the earth o’erwhelm them, to men’s eyes. (Ch 2, para 82)
Revenge his foul and most unnatural murder. (Ch 5, para 13)
The serpent that did sting thy father’s life Now wears his crown. (Ch 5, para 17)
J7. The title: its meaning and echoes in the text. Both
How often the key words of the title appear in the text.
| Word | Times |
|---|---|
| Hamlet | 467 |
The title names the lead but also suggests the play itself is Hamlet's story. The play-within-play (9) echoes the title's meaning: theatre reveals truth. Hamlet's name means 'home' in Danish, ironic given his exile.
Scenes (numbered through the play): Scene 9, Scene 12, Scene 17, Scene 20
The play’s the thing Wherein I’ll catch the conscience of the King. (Ch 7, para 186)
The Mousetrap. Marry, how? Tropically. This play is the image of a murder done in Vienna. (Ch 9, para 87)
J8. Epigraphs, allusions and borrowed texts. Both
Books and writers named in the text: Scripture (1). (rough estimate from word lists)
The play alludes to classical figures (Nemean lion, Hecuba) and borrows from earlier revenge tales. Yorick's skull (19) echoes memento mori tradition. No epigraphs frame the text.
Scenes (numbered through the play): Scene 4, Scene 7, Scene 19
My fate cries out, And makes each petty artery in this body As hardy as the Nemean lion’s nerve. (Ch 4, para 28)
A pestilence on him for a mad rogue! A pour’d a flagon of Rhenish on my head once. This same skull, sir, was Yorick’s skull, the King’s jester. (Ch 19, para 80)
Alas, poor Yorick. I knew him, Horatio, a fellow of infinite jest, of most excellent fancy. He hath borne me on his back a thousand times; and now, how abhorred in my imagination it is! (Ch 19, para 83)
J9. Opening image against final image. AI
Opening image: sentries see a ghost on a dark platform, signalling disorder. Final image: Fortinbras arrives to restore order as bodies are carried off. The play moves from supernatural mystery to tragic clarity.
Scenes (numbered through the play): Scene 1, Scene 20
This bodes some strange eruption to our state. (Ch 1, para 51)
And then it started, like a guilty thing Upon a fearful summons. (Ch 1, para 67)
Something is rotten in the state of Denmark. (Ch 4, para 37)
J10. Pairs and contrasts, such as light and dark. Both
Counts of each side of the main contrasts.
| Pair | First word | Second word |
|---|---|---|
| appearance / reality | 0 | 0 |
| action / delay | 10 | 2 |
| life / death | 34 | 38 |
| madness / sanity | 22 | 1 |
Light and dark contrast throughout: ghost appears in darkness, vanishes at dawn. Madness (feigned and real) contrasts with sanity. Revenge contrasts with mercy. Appearance contrasts with reality (spying, deception).
Scenes (numbered through the play): Scene 1, Scene 4, Scene 5, Scene 6, Scene 7, Scene 8
And then it started, like a guilty thing Upon a fearful summons. (Ch 1, para 67)
But I have that within which passeth show; These but the trappings and the suits of woe. (Ch 2, para 17)
Something is rotten in the state of Denmark. (Ch 4, para 37)
J11. Core values at stake: life, love, justice, truth. AI
Justice is at stake: should Hamlet kill Claudius? Truth matters: the play reveals guilt. Love is tested: Hamlet rejects Ophelia. Life itself is questioned in soliloquies on death and meaning.
Scenes (numbered through the play): Scene 5, Scene 8, Scene 10, Scene 11, Scene 15, Scene 19
foul deeds will rise, Though all the earth o’erwhelm them, to men’s eyes. (Ch 2, para 82)
Revenge his foul and most unnatural murder. (Ch 5, para 13)
The time is out of joint. O cursed spite, That ever I was born to set it right. (Ch 5, para 67)
J12. What the book leaves open on purpose. AI
The play leaves open whether Hamlet's madness is feigned or real, whether the ghost is real or imagined, and whether revenge was justified. Fortinbras's arrival suggests order but not moral closure.
Scenes (numbered through the play): Scene 6, Scene 7, Scene 8, Scene 11, Scene 15, Scene 20
I am but mad north-north-west. When the wind is southerly, I know a hawk from a handsaw. (Ch 7, para 136)
Ask Hamlet a question about its craft (free beta)
Answers cite chapter and paragraph, and every quote is checked against the text. (3 free questions a day).
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