Suggestions
Use up and down arrows to review and enter to select.Please wait while we process your payment
If you don't see it, please check your spam folder. Sometimes it can end up there.
If you don't see it, please check your spam folder. Sometimes it can end up there.
Please wait while we process your payment
By signing up you agree to our terms and privacy policy.
Don’t have an account? Subscribe now
Create Your Account
Sign up for your FREE 7-day trial
Already have an account? Log in
Your Email
Choose Your Plan
Save over 50% with a SparkNotes PLUS Annual Plan!
Purchasing SparkNotes PLUS for a group?
Get Annual Plans at a discount when you buy 2 or more!
Price
$24.99 $18.74 /subscription + tax
Subtotal $37.48 + tax
Save 25% on 2-49 accounts
Save 30% on 50-99 accounts
Want 100 or more? Contact us for a customized plan.
Your Plan
Payment Details
Payment Summary
SparkNotes Plus
You'll be billed after your free trial ends.
7-Day Free Trial
Not Applicable
Renews June 6, 2023 May 30, 2023
Discounts (applied to next billing)
DUE NOW
US $0.00
SNPLUSROCKS20 | 20% Discount
This is not a valid promo code.
Discount Code (one code per order)
SparkNotes Plus subscription is $4.99/month or $24.99/year as selected above. The free trial period is the first 7 days of your subscription. TO CANCEL YOUR SUBSCRIPTION AND AVOID BEING CHARGED, YOU MUST CANCEL BEFORE THE END OF THE FREE TRIAL PERIOD. You may cancel your subscription on your Subscription and Billing page or contact Customer Support at custserv@bn.com. Your subscription will continue automatically once the free trial period is over. Free trial is available to new customers only.
Choose Your Plan
For the next 7 days, you'll have access to awesome PLUS stuff like AP English test prep, No Fear Shakespeare translations and audio, a note-taking tool, personalized dashboard, & much more!
You’ve successfully purchased a group discount. Your group members can use the joining link below to redeem their group membership. You'll also receive an email with the link.
Members will be prompted to log in or create an account to redeem their group membership.
Thanks for creating a SparkNotes account! Continue to start your free trial.
Please wait while we process your payment
Your PLUS subscription has expired
Please wait while we process your payment
Please wait while we process your payment
And then it started like a guilty thing
Upon a fearful summons. (I.i.147–148)
When the Ghost disappears at the sound of a crowing rooster, Horatio uses this simile to compare the Ghost’s reaction to that of a guilty person who panics when caught in the act.
But look, the morn, in russet mantle clad,
Walks o'er the dew of yon high eastward hill. (I.i.165–166)
In this metaphor, Horatio compares the sunrise to a person in a reddish cloak approaching from a distant hilltop.
Fie on ’t, ah fie! 'Tis an unweeded garden
That grows to seed. Things rank and gross in nature
Possess it merely. (I.ii.135–137)
In this metaphor, Hamlet compares the world to a garden in which weeds have taken over and begun to multiply.
Think yourself a baby
That you have ta'en these tenders for true pay,
Which are not sterling. (I.iii.105–107)
In this double metaphor, Polonius calls Ophelia a baby, suggesting that she is naïve for believing that Hamlet’s affections (“tenders”) for her are true when in fact they are like counterfeit silver coins.
The serpent that did sting thy father’s life
Now wears his crown. (I.v.39-40)
In this metaphor, the Ghost of Hamlet’s father compares Claudius to a poisonous snake who bit him and then took over as king after his death.
To be, or not to be? That is the question—
Whether ’tis nobler in the mind to suffer
The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,
Or to take arms against a sea of troubles,
And by opposing end them? (III.i.57–61)
In this mixed metaphor, Hamlet compares his misfortunes first to an attacker assailing him with “slings and arrows” and then to the sea, which threatens to overwhelm him with troubles. He ponders whether it is nobler to endure his troubles or arm himself and fight back.
Be thou as chaste as ice, as pure as
snow, thou shalt not escape calumny. (III.i.137–138)
Speaking to Ophelia, Hamlet uses a simile to compare chastity to ice and snow, suggesting that it is both pure and cold, or lacking in passion.
It is as easy as lying. Govern these ventages
with your fingers and thumb, give it breath with
your mouth, and it will discourse most eloquent
music. Look you, these are the stops. (III.ii.322–325)
In this simile, Hamlet sarcastically tells Rosencrantz and Guildenstern that playing a pipe is as easy as lying (which they have been doing to him). He means, ironically, that their lies sound as ridiculous as a person trying to play a musical instrument without knowing how.
The cease of majesty
Dies not alone, but, like a gulf, doth draw
What’s near it with it. (III.iii.15–17)
Attempting to flatter Claudius, Rosencrantz uses this simile to compare a king to a vast body of water who, if he were to die, would drag many others along with him like a receding wave pulling bystanders out to sea.
The other motive
Why to a public count I might not go,
Is the great love the general gender bear him,
Who, dipping all his faults in their affection,
Would, like the spring that turneth wood to stone,
Convert his gyves to graces . . . (4.7.16–21)
In this simile, Claudius compares the common people’s love for Hamlet to a magical spring that can transform wood into stone. Although guilty of killing Polonius, Hamlet’s shackles would likewise be transformed into “graces” in the eyes of the people if he were punished.
Please wait while we process your payment