Motifs are recurring structures, contrasts, and literary
devices that can help to develop and inform the text’s major themes.
Incest and Incestuous Desire
The motif of incest runs throughout the play and is frequently alluded
to by Hamlet and the ghost, most obviously in conversations about
Gertrude and Claudius, the former brother-in-law and sister-in-law
who are now married. A subtle motif of incestuous desire can be
found in the relationship of Laertes and Ophelia, as Laertes sometimes
speaks to his sister in suggestively sexual terms and, at her funeral,
leaps into her grave to hold her in his arms. However,
the strongest overtones of incestuous desire arise in the relationship
of Hamlet and Gertrude, in Hamlet’s fixation on Gertrude’s sex life
with Claudius and his preoccupation with her in general.
Misogyny
Shattered by his mother’s decision to marry Claudius so
soon after her husband’s death, Hamlet becomes cynical about women
in general, showing a particular obsession with what he perceives
to be a connection between female sexuality and moral corruption.
This motif of misogyny, or hatred of women, occurs sporadically throughout
the play, but it is an important inhibiting factor in Hamlet’s relationships
with Ophelia and Gertrude. He urges Ophelia to go to a nunnery rather
than experience the corruptions of sexuality and exclaims of Gertrude,
“Frailty, thy name is woman” (I.ii.146).
Ears and Hearing
One facet of Hamlet’s exploration of
the difficulty of attaining true knowledge is slipperiness of language.
Words are used to communicate ideas, but they can also be used to
distort the truth, manipulate other people, and serve as tools in
corrupt quests for power. Claudius, the shrewd politician, is the
most obvious example of a man who manipulates words to enhance his
own power. The sinister uses of words are represented by images
of ears and hearing, from Claudius’s murder of the king by pouring
poison into his ear to Hamlet’s claim to Horatio that “I have words
to speak in thine ear will make thee dumb” (IV.vi.21).
The poison poured in the king’s ear by Claudius is used by the ghost
to symbolize the corrosive effect of Claudius’s dishonesty on the
health of Denmark. Declaring that the story that he was killed by
a snake is a lie, he says that “the whole ear of Denmark” is “Rankly
abused. . . .” (I.v.36–38).
