Motifs

The Motifs of Hamlet make a rather long list, since Shakespeare repeated many concepts in the play, in creative ways. Even more might be found, but I've drawn the line at those concepts which appear most significant, which is a judgment call. The motifs are often interrelated, for example, horses and dogs are in the category of animals, certainly. I call something a motif only when it appears to merit attention on its own, even if it could be placed in a more general category. A presentation of the Motifs in categories, in outline format, may be a project for the future.

adhesion	age	ambition	animals/beasts	birds
colors	confinement	dogs	dreams	edge
fire	flaws	friend/enemy	gardening	good & evil
health/disease	honesty/truth	horses	humors	knowledge & reason
magic	manner/manners	mice & rats	mirror	money
mouth	omen	poison	proof	secrecy
serpent	spy	star	stranger	take/seize
talk	time	touch	trap	war

The individual pages include brief discussion and links to lines of dialogue, to show the existence of the motif and demonstrate its significance.

---

© 2014 Jeffrey Paul Jordan

All rights reserved. See the Copyright page for further information.