Motifs

The Motifs of Hamlet make a rather long list, since Shakespeare repeated many concepts in the play, in creative ways. 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 "beast," 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.

Within the play, the essential purpose of the Motifs is to establish communication with the audience, and thereby make the play realistic, and familiar, at least in the ideas it presents. People can relate to ideas of birds, colors, dogs, fire, disease, horses, etc.

Please note that because the play is so complex, these are not necessarily my final choices for the Motifs. It takes a lot of thought, and time, to pin them down and sort them out. I "reserve the right" to change this listing, is what I mean.

Bird	Hearing	Heart	Horse	Mice & Rats	Stir
Strangeness	Vision	adhesion	age	ambition	beast
color	confinement	dog	dream	edge	fire
flaw	friend/enemy	gardening	good & evil	disease	truth
humors	knowledge & reason	magic	manner/manners	mirror	money
mouth	omen	poison	proof	secrecy	sense/senses
serpent	spy	star	take/seize	talk	time
touch	trap	war

The individual pages include a very brief introduction, and links to lines of dialogue, to show the existence of the Motif and demonstrate its prominence in the play.

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© 2014 Jeffrey Paul Jordan

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