ENGLISH LITERATURE (CBSE/UGC NET)

FAMOUS PLAYWRIGHT POET AND OTHERS

HAMLET

Question [CLICK ON ANY CHOICE TO KNOW THE RIGHT ANSWER]
What literary device is used in the Hamlet quote, “sea of troubles’
A
Metaphor
B
Simile
C
Repetition
D
Alliteration
Explanation: 

Detailed explanation-1: -One of the first metaphors is in the line “to take arms against a sea of troubles, ” wherein this “sea of troubles” represents the agony of life, specifically Hamlet’s own struggles with life and death and his ambivalence toward seeking revenge.

Detailed explanation-2: -Metaphors in Hamlet For instance, in Hamlet’s famous To Be or Not To Be speech, he wonders ‘’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.

Detailed explanation-3: -In Shakespeare’s time, “a sea of troubles” was a gloomy metaphor of life itself; when in his “to be or not to be” soliloquy, Hamlet said he might “take arms against a sea of troubles, ” he was speculating about using a weapon against his life-“not to be.”

Detailed explanation-4: -In Hamlet’s first soliloquy (which is in Act 1, Scene 2), he uses an illuminating metaphor, saying: “’Tis an unweeded garden / That gros to seed. Things rank and gross in nature / Possess it merely.” In this dejected monologue, Hamlet reflects on the events that have recently taken hold of Elsinore.

Detailed explanation-5: -These literary devices include: Repetition. Metaphor. Simile.

There is 1 question to complete.