- Allusions are apparent throughout the play and they serve the purpose of emphasizing the way a certain character is depicted in the eyes of another character by associating characters with well known myth or stories that are known for a single characteristic.
- Characterization is constantly used to show what each character is like. Every character is described indirectly to the reader by Shakespeare’s choice of what each character says, thinks, and does. This is revealed through the interaction between characters as well as soliloquies.
- Dramatic surprises remind the reader that the story is a play by being characteristic to theatrical works. Shakespeare uses several dramatic surprises such the nunnery scene, Polonius’s murder, and the ghost’s reappearance. In the nunnery scene, Hamlet is cruel to Ophelia when he is expected to be more tender and caring towards her. Polonius’s murder is unexpected, especially at the hands of Hamlet, because although he was a bumbling fool, he certainly wasn’t evil. Also, the reappearance of the ghost of Old Hamlet is unexpected after the closing of the first act. His return interrupts a climactic moment, for Hamlet is raging at Gertrude about Claudius and her relationship with him.
- The foils of Laertes and Fortinbras to Hamlet shows exactly how strong the theme of thought versus action is. Laertes‘s ability to carry out his actions so quickly is played up against Hamlet’s inability to act because he thinks everything to death and missed opportunities. Fortinbras carries out his actions thoroughly in contrast to Hamlet’s inaction.
- Motifs are important because they help shape the themes and conflicts throughout the play. (See Symbols & Motifs section for more)
- Puns are used throughout to indicate the sanity underneath Hamlet’s insanity. Hamlet mainly uses them in ways that seem to have no purpose in immediate context but do have context in the larger picture that is the play. For example, at one point Hamlet calls Polonius a fishmonger (a word also meaning pimp) and later calls Ophelia a prostitute.