Imagery in Hamlet Imagery is word pictures. Hamlet deals with the imagery of poison, disease, and decay. This imagery adds a sense of reality and depth to the way the characters in the play take revenge on other characters. These word pictures make the reader more sympathetic towards Hamlet. I have chosen five examples from the play to help describe the imagery of poison, disease and decay. Two of these examples are cases of rot, one of disease, and the next two examples of poison. The imagery of decadence in the play Hamlet is quite detailed and gives you a very distinct picture. I have chosen two examples of decadence. My first example is in Act IV, Scene III at line 20. The play quotes: “Not where he eats, but where he is eaten.” A certain summons of political verses is eaten up on him. Your worm is your only emperor when it comes to diet. We fatten all other creatures for fatus, and we fatten ourselves for maggots. The quote describes where Polonius went. The place where it is eaten tells us that it is no longer alive but has been eaten by worms and will eventually decompose. My second example of rot cites "O heat dries up my brain; fear seven times greater than salt burns the sense and virtue of my eye!" Illness plays a big role in the play Hamlet. It gives you a feeling of description and realism. In Hamlet, the disease is found in Act IV, Scene I, line 21. He quotes "But, like the owner of a foul disease, to keep it from divulging itself, let it feed even on the marrow of life. Where did he go?" This quote once again explains the death of Polonius. Gertrude tells the reader that this horrible act should not be seen as a rotting body, but as a human being living on nature's best food. As you can see in the play Hamlet, poison is most used to die. At the beginning and end of the play there is poison. So, to help the poisoned dead, Shakespeare created imagery of them. The first example would be in the quote: "Sleeping inside me in an orchard, my custom always in the afternoon, in my hour of safety, your uncle stole cursed hebona juice from a vial and from the porches of my ears poured the leprous distillate which, rapid as quicksilver, it passes through the natural doors of the body. » This quote is described by Hamlet's father as a ghost. He describes the death committed by his brother. He explains that Hamlet's uncle poured poison into his father's ear so that it would pass through his entire body and eventually kill him. The second quote describing the poison is in Act V, scene v, line 75. It quotes "Oh, it is the poison of deep sorrow; all this springs from his father's death and here is now." This quote explains the effects of a remarkably deadly poison called quicksilver. This is the poison with which Hamlet's father was instantly killed. As you can see from reading this essay, it is inevitable that imagery is one of the most important factors in writing. Without describing the actions of important events, you will not get the real impression of the play. Therefore, the description of poison, rot and disease in the play makes you a little more sympathetic towards Hamlet..