The power of imagery in

Shakespeare’s works
 What’s imagery?
Imagery is a particular kind of
language by which the audience of a
play can build up a certain
representation in their minds,
whether it is real or surreal, that is
useful to understand what’s happening
on the stage, and/or to communicate
ideas, thoughts and emotions.
Imagery in «Romeo and Juliet»

Imagery is the foundation of Romeo

and Juliet: mainly, it makes us able to
understand the reciprocal love
between the 2 characters.
 Examples of imagery
in «Romeo and Juliet»

• Act 2, scene 1, line 3: “It is the

east, and Juliet is the sun”
• Act 3, scene 2, line 20-21: “Come,
gentle Night…give me my Romeo”
 Imagery in «Othello»
In “Othello”, we can mainly find 3 kinds
of imagery: animal imagery, “magical”
imagery and religious imagery. These are
very important in the play since they
make the audience able to understand
things that, if told in other ways, would
not be understood as Shakespeare would
have wanted to.
 Examples of imagery
in «Othello»

• Act 2, scene 1, line 1: “O my fair

warrior”
• Act 2, scene 1, line 5: “If after
every tempest come such calms”
 Imagery in «Macbeth»

In “Macbeth”, imagery is mainly used to

make the audience able to “display” some
characters and their thoughts and
feelings, or to carry out some
personifications.
 Examples of imagery
in «Macbeth»

• Act 3, scene 2, line 32: “The shard-

born beetle”
• Act 3, scene 2, line 30: “Ere the bat
hath flown”
• Act 2, scene 2, lines 29-30: “the
innocent sleep…care”
• Act 2, scene 2, lines 61-62: “My
hands…so white”
 Imagery in «Hamlet»
In “Hamlet”, as in “Macbeth”, imagery is
very important to describe the
characters and their thoughts, for
example the sadness and the suicidal
thoughts of the main character.
Shakespeare also wants to underline the
importance of betrayal.
 Examples of imagery
in «Hamlet»
• Act 3, scene 1, line 5: “to die to sleep”
• Act 3, scene 1, line 7: “The hearth-
ache”
• Act 3, scene 1, lines 24-27: “The
undiscover’d country…not of”
• There also is a significant imagery
during all the “Ghost Tale”, used to
represent the ghost.
 Conclusion
As we have seen, imagery has a very
strong power in Shakespeare’s plays: it
is one of the main ways that he uses to
communicate with the audience and to
make them able to understand what he
would like to. Without imagery,
Shakespeare’s plays wouldn’t have been
the same, since it is a fundamental part
of them.