Figuratively Speaking

Hamlet's prominent theme of the equalizing power of death is supported by the analogy of the worm that devours rich and poor alike. As the depressed and arguably insane title character of Shakespeare's greatest tragedy, it is only natural that Hamlet would have an obsession with death that "apparently preoccupies Hamlet's mind" (Stockton 73.) Hamlet often explains his thoughts on death by referring to earth's lowliest creature, the worm, to whom "your fat king and lean beggar" are but "two dishes, but to one table..." (IV.3.22). Hamlet sees death as the greatest equalizer, a time in which a king that feeds a worm that feeds a fish will feed a beggar. In essence, everything is eaten by the worm, even the worm itself, and no one is superior or preferable to these decomposers. Even men who reigned on earth, such as Caesar and Alexander, are "dead and...