Pjaee, 17 (7) (2020) a pragmatic Study of Synecdoche in Shakespeare's Hamlet

PJAEE, 17 (7) (2020) 
A Pragmatic Study of Synecdoche in Shakespeare's Hamlet
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though he remained catholic. So, the word “flesh” represented the controversy 
between the parts of one religion.
The second sample of synecdoche was represented by using the word 
‘hand’ which is one of any body parts. This can be demonstrated in the 
following quotation:
8- “Thus was I, sleeping, by a brother’s hand Of life, of crown, of queen at 
once dispatched, Cut off even in the blossoms of my sin” (Shakespeare, 2011, 
1. 5. 74).
This quotation exposes the first time at which the ghost talked with 
someone. On this occasion the ghost pretended that he is Hamlet’s father 
spirit. He also told him that his brother was the one who stole his life, 
kingdom and even his wife. Figuratively speaking, the ‘part for whole’ 
synecdoche is demonstrated in the use of the “hand” which its literalism refers 
to “the end part of the arm beyond the wrist, including the palm, fingers, and 
thumb” (Waite & Hawker, 2009). This means that it is a part of human body. 
The figurative interpretation of the synecdoche “hand” implies that Claudius, 
in other terms choosing this part of the body “hand” to stand for the whole 
(Claudius). Bredin (1984), in this perspective, affirmed that there should be an 
extrinsic relation between the part and the whole that part represents. Thus, 
the reason behind choosing this part is due to the fact that the text is about 
stealing things from someone and the only the part of the body (hand) that can 
do what extrinsically related to the stealer (Claudius). Haverkamp (2011) has 
a nice explanation of Shakespeare’s Claudius’s theft which is that Claudius 
did not steal the kingdom from Hamlet’s father only, but also from his son in 
the sense that Hamlet was the elder son and the succession is his, but Claudius 
was smart enough to use the marriage and to become the king. However, in