Theme/Symbols

Themes are present in both Pride and Prejudice and Hamlet, but more so in Pride and Prejudice. However, symbols are not used very much in either story. In Hamlet, the poison is a reoccuring symbol and represents death, since it was used to kill Hamlet's father, Gertrude, Laertes, Claudius, and Hamlet. In Pride and Prejudice, the only real symbol is Pemberley, which represents everything that Elizabeth could have and claims not to want, meaning that she could have all of the wealth, but she would also have Mr. Darcy.
The main themes in Hamlet include death and indecisiveness. Hamlet constantly deals with these themes throughout the play. In terms of death, not only does he have to face his father's death, but he also has to face his father's ghost along with the deaths of Polonius, Ophelia, Gertrude and himself. Because of his indecisiveness, Hamlet suffers consequences, such as being killed himself. He tries the entire play to make up his mind about what to do about Claudius and while he tries to do that, the other characters get killed. Had he killed Claudius sooner, it would have at least spared the lives of Polonius, Gertrude, and Laertes. Hamlet's indecisiveness, however, is what keeps the play going and teaches the moral of the story which is that you should make up your mind sooner rather than later. In Pride and Prejudice, the themes include marriage, love, and social class. During the entire novel, Mrs. Bennet is obsessed with marrying her daughters and entire novel is in fact based on marriage: will Jane marry Bingley? Will Bingley marry Ms. Darcy? Will Elizabeth marry Mr. Collins? Will Charlotte marry Mr. Collins? Will Elizabeth marry Mr. Darcy? Will Mr. Darcy marry his cousin? Will Mr. Wickham and Lydia get married? etc. From the theme of marriage comes the theme of love, which revolves mainly around Elizabeth who, unlike the other characters, except maybe Jane, wants to marry for love. She struggles between marriage, which helps her family and love, which helps herself, because it seems that she cannot have both, like when Mr. Collins proposes. The other theme is social class which plays a very prominent role in who will marry who. The Bennets are below Mr. Bingley and Mr. Darcy, mainly because of Mrs. Bennet, and that fact is exploited by Mr. Bingley's sisters, who represent the worst of the judgemental society. Despite their social inferiority, however, both Elizabeth and Jane manage to marry for love and get wealth at the same time.