All 5 Uses of
afflict
in
Hamlet, Prince of Denmark
- This is the very ecstasy of love;
Whose violent property fordoes itself,
And leads the will to desperate undertakings,
As oft as any passion under heaven
That does afflict our natures.†Scene 2.1 *afflict = cause suffering
- What it should be,
More than his father's death, that thus hath put him
So much from the understanding of himself,
I cannot dream of: I entreat you both
That, being of so young days brought up with him,
And since so neighbour'd to his youth and humour,
That you vouchsafe your rest here in our court
Some little time: so by your companies
To draw him on to pleasures, and to gather,
So much as from occasion you may glean,
Whether aught, to us unknown, afflicts him thus,
That, open'd, lies within our remedy.†Scene 2.2afflicts = causes suffering
- Sweet Gertrude, leave us too;
For we have closely sent for Hamlet hither,
That he, as 'twere by accident, may here
Affront Ophelia:
Her father and myself,—lawful espials,—Will so bestow ourselves that, seeing, unseen,
We may of their encounter frankly judge;
And gather by him, as he is behav'd,
If't be the affliction of his love or no
That thus he suffers for.†Scene 3.1affliction = something that causes ongoing suffering
- The queen, your mother, in most great affliction of spirit,
hath sent me to you.†Scene 3.2
- Thought and affliction, passion, hell itself,
She turns to favour and to prettiness.†Scene 4.5
Definition:
to cause pain, suffering, or trouble -- especially something long-lasting or hard to endure