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Mythological Allusion
Mythological Allusion
Act 2,
Scene 2
Lines 480-483

A reference to the Greek mythological character Vulcan in Act 2, Scene 2 of myshakespeare's Hamlet.

Player

And never did the Cyclops' hammers fall
On Mars his armor, forged for proof eterne,
With less remorse than Pyrrhus' bleeding sword
Now falls on Priam.

According to Greek mythology, Vulcan, the god of iron-working and volcanos, employed the Vulcans (three one-eyed giants) in his forge to make weapons for the gods and a few heroic humans. Here, the actor compares a Vulcan’s hammer stroke on a sword he is fashioning to Pyrrhus' sword stroke on Priam’s head.