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All Site ContentHamletAct 3Scene 4
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"mountain" and "moor"
Metaphor
Act 3,
Scene 4
Lines 65-73

An explanation of the comparison of Claudius and the dead King Hamlet in Act 3, Scene 4 of myShakespeare’s Hamlet.

Here is your husband, like a mildewed ear 
Blasting his wholesome brother. Have you eyes?
Could you, on this fair mountain, leave to feed
And batten on this moor? Ha! Have you eyes?    
You cannot call it love, for at your age 
The heyday in the blood is tame. It's humble
And waits upon the judgment, and what judgment
Would step from this to this? What devil was't
That thus has cozened you at hoodman-blind?    

In this metaphor, a fair mountain is to a moor as Hamlet's father is to Claudius.