"Heaven's face"
Context and Language Videos
Act 3,
Scene 4
Lines 44-49
Hamlet
Video Transcript:
SARAH: Hamlet is here using an image of heaven personified as a face, looking down upon the "solidity and compound mass" of the earth and seeing Gertrude's immoral act.
RALPH: This "face of heaven" is showing two reactions: it glows — it's blushing with shame, because it is embarrassed by what it sees; and it has a tristful visage, or a sad expression, as if doomsday was approaching, because it is thought-sick — as if it had gotten sick just by thinking about what Gertrude has done.