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All Site ContentHamletAct 4Scene 5
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"level" and "pierce"
Metaphor
Act 4,
Scene 5
Lines 147b-152a

An explanation of the level metaphor in Act 4, Scene 5 of myShakespeare’s Hamlet.

Claudius 

                                                  Why, now you speak 
Like a good child and a true gentleman.
That I am guiltless of your father's death,
And am most sensible in grief for it,
It shall as level to your judgment pierce,
As day does to your eye.

Another cannon metaphor by Claudius. A cannon fired at point-blank range is not tilted up, but "level" to the ground and cannot miss its target. Likewise, Claudius' innocence cannot fail to pierce Laertes' judgment.