Such an act / That blurs the grace and blush of modesty, / Calls virtue hypocrite, takes off the rose / From the fair forehead of an innocent love, / And sets a blister there.
Act III, Scene 4 · Hamlet
Context
Hamlet describes Gertrude's remarriage as an act so shameful it corrupts the very idea of love and virtue. He piles up metaphors to convey how her choice has defiled innocence and made marriage vows meaningless.
Analysis
The imagery moves from beauty ('rose') to disfigurement ('blister'), and the progression mirrors Hamlet's view of corruption spreading outward from a single act. The phrase 'sets a blister there' refers to the brand burned into a prostitute's forehead, so Hamlet is not just saying his mother's act was wrong—he is marking her as sexually impure in language that equates her marriage with prostitution. The accumulation of metaphors (rose, blister, false oaths) creates rhetorical excess, as if no single image can contain his disgust.
Essay Tip
Use this to argue that Hamlet's rhetoric reveals his obsession with female sexuality—he cannot separate his mother's political remarriage from his horror at her physical desire, and his language collapses the two into one accusation.