Gil Adamson's Outlander and William Shakespeare's Hamlet share some similarities, both in plot and style. The Outlander is the story of Mary Boulton, self-widowed, who is pursued by her husband's brothers. The reader follows her on her journey through nature which ultimately results in her return to mental clarity. The story of Hamlet is a bit of the opposite of that of The Outlander. It begins with Hamlet encountering the ghost of his late father, who then urges Hamlet to avenge him. This journey of revenge ultimately results in Hamlet's loss of mental clarity and his untimely death. In Hamlet and The Outlander, the authors use natural imagery and the natural world respectively to demonstrate the emotional struggle of the characters. Throughout The Outlander, the use of water imagery is often a symbol of several negative feelings – for example the feeling of being. drowned or out of control – she experiences them and how she eventually overcomes them. It is used as a metaphor for the turbulence in her relationships, for example in a flashback it is said that "For Mary, [courtship with her late husband] was like sliding through water and being carried away faster and faster by the current” (139), water here demonstrates its lack of control over its own life. Another example of this occurs when she has met someone new and doesn't know where she is being escorted or what will happen: "Her black hair whipped her face and Helen's around hers, as if the two women were underwater plants undulating in the waters of a river. anxious current” (135). The use of water in this metaphor gives us the idea that Mary is very nervous about what will happen to her in the future, as shown by the personification of water. A third example of n...... middle of paper ......f in England, to do this Hamlet must cross a sea. This is where Hamlet finally frees himself from the sorrow he feels and decides to come back and fight for what he needs. It is in this missing part of the play that Hamlet is abroad that he finds his freedom. After that, Ophelia dies. Gertrude describes her death to Laertes beautifully, despite its morbidity. All Laertes says is “You have too much water, poor Ophelia” (IV. v. ___). The use of water in Hamlet is less a movement of reason; rather, it demonstrates the result of said mental health. Therefore, the use of water in the two texts is different; but it still serves to demonstrate the emotional struggle that the characters experienced. In The Outlander, it is used throughout the transition from insane to sane. In comparison, the use of water in Hamlet shows the consequences of losing or gaining sanity..