The Power Of Corruption In Hamlet

Superior Essays
Hamlet by William Shakespeare is full of plotting, cunning, and unfortunate instances where choices lead from one unsavory consequence to another. Sin is the primary instigator and end result of these actions and reactions. Marcellus rightfully states, “something is rotten in the state of Denmark” describing the ruling family’s influence on the state of Denmark. The air of corruption is present because of the moral decay and disease rampant among the characters.
Claudius is guilty at heart with a dark secret. Claudius commits fratricide–the killing of one 's brother or sister–to his brother, King Hamlet, the previous king of Denmark. Claudius kills his own brother by pouring henbane poison into his ear to gain the throne: “The serpent that
…show more content…
Hamlet does not believe she ever loved the late King Hamlet by stating, “O’ most wicked speed, to post [she] / With such dexterity [went to the] incestuous sheets!” (1.2.56–57). He thinks Gertrude betrays his biological father with the little to nonexistent grief she displays over King Hamlet’s death. Her actions not only causes anger in Hamlet, but also instills a of sense disillusionment with women. Hamlet tries to gauge her reaction with the play The Murder of Gonzago, with a few added lines written by himself, which mirrors the events in Hamlet. The Player King before his death talks about death and remarriage to the Player Queen. The Player Queen avidly states she would not forget him nor remarry the killer after his death. Hamlet chooses at this time to ask his mother’s opinion about the play in which Gertrude replies, “The lady doth protest too much, methinks” (3.2.217). Considering the situation, Gertrude is essentially saying she thinks one should remarry after the husband 's death even if it is to the one who murders their love ones. Her lusty wiles catch up with her and she dies with the sin of incest and lust in her soul. Ironically, Gertrude dies, poisoned by Claudius, the one she thinks is her true …show more content…
Through every single one of his actions and reasoning, his one motivation is revenge for his father and possibly for himself as well: “Haste me to know 't, that I, with wings as swift / As meditation or the thoughts of love, / May sweep to my revenge” (1.5.7). Hamlet is blinded by his emotions and his passions for justice. His actions become morally questionable. He murders Polonius in his mother’s study unknowingly; sent his two schoolmates to their death in England; kills Laertes with his own poisoned sword; slays and poisons Claudius, and indirectly becomes the cause of Ophelia’s suicide by rejecting her and killing her father. While Hamlet is sick with corruption, his death along with the death of every other corrupt character helps purify the state of Denmark by ridding the impure (Moriarity). Hamlet appoints Fortinbras as his successor with his dying breath and says: But I do prophesy th’election lights On Fortinbras. He had my dying voice.
So tell him, with th’occurrents more or less,
Which solicited–the rest is silence. [He dies.]

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    Carolyn Heilbrun

    • 519 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Carolyn Heilbrun’s essay, “The Character of Hamlet’s Mother” explains Gertrude’s character in the play. Heilbrum states two points in her essay, cheating behind her late husband and do something with her late husband’s murder. Heilbrum believes that Gertrude is a good person and she shows that there is clear evidence in the play. Gertrude sees herself as a well-meaning while Heilbrun knows that she is not shallow and feminine. There are some of the arguments between Hamlet and Gertrude in the play by how he felt about his own mother.…

    • 519 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Morality In Hamlet

    • 503 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Morals are a widely debated topic through the international community, and continues to play an important role in the shaping of society. In the play Hamlet by William Shakespeare, Hamlet struggles with balance between familial obligations and religious doctrines as he attempts to take revenge on his father’s murderer, his uncle and current king, while remaining morally righteous. Failure to comprehend the subtleties of ‘right’ and ‘wrong’ ultimately bring about his demise and he, ever faithful and rigid in his beliefs, loses in the hedonistic and corrupt politics of court. From the beginning of the play, Hamlet is presented with a dilemma that is emotionally and physically tolling. Instructed by his father’s ghost to kill the current king,…

    • 503 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Hamlet knows that if he were to directly attack Gertrude about her marriage of Claudius it would make him more of a target. So he attacks Gertrude through the play he has put on for her and Claudius and with Ophelia. When performing the play, the queen in the play says “if, once a widow, ever I be wife” (III.ii.246), telling her husband that she will never remarry after he dies. This is Hamlet using the play to express how he feels a loyal wife should act in this situation and since Gertrude did the opposite, she is disloyal. He also uses his conversation with Ophelia to attack Gertrude.…

    • 1179 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    It is also evident here that Claudius is neither caring nor supportive, clarifying that he is prepared to sacrifice the relationship with his “son” in order to remain in control. The chaos that results from this conflict occurs for the duration of the play as both characters want to develop plans with the goal of removing each other from society. In addition, a conflict is established between Hamlet and Gertrude as a consequence to Claudius’ action of killing the previous King and becoming Gertrude’s new husband. The rivalry is first noticed when Hamlet questions his mother’s quick remarriage and how he is disappointed by her action. Hamlet states, “…You are the queen, your husband’s brother’s wife/…

    • 1266 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    All Hamlet really wanted was for her to understand what her new husband did. The secret he denied to tell anyone. The secret he was hiding from his new family. Gertrude ignored everything her real family was telling her. She was putting herself at risk, if Hamlet were telling the truth, which he was, then that would mean she was married to a murderer, a man who murdered her ex-husband.…

    • 519 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    How Is Hamlet Alike

    • 602 Words
    • 3 Pages

    The way Hamlet talks about Claudius shows what kind of person he is and how much Hamlet despises Claudies. In this shakespeare play you can tell that there are lots of characters Hamlet doesn’t trust or particularly like. The second most noticeable one is Gertrude. The way in which Hamlet describes her or talks, reveals that Hamlet is allegiant towards his father, and would do anything for him. So when Gertrude marries another man, especially her dead husband's brother he sees that as an act of betrayal.…

    • 602 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Hamlet All the main characters in William Shakespeare’s Hamlet die by the conclusion of the play. The first evil thought is birthed into action by Claudius’s murder of Hamlet Sr. “And in the porches of my ears did pour / The leperous distilment” (Hamlet: I.v.70-71).…

    • 418 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    A motif in literature is the classic war between a passion and responsibility. There are many different emotions and drives that may conflict with a character’s moral duty in literary works such as: a personal cause, a love, a desire for revenge, or a determination to redress a wrong. In Hamlet a tragic play by William Shakespeare, Hamlet is in a war between his desire for revenge against the man who murdered his father, and his responsibility as a prince to do the right thing. This war has a negative effect on Hamlet because it slowly turns his façade of being mad into a reality. This conflict is significant because it expands on the works theme of how Hamlet’s constant confusion, along with his inability to act on his desire for revenge ultimately…

    • 1020 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In William Shakespeare’s Hamlet, the moral corruption that occurs between family members causes animosity that results in their downfall, and eventually their ultimate demise. More specifically, the tainted view of an individual in a family may result in the downfall of the other family members involved. Evidence of tainted view of a family member causing undue harm can be found in the relationship between Hamlet and Claudius, Hamlet and Gertrude, and Hamlet and Old King Hamlet. The relationship between Hamlet and Claudius is problematic, largely due to the fact that they both wish death upon the other.…

    • 1167 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Revenge and justice are almost interchangeable. Justice is vengeance for yourself or someone else using just means to enact it. While revenge is a selfish and often cowardly cause for revenge using whatever means one deems necessary . Both motivate people to do terrible, deadly things in their name. For many, a noble quest for justice leads to a need for revenge.…

    • 1430 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    The play Hamlet, written by William Shakespeare, involves many difficult decisions the main character contemplates in order to please his own motives. Throughout the text, Hamlet makes rash decisions in order to complete his most important task: the strive for revenge. Hamlet 's actions and emotions primarily revolve around the death of his father. This causes many people to believe Hamlet is insane. However, Hamlet believes he is fine and with his ludicrous plans and actions, he is determined to find Claudius guilty.…

    • 1143 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The lust for power In the play “The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark” by William Shakespeare the drama of conflict between Prince of Norway Hamlet and his uncle the king Claudius takes center stage. The Prince of Denmark seeks revenge after the ghost of his father revels to him that his uncle king Claudius was the one who murdered him. Claudius is a king who is an ambition and cunning political figure that will do anything to stay in power. He is the essential figure that causes so much pain and despair throughout the play.…

    • 764 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    This instance thus doesn’t pan-out as it is in fact Polonius, not the King who he had slain demonstrating that rash actions of his id have harsh results. It also appears from Gertrude’s perspective that Hamlet is continuing his downward spiral as he murders an innocent Polonius without a valid cause or reason. It turns out the Gertrude is the one person he clings dearly to, and thus tries to appeal…

    • 1200 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Hamlet manages to get revenge for his father’s death at the very end of the play by killing Claudius in a somewhat ironic way. Enraged from the death of his mother, Hamlet forces Claudius to drink the poison that Claudius was planning to use on Hamlet. By doing this, Hamlet achieves his goal of revenge for his father while doing when Claudius was sinning, as Hamlet’s mother died drinking the poison he prepared for Hamlet. Hamlet does not feel any different towards the king and even insults him, as he forces him to drink the poison, by saying, “Here, thou incestuous, murderous, damnèd Dane,/Drink off this potion. Is thy union here?/Follow my mother.”…

    • 1065 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Hamlet Sympathy For Hamlet

    • 1143 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Naturally, Gertrude would have mourned for her husband to show her deep love and devotion for the King. Instead, Gertrude expresses little grief over King Hamlet’s death and rushes into a new marriage with his brother. Hamlet expresses that his father’s love for his mother is eternal, but Gertrude seems to have forgotten that. An audience would feel sympathy for Hamlet because he does not receive the comfort or assistance that anyone with depression deserves.…

    • 1143 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays