The Theme Of Corruption In Shakespeare’s Hamlet

Introduction

Corruption can be seen in different forms, given to birth by different authors and played to perfection by various characters. This is the case in William Shakespeare’s Hamlet. The play’s central premise is that corruption permeates the lives of people who are close to it. It can be easily seen in the play as it unfolds scene by scene and can be witnessed even until the end of the play wherein the corruption of the characters, the land and the beings of the people reach their pinnacle.

In the play, Hamlet, it starts with Horatio and the other guards witnessing the ghost of their king who has recently passed away. This troubled king left his only son, Hamlet who then finds himself trying to communicate with the ghost. He follows the ghost and then learns that his father’s death was a planned murder. Because of this Hamelet seeks revenge and begins to act strangely in the presence of his people. Rosencratz and Guildenstern are Hamlet’s friends from his education and they spy on Hamlet accordingly. Meanwhile, Hamlet finds that he would go about exposing the murder to the king by writing a play similar to the circumstances surrounding the murder.

The play is acted out in front of the king and when he notices the similarity, he bolts out of the room. Gertrude talks to Hamlet in her room in order to have Hamlet open up about his actions. Meanwhile Polonius hides in the room with the motive of eavesdropping on Hamlet. Hamlet on the other hand decides to murder the king but waits when he sees the king praying. Hamlet, being called upon by his mother senses that there is an eavesdropper in the room stabs the hiding figure and then manages to kill Polonius.

            Hamlet unsuccessful at his intent to convince his mother that the king is mad then learns about the kings orders to put him to his death. Because of this, Hamlet then writes a letter that would put his escorts to death. Hamlet learns that Ophelia committed suicide because of the death of her father. He then stumbles upon Laertes, who is Ophelia’s brother and the king’s son in the burial. One of the attempts to kill Hamlet goes to Gertrude, which is a poisoned drink. While Laertes uses a sword with a poisoned tip. Hamlet manages to kill Laertes and lets him finish the drink. In the end, no one is left and all who have been corrupted die.

            The central theme of the play is all about corruption. You will be able to see it through the different lives that have been intertwined in the play. It can be seen that the various characters who are involved in the play seem to have one thing in common—they have all been corrupted in one way or another. If one looks at the different paths that these people have gone through, one will discover that there is more to the superficial motives of the people. If one looks at Hamlet from a very personal view, if you did not know the different circumstances was playing around him, you would probably think that he has gone mad. That is in fact, what other people thought about him.

Claudius

            There are so many levels of corruption that one can find in the play. One of that is the mental type of corruption. Cladius very eloquently puts it when he says, “Through inclination inclination be sharp as will: my stronger guilt defeats my strong intent; and like a man to double bussiness bound, I stand in pause where i first begin and both neglect` (Act 111, scene 11) He seems to find himself corrupted in a way that he has no control over it. This is why he was able to murder the king himself through the plot that was given to Hamlet by his father’s ghost. This is a testament to the fact that people can be corrupted in ways that they don’t know about.

            Wormald mentions that there is a corruption of both human and natural orders in this play simply because of the vile nature of the deeds that the story perpetuates. (Wormald, 2002) Because of this, the character of Claudius can be considered as a very shrewd and clever person. In the play, he is known to be someone manipulates different events as well as people for the sole purpose of remaining innocent. However, he is as guilty as any murderer who kills a person firsthand. The difference with Claudius is that he becomes very manipulative and with the corruption inside of him, he then proceeds to corrupt other people as well. Claudius’s skill at duplicity often hides his true intent. One of the examples of this kind of action can be seen when he incites Laertes to kill Hamlet when he says, “Laertes, was your father dear to you? Or are you like the painting of a sorrow, a face without a heart?”  (Act 4, scene 7)

The Kingdom of Denmark

            The Kingdom of Denmark is a kingdom that can be described as being drowned in corruption. Because of the various corruption being portrayed in the play, it is, no doubt, one of the sources of corruption for the entire play. Hunt describes this world as “a world that has undergone a radical fall or transformation into an ‘unweeded garden’ overwhelmed with corruption.” (Hunt, 2004) One could even overlook that the queen so swiftly married the uncle of Hamlet and just focus on the fact that the queen even married Hamlet’s uncle after the death of the former king. This particular instance frowned upon by Parker when he mentions that the very act of the queen and the new king coupling in bed is as if the act is “stewed in corruption” (Parker, 2003) Another thing that could be seen as corrupted in the kingdom is the way that the King plotted to kill Hamlet by the offering of a drink with poison. This is one of the instances that the corruption within the political framework of a kingdom is highlighted. (Alexander, 1972)

Queen Gertrude

            One of the corruptions that can be seen in this character is the corruption in her morality. It is quite obvious that there was something wrong with the way that everything was orchestrated simply because of one of Hamlet’s comments about how fast her mother married Claudius. Hamlet says “a little month, or ere those shoes were old, with which she followed my poor fathers body, like Niobe, all tears-why she even she…married with my uncle” (Act 1, cene 11)

            The way Hamlet phrased it is in a way inquisitive and at the same time reminiscent of an immoral behavior. Even though one could argue the pain that being left with no one to comfort her in all kinds of ways, the fact remains that the queen did not even grieve his father’s absence. It could be gleaned from the confession of the Ghost when he called Claudius as “that incestuous, that adulterate beast.” Because of this, the corruption that was present at the time was very significant because it shed light on the character of Claudius even before the death of the king. Because the ghost called the king an adulterer, it therefore follows that the king, while he was alive, knew of what was happening between her wife and Claudius. This now sheds new information on how moral corruption has permeated even the queen.

Ophelia

            With regard to Hamlet’s only love, Ophelia, her corruption could be classified as having no right thinking when she committed suicide. Even in the face of death, it would take someone who is not sane to take her own life. Although one could simply argue that the grief that Ophelia was so great because her father was seemingly murdered, it would still take some sort of corruption for Ophelia to be able to commit suicide. Because of the corruption that rubbed off Ophelia, all the lies and the deceit around her began to take its toll and what was planted in her mind ultimately began to unravel.

Conclusion

            The kingdom, the damsel, the queen and the king—all of them are eventually caught and consumed in this intricate spider’s web of lies, deceit and corruption in the latter stage of the play. In the center of all of the corruption is Hamlet. He sees the adulterer, he manages to accidentally kill someone and ultimately he is consumed by the corruption with his death. All of the things, places and people that are in the play Hamlet all go about portraying about a world gone wrong because of corruption.

            With that being said, it should be surmised that corruption cannot be contained in oneself. It will ultimately spread throughout the different areas of one’s immediate surroundings. All of the darkness that resides in a person will spread to others if it is not stopped early on. Ultimately, all of the corruption in the lives of the characters in the play consumed them entirely, either on purpose or otherwise. It is an often-used cliché when people say that absolute power corrupts absolutely. In the case of Hamlet and the other characters, they served as excellent examples of the outcome of corruption.

Bibliography

Wormald, Mark. (2002). Hopkins, Hamlet, and the Victorians: Carrion Comfort. Victorian Poetry, Vol. 40.

Hunt, Maurice. (2004). “Forward Backward” Time and the Apocalypse in Hamlet. Comparative Drama. Vol. 38.

Alexander, Nigel. (1972). Poison, Play, and Duel: A Study in Hamlet. Renaissance Quarterly, Vol. 25, No. 4

Thomson, Ann. (2006). Hamlet Arden Shakespeare: Third Series. Arden, Wales.