Corruption and Disease
• As the play opens much is wrong in the state of Denmark. The wrongness in the state is represented
throughout the play in a variety of ways. One of the most obvious thematic displays of rottenness
comes in the contrast between appearances and actual intentions, imagery indicating disease and
corruption lurking beneath the surface.
• A ‘disease’ has taken hold of the nation as a result of Claudius' great crime, spreading down to the
very core of the state, represented by its ruler.
• Corruption becomes the disease that purges Denmark of these persons, a direct resultant of their
corrupted actions being their deaths (Morality element to the play)
• The catalyst of the events that we witness in the play itself is the revelation of the act by King
Hamlet's ghost to Hamlet. The implication is that King Hamlet was a strong ruler, one who held his
nation intact, having a loving relationship with Gertrude. Denmark was healthy under his rule and
isn’t under Claudius’
• The ‘disease’ that has facilitated the murder of King Hamlet and the incestuous marriage of Gertrude
to Claudius doesn’t limit itself to Claudius and his direct actions. The cause and effect relationship of
the disease spreads quickly throughout the characters
Corruption and Disease
• It could be suggested that Hamlet himself is corrupted by his very purpose. In Hamlet, a decent
caring man is presented, dark and brooding over his father's death. The confluence of events creates
a situation in which King Hamlet's ghost forces Hamlet into a situation that he is unable to make a
decision in. And thus he delays, stewing in his indecision, letting the corruption of the ghost with his
vengeful call to action, take over.
• Nine characters in total die, wiping the slate clean of the corruption that stole Denmark. The
importance of this lays not in the characters' death, but the manner in which Hamlet retains his stole
of the virtuous prince. Though tarnished by the death he has caused, it somehow remains, especially
in his 'soldier's burial', that he is a respected man who died honourably and who's legacy, assigning
Fortinbras the throne, will live on.
• A stagnant disease, with no cure, that inevitably leads to death: corruption. Each of the characters in
Hamlet infected, led astray of their sense of morality and loyalty and ultimately finding death as their
penance. The seed of the disease sprouted in the biblical misdeed of Claudius, murdering his brother.
It spread in his incestuous union to Hamlet's mother Gertrude, and infected even the noble Hamlet
upon taking up the cause of his father's ghost and the necessary vengeance. The survival and success
of both Horatio and Fortinbras, both free of this disease, help to highlight how the infection of the
disease known as corruption is incurable and must end in death.
HAMLET
‘'tis an unweeded garden,
That grows to seed; things rank and
gross in nature
Possess it merely.’
(1.2)
• In Hamlet’s soliloquy he alludes
to the fact that Denmark has
been ‘diseased’ by Claudius and
his incestuous marriage to
Gertrude.
• A well tended garden was an
image of the world as it should
be – ordered, productive and
wholesome. Here Hamlet is
suggesting Denmark is anything
but. ‘Merely’ = entirely.
• ‘rank’ in this context means
growing excessively – motif of
Claudius’ corruption growing and
taking over.
MARCELLUS
'Something is rotten in the state of
Denmark'
HORATIO
‘Heaven will direct it’
(1.4)
• Marcellus’ statement sums up
the theme of corruption in this
play. Claudius is ‘rotten’ and this
is spreading through Denmark
corrupting it and its people.
• Marcellus wants to follow Hamlet
to protect him from the ghost,
but Horatio resists. His statement
could imply his feelings to
Hamlet’s involvement in
Claudius’ death acting as a
precursor for what happens.
• Denmark/Claudius should be left
in the hands of God. He will
decide. Hamlet should not
intervene changing the natural
order of things.
GHOST
Upon my secure hour thy uncle stole
With juice of cursed hebona in a vial,
And in the porches of my ears did
pour
The leperous distilment . . .
. . . doth posset
And curd, like eager droppings into
milk,
the thin and wholesome blood. So did
it mine.
And a most instant tetter barked
about,
Most lazar-like, with vile and
loathsome crust
All my smooth body
(1.5)
• King Hamlet’s body is literally
corrupted by the poison. It takes
him over.
• His body was quite literally
destroyed in the act of murder, a
powerful image, one that
shadows the parallel effects of
Claudius' actions on the state of
Denmark itself.
• With King Hamlet dead, the
decay of the morality of the state
begins as well. It spreads from
Claudius outwards.
GHOST
So the whole ear of Denmark
Is by a forged process of my death
Rankly abused.
(1.5)
• Denmark as a state is being
corrupted by the lies told about
King Hamlet’s death
• By hearing and accepting
Claudius’ ‘story’ Denmark is
being ‘rankly abused’/grossly
deceived.
• Link to the idea that in killing
Claudius he is not only avenging
his father’s death, but also
ridding Denmark of the poison
that corrupts it. This changes the
moral questions surrounding
Hamlet’s act. Removing Claudius
is for the greater good of the
nation.
CLAUDIUS
O, my offence is rank, it smells to
heaven.
It hath the primal eldest curse upon’t –
A brother’s murder. Pray can I not.
• A metaphorical first sin is committed, that
which will cast Denmark out of its Edenlike state. Link to Marcellus' remark that
"something is rotten in Denmark" (1:4)
• Claudius alludes to the fact that the
disgusting nature of his crime is so
powerful that heaven will ‘sniff him out’
and discover the truth.
• Links to Cain and Abel.
(3.3)
• Struggles to pray because he is so morally
corrupt
HAMLET
Nay, but to live
In the rank sweat of an enseamed bed,
Stew'd in corruption, honeying and
making love
Over the nasty sty—
(3.4)
• Hamlet exclaims his fury at Gertrude’s
relationship with Claudius
•
She is living in a disgusting greasy bed,
steeped in corruption and whispering
sweet language to Claudius. Sty can be
read as a brothel
• In accepting Claudius, Gertrude is
accepting (and part of) the corrupt disease
destroying the nation and that disgusts
Hamlet as much as the act of marriage
between Gertrude and Claudius.
HAMLET
It will but skin and film the ulcerous
place,
Whilst rank corruption, mining all within,
Infects unseen. Confess yourself to
heaven;
Repent what's past; avoid what is to
come;
And do not spread the compost on the
weeds,
To make them ranker.
(3.4)
• Suggestion that the corruption/disease will
cover over/take over Denmark
•
The corruption within (Claudius) is unseen
and there dangerous
• Hamlet begs his mother to confess her
part and repent unwise she is as
responsible – feeding the corruption and
allowing it to grow and become more
powerful and spread wider.
LAERTES
But let him come; It warms the very
sickness in my heart, That I shall live
and tell him to his teeth, "Thus didst
thou."
(4.7)
• Laertes is corrupted by his grief and desire
for revenge.
•
LINK to the changes in Hamlet as a result
of the same emotions.
• NOTE Claudius’ role in Laertes’ desire for
revenge. He corrupts and entices it further.
He is the epicentre from which all
disease/corruption spread.
LAERTES
The King, the King’s to blame
• Laertes blames Claudius for the final
events in the play, which mirrors his
responsibility for the ‘death’/corruption of
Denmark as a whole
(5.2)
•
Exchange forgiveness with me, noble
Hamlet.
Mine and my father’s death come not
upon thee,
Nor thine one me!
(5:2)
Laertes and Hamlet forgive and are
redeemed at the end of the play
• Hamlet has not only (eventually) fulfils the
ghosts’ wish he also rids Denmark of
corruption by ‘defeating’ and killing
Claudius.
• Similarly he voices his support for
Fortinbras who is good and pure. Morality
and order are restored.