Hamlet 2 Essay, Research Paper

In Shakespeare s explicit play of Hamlet, corruption is the central theme. The society of Denmark is portrayed as a belittled community of deceit. The combating metaphors and imagery explain the never ending corruption in Hamlet and his society.

Imagery is used to emphasize the corruption in Hamlet s society. For example, Hamlet says:

Be thou a spirit of health or goblin damned,

Bring with thee airs from heaven or blasts from hell.

(I,iiii,ll 40-41)

Spirits bring a sense of joy or pain and they come hither from above or below. Instead of coming straight out with it, Hamlet used imagery to give a better effect and feel to the situation. In addition, Ophelia states:

But, good my brother,

Do not, as some ungracious pastors do,

Show me the steep and thorny way to heaven.

(I,iii,ll 46-48)

In their daunty ways, they have forgotten the true way to Heaven. They are more interested in getting wealthy than in saving their souls. Shakespeare s imagery is bestowed upon all the characters in an uneven ray of light.

Metaphors are utilized to depict corruption in certain individuals. For example, Hamlet says:

Like Niobe, all tears, why she, even she O

God, a beast, that wants discourse of reason.

(I,ii,ll 149-150)

Hamlet cannot believe this act of incest committed against him and his family. Thus, he refers to his uncle as a beast. Furthermore, Hamlet says:

Thrift, Thrift, Horatio! The funeral baked meats

did coldly furnish forth the marriage tables.

Would I had met my dearest foe in heaven.

(I,ii,ll 180-182)

The funeral of his father turns into the marriage of his mother to his uncle in an unnatural state, as meat is when it is baked. His father s body is still warm when his mother and uncle exchange vows; to him, this is immoral. Metaphors illustrate Claudius disembowelment of values and morals.

Hamlet has set the tone for a long a grueling experience of hardships. These of which were placed knowingly by his own mother and uncle. Corruption is the seed of all evil which is planted by the wicked.