Decay And Decay In Hamlet

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Hamlet was published around 1605 by William Shakespeare. It depicts a tragic play of the Prince of Denmark, Hamlet, who slowly gets destroyed by corruption that occurs around him. The previous king, Hamlet Sr.,got murdered by his brother, Claudius who desired the power he had. After Hamlet’s father dies, his mother marries his uncle right away which drove Hamlet to killing Polonuis, Ophelia to suicide, and brought Laertes and Hamlet to their own deaths. Throughout ‘Hamlet’, Shakespeare uses techniques to reflect the Christian belief of God, while using decay to resemble corruption that goes on. Decay means to slowly be demolished by the natural process of life. Shakespeare uses imagery of decay and decomposition to dispense the corruption that takes place in ‘Hamlet’. Corruption is shown strongly through the physical aspects it carries. Hamlet just killed Polonuis and gets asked by Claudius where his Searching for answers of his father’s death, a mirror image of Hamlet’s father appears in a ghost form. After Hamlet’s father appears as a ghost and things get hectic, Marcellus announced, “Something is rotten in the state of Denmark” (1.4.95). Denmark is slowly crumbling in Marcellus’s eye because of all the chaos that is arising since Claudius came into power. Corruption flourishes when there is power or money involved in a situation. In this case it’s Claudius’s power that will rotten and destroy Denmark. This exemplifies that corruption is driven by the need to have power which will tear Denmark from the kingdom down. Decay is the process and the after effect of corruption. The symbolism that Shakespeare uses in ‘Hamlet’ uncovers the corruption that is happening by referring to the process of decomposition. When something starts to decay it starts to break down just like the aftermath of corruption. Shakespeare connects the process of breaking down with ‘Hamlet’ that involves a shady

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