Deception and Corruption in Hamlet

“Something is rotten in the state of Denmark (Shakespeare 22)” this famous quote from Hamlet describes the theme behind most of the actions that occur in this play. In this work we see corruption take over the state of Denmark, causing the royal family and government to face death. Despite the motive of any of the characters, good or bad, they all do contribute to the rottenness of Denmark. Emotions and desire fill their heads, causing their judgments to be unclear. This unclear judgment causes each character to lie and betray everyone in the kingdom creating a totally corrupt state especially King Claudius, Hamlet, and Polonius. They use deception to obtain exactly what they want. These plans to use lies and ignoble acts to obtain these goals were the cause of corruption and decay spreading through the state and destroying it. The character who is guiltiest of corruption, deception, and ignoble actions is King Claudius. Due to his dishonorable act of killing his brother, King Hamlet, a series of events took place causing chaos to break loose within the royal family in Denmark. Hamlet, son of King Hamlet, felt it was his duty to seek justified revenge for his Uncle Claudius’s crime, therefore Hamlet goes takes any measure necessary to prove that Claudius was guilty and to get justice for his late father. Lord Polonius, although not a part of the royal family, was corrupted in his own ways. He wanted to keep as close as possible to the royal family. He even went to the extremes of deceiving his children to get close to the royal family. He spies, and schemes throughout the whole play until death puts a halt on his plan.

The corruption in Denmark began with King Claudius; when he killed his own brother, King Hamlet, to become the ...

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... This would have caused the people to overthrow Claudius, and made Hamlet the type of King Denmark needed.

Polonius is another character in the play who is corrupted. He is the Lord of Denmark and thrives for much high status, to obtain this more honorable status Polonius deceives and lies to many characters in the play including his son Laertes and his daughter Ophelia. In the beginning of the play it seems as if Polonius is very concerned about his keeping a good reputation. He is so concerned about it that he send his servant Reynaldo to spy on Laertes while he is away in Paris. This act of deception foreshadows the corruption within Polonius, because no noble man should have to spy on the prestige man he raised, he should also trust in his son and not betray him in such a manner.

Works Cited

Shakespeare, William. Hamlet. New York: Dover Publication Inc.1992