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The Importance of Maintaining Moral Order as it Relates to Hamlet by William Shakespeare's
"Something is rotten in the state of Denmark." (Hamlet. 1.4, l.90) In every society a distinctive hierarchy or organization of power exists. In the Shakespearean world, life is kept constant through the maintenance of the Great Chain of Being or moral order. Any disruption in this chain is believed to cause chaos in society. In William Shakespeare's Hamlet, Denmark is thrown into chaos by the reckless actions of several characters that fail to follow the moral order. Hamlet is instructed by the ghost of his beloved father to restore order to Denmark and seek revenge on Claudius, the present king of Denmark and murderer of his father. By identifying the various levels of disorder in Denmark an evaluation of the effectiveness of Hamlet's "antic disposition" as a plan to restore order will be made.
Throughout the play there are various factors that contribute to the disorder in Denmark. Chaos is even evident in the relationships and friendships Hamlet is involved with during the course of the play. In Act 1.Scene 3, Polonius ends the relationship between Hamlet and his daughter Ophelia. His reasoning is that Hamlet is merely flirting with Ophelia for the sake of his own amusement and he will not maintain anything more than a temporary attachment. However, the audience's knowledge of Hamlet's character convinces them that Polonius entirely misjudges the nature of the prince's sentiments towards Ophelia. His love for her is innocent and pure, yet their relationship is cut off and forbidden to continue. In contrast, the relationship between Claudius and Gertrude is corrupt and unnatural and yet no one breaks them up or even questi...
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...s promised to avenge the murder of his father. He is aware of the various levels of disorder in Denmark and takes the responsibility of planning to restore order to the state.
He decides to feign madness to gain more freedom of action and to escape the too-close observation of those whom he himself wishes to watch. By examining the chaos within the supernatural, moral and political aspects of Denmark's society and the corrupt relationships of Hamlet's life it has been proven that thus far Hamlet's antic disposition has not been effective in his plan to restore order to the state. In fact, he is defeating his own purpose because his eccentricities have caused the king to regard him with fear and suspicion, and to spy on his actions. His "antic disposition" is drawing a lot of negative attention to him, which isn't helping in his plan to restore order to Denmark.
Even though Hamlet is a prince, he has little control over the course of his life. In that time many things were decided for the princes and princesses such as their education and even who they married. This was more or less the normal way of life for a child of the monarch. But in the case of Hamlet, any of the control he thought he had, fell away with the murder of his father. Having his father, the king, be killed by his own brother, sent Hamlet into a state of feeling helpless and out of control. Cooped up in a palace with no real outlet, he tries to control at least one aspect of his life. Hamlet deliberately toys with Ophelia's emotions in order to feel in control of something since he cannot control the situation with Claudius.
In William Shakespeare 's Hamlet, there are many characters that allow themselves to be manipulated and be consumed by their own emotions. The way that this type of irrational behavior occurs is when Claudius killed Hamlet Sr, this causes a chain reaction of unfortunate events. Gertrude and Claudius plan to immediately marry after the death of the king. On going with the repercussions of the event; Hamlet is later visited by the dead spirit of his father. This happening caused Hamlet to realize that he needed to avenge his dead father by killing Claudius and rightfully taking the throne back after the ghost of his father told him to do so. Along with all the supernatural things that occur Hamlet is faced with technicalities in the Kingdom of Denmark. His love for Ophelia is rebuffed do to Polonius and Laertes insisting to her that Hamlet only wants to be with her for her only for lust. Claudius hires people to spy on Hamlet and report his every move to him. Hamlet attempts to
Logan Gaertner Mrs. Amon English IV 1 March 2014 Is Hamlet’s Insanity Real? Is Hamlet truly insane? While the play is not extremely clear on the matter and often contradicts itself, many of Hamlet’s wild ramblings and words of nonsense seem to be not the true words of a madman. Hamlet says that he is merely “putting on an antic disposition” (Act 1, Scene 5, Line 181). He admits very early on in the play that his insanity will be nothing more than a ruse to fool those around him.
...ut his lifetime. With all the events occurring, Hamlet goes through so much stress, pain, and suffering from which started with the murder of his father. He has tried to understand his position in life, yet every step he takes, someone always steps in front of him, and it puts him in a worst situation from which he started. A young man like he should be out studying and having fun with his friends, but his two non family related friends betray him, and follow King Claudius' ruling. His mother who he once loves dearly and felt so close to also betrays him by ending her mourn so soon and remarrying to Claudius. Everyone in Denmark has a problem, and the "unweeded" garden is not being kept in good hands, for which bad things have come. The evil in everyone has come out, and Hamlet searched and searched for a reasoning in life, to only come out with one thing, nothing.
The most apparent violation of the Concept of Order in “Hamlet” is the murder of King Hamlet by his brother, Claudius. The ghost of the deceased King Hamlet appears to his son, and describes his murder as “most foul, strange, and unnatural” (I.v.28). Shakespeare compares the natural, a brother not killing his brother, to the unnatural, a brother killing his brother. Shakespeare uses “unnatural” to describe the disturbance of the natural social order. According to the Great Chain of Being, the king is divinely appointed by God, and is unequivocally below God himself. With the death of King Hamlet, the king is removed from the hierarchy, and the Chain is broken, giving way to disorder. Hamlet, being the rightful king of Denmark, is pleaded by the ghost to avenge him, and in doing so says, “If thou hast nature in thee, bear it not,” “it” referring to the disrupted order (I.v. 81). “Nature” is once again used to describe the divine hierarchal order. The ghos...
In the most general sense, the setting of Hamlet is one of complete turmoil, a direct result of a series of festering vengeances, which dominates the majority of the play. The kingdom of Denmark faces a very real threat outside of the internal power struggle between Hamlet and his untrustworthy family. The king of Norway, Fortinbras, wishes to take over the Denmark in an act motivated purely by revenge. Hamlet’s father killed Fortinbras’ in a battle, which took place before the time of the play. This, of course, is the threat of vengeance, which becomes a constant throughout. Even outside of the immediate famil...
Troubled by royal treason, ruthless scheming, and a ghost, Denmark is on the verge of destruction. Directly following King Hamlet's death, the widowed Queen Gertrude remarried Claudius, the King's brother. Prince Hamlet sees the union of his mother and uncle as a "hasty and incestuous" act (Charles Boyce, 232). He then finds out that Claudius is responsible for his father's treacherous murder. His father's ghost asks Hamlet to avenge his death and Hamlet agrees. He plans very carefully, making sure that he doesn't kill Claudius when in he has already been forgiven for his sins. Hamlet accidentally kills Polonius, the King's advisor, thinking that it was Claudius hiding behind a curtain spying on Hamlet and his mother. This drives Ophelia, Polonius' daughter and Hamlet's love interest, insane. She then drowns in a suspected suicide when she falls from a tree into a river. Laertes, Ophelia's brother, teams up with Claudius and plot revenge on the strained prince.
From the very beginning of the play, it is very obvious that there is some sort of social disarrangement occurring in Denmark. The most consequential state of confusion in Hamlet is the death of Old Hamlet. The king falls almost directly underneath God in the Great Chain of Being. With the original king removed from the hierarchy, God and other angelic beings are disconnected from their control over the people, thus ensuing chaos. At the beginning, when Claudius says, “Though yet of Hamlet our dear brother’s death The memory be green, and that it us befitted To bear our hearts in grief and our whole kingdom To be contracted in one brow of woe” (Shakespeare 1.2.1-4), and “Now follows, that you know, young Fortinbras, Holding a weak supposal of our worth, Or thinking by our late...
To put an antic disposition on” (1.5.58-60) but his sane mental state began to decay over time leaving him actually insane. As the play goes on, the role of madness becomes much larger and more crucial, and begins to sweep the spotlight from the other themes within it. Hamlet’s intentions of appearing “mad” did have an advantage in the play, which automatically impacted it. He basically simulated madness as a strategy to direct the suspicion of his plotted revenge elsewhere. It does not sound very complex, but his performance of madness ended up slightly distracting him from his plot rather than benefitting him.
Shakespeare’s play Hamlet is a complex and ambiguous public exploration of key human experiences surrounding the aspects of revenge, betrayal and corruption. The Elizabethan play is focused centrally on the ghost’s reoccurring appearance as a symbol of death and disruption to the chain of being in the state of Denmark. The imagery of death and uncertainty has a direct impact on Hamlet’s state of mind as he struggles to search for the truth on his quest for revenge as he switches between his two incompatible values of his Christian codes of honour and humanist beliefs which come into direct conflict. The deterioration of the diseased state is aligned with his detached relationship with all women as a result of Gertrude’s betrayal to King Hamlet which makes Hamlet question his very existence and the need to restore the natural order of kings. Hamlet has endured the test of time as it still identifies with a modern audience through the dramatized issues concerning every human’s critical self and is a representation of their own experience of the bewildering human condition, as Hamlet struggles to pursuit justice as a result of an unwise desire for revenge.
Hamlet’s sanity began to deteriorate when learned that his father’s death was not an accident, but rather a foul deed committed by the newly crowned King of Denmark. “If thou didst ever thy dear father love – Revenge his foul and most unnatural murder” [Act I, v l .23-25]. As a mysterious ghost appeared in the terrace, Hamlet learned of a murderer that would prove his fealty towards his father. As he contemplated the appalling news recently brought to his attention, the control Hamlet had over his actions was questioned. “O villain, villain, smiling, damned villain! My tables meet it is I set it down, That one may smile, and smile, and be a villain. At least I am sure it may be so in Denmark,” [Act I, v l. 106-109]. Hamlet’s hatred toward his father’s killer caused him to relate the tribulations between murder and the aspects of Denmark as a country together. As with most of the conflicts Hamlet faced, his lack of ability to avenge his father’s death, furthered the deterioration of his life and surroundings.
...ing madness to sanity are reminiscent of a bi-polar disorder such as manic depression. It is possible that Hamlet put on his antic disposition to allow himself freedom from the usual constraints and etiquette of the court so that he could use different means to discover Claudius' guilt without being discovered himself. Or his feigned madness may have been a reaction to the stress of his predicament, because in doing so he frees himself from having to make decisions on courses of action and he effectively becomes a spectator in the running of his own life.
Hamlet’s plan of faking insanity to avenge his father’s death eventually backfires and he winds up hurting those closest to him. What began as feigned madness slowly becomes reality. In the beginning of the play, Hamlet could be characterized as a respectful, well-mannered son who is mourning the death of his father and shows signs of depression. In the end of the play, Hamlet turns into an irrational, unforgiving maniac who is unaware of the complete and utter chaos that he inflicts on himself and everyone he loves. Instead of controlling his “antic disposition”, Hamlet's antic disposition controls him, resulting in tragedy and death.
Throughout this process, his relationship with his uncle Claudius and mother Gertrude worsen. Hamlet and Claudius’ tainted relationship successively intensifies through their planned plots to kill one another. The relationship between Hamlet and his mother Gertrude worsen due to her shameful acts, and her disregard towards her son in his times of need. If it had not been for this corruption between the family, Denmark would’ve continued to be ruled by an honourable and truthful family. Instead, the kingdom of Denmark became rife with dishonesty, eventually leading to the death of Hamlet and Claudius, the ultimate
In general terms, corruption is the act of corrupting or of impairing integrity, virtue, or moral principle. In politics, corruption is the misuse of public power and image.Whether it is realized or not, no country is wholly free of the disease of corruption, and if it is allowed to develop and become significantly strong, it can obstruct the good processes of governing and deteriorate the fabric of society. It can become a barrier to continual development and make it so that essentially no room remains for justice to succeed. In Shakespeare’s Hamlet, the destructive force of corruption is clearly exemplified through the abundance of imagery concerning decay, death, disease, sickness, and infection as the play progresses. The first and foremost example of this corruptionis the murder of King Hamlet and the resulting incestuous marriage of Gertrude and Claudius, which forms the foundation for corruption becoming a regular happening in the state of Denmark.The disease of corruption in the play stems from Claudius and slowly spreads through Elsinore and eventually results in the collapse of Denmark, which is signified by the takeover of the castle and land by Fortinbras, the nemesis of Hamlet and the Norwegian Crown Prince.Through the characters of Polonius, Claudius, Ophelia, and Hamlet, the evolution and disease-like spreading of this corruption can be observed.