Hamlet Corruption Essay

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In William Shakespeare’s novel, The Tragedy of Hamlet, he starts right from the beginning in the play with a theme. The theme that he starts with is corruption which means a person is dishonest and fraudulent with being in power. It can take someone’s morality over, becoming anxious and morally corrupted because of a certain aspect of life has dysfunction. In Hamlet, it is demonstrated while Hamlet is seeking revenge for his father’s death. Ophelia, Hamlet’s girlfriend, is confused on what is going on. Hamlet wants Ophelia to go to a nunnery because he wants her to be safe and out of harm with his rage. She does not understand what is going on so she does not listen to him. His mother marries Hamlet’s uncle but Hamlet has an incentive to kill …show more content…

Francisco was a guard who was on duty. Bernardo who comes to his post to start his shift. Francisco said “I am sick at heart.” (Act I Scene I verse 8). This puts all the pieces of this theme together. This will also setup the environment the characters are in throughout the play. Francisco is melancholy within the atmosphere of corruption and decay. Bernardo was seeking an answer of any disruption by the Ghost, which is Hamlet’s father, by asking Francisco if it had been a quiet shift on duty at his post because Francisco seemed disturbed. But whatever is bothering him is a secret. Minor characters can also be important when analyzing a theme. Especially, if they have had some kind of contact with the main characters. This theme of corruption is seen throughout the play with other minor …show more content…

This imagery also portrays decay within the corrupted environment. The Ghost is used in imagery as an outside observer. The Ghost is the only one who is qualified to have an augural judgment. Hamlet talks to the Ghost, which is Hamlet’s father. The Ghost tells Hamlet who he is and why he is here with him. The imagery in the quote will help the reader feel how hurt the Ghost is inside him and how he feels trapped in his soul on Earth. “ I am thy father’s spirit, Doomed for a certain term to walk the night, and for the day confined to fast in fires, Till the foul crimes done in my days of nature are burnt and purged away. But that I am forbid to tell the secrets of my prison house, I could a tale unfold whose lightest word would harrow up thy soul, freeze thy young blood, make thy two eyes, like stars, start from their spheres, Thy knotted and combined locks to part, and each particular hair to stand on end that looks like quills upon the fretful porpentine. But this eternal blazon must not be to ears of flesh and blood. List, list, O, list! If thou didst ever thy dear father love.” (Act I scene IV verses 1-23) The quote explains how the environment in Denmark decayed because the Ghost was explaining how he felt he was confined in the fires (hell). The ghost points out the progress of corruption and leads to the death from ‘disease’ of Hamlet, Claudius and Polonius.

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