| 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.
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