Dewey Cheatham

EN 152, TR 11-12:15

Assignment: Short Exam on Drama

Date Due: 11/1/95

Date Passed In: 11/1/95

Images of Sickness in Hamlet, Prince of Denmark

[Note: This paper was plagiarized—p.c.]

Throughout Hamlet, Shakespeare paints a picture of man's corrupt morals and painful sense of despair using images and metaphors of sickness and "things rank and gross in nature."

Distressed by his father's sudden death, Hamlet returns from his studies in Wittenburg to his home in Elsinore finding himself a stranger in what was once his father's court. With "witchcraft of his wit, and traitorous gifts," his shrewd uncle has bewitched the court and schemed his father's crown. His beloved and purest mother, seduced and "... married. O' most wicket speed, to post with such dexterity to incestuous sheets!"

Hamlet's intuitive contempt for the court's strange, hypocritical and immoral behavior leads him to suspicion long before the ghost tells him of his father’s murder. He knows "all is not well; man's very being has become infected by some vicious mole of nature inherited at birth, for which they are not guilty." Hamlet's Eden exists no more -- all that he thought pure and true has soured and grown to seed.' Despondent, he loses himself m the past when Denmark was a different place when his father ruled But that was before his mother betrayed them" took off the rose from the fair forehead ... and set a blister in its place .... "

Hamlet's encounter with the ghost solidifies his vaporous thoughts and reinforces his loathsome feelings for his uncle. "The serpent that did sting thy father's life now wears his crown." The populations' corrupt behavior is "a forged process of his father's death; the leperous distillment is infecting Denmark."

Hamlet's overzealous passion to avenge his father's murder and save Denmark overtakes his moral sense of reason and religious beliefs "With all my love I do commend me to you." Only later does he realize that "the time is out of joint: 0 cursed spite, that ever I was born to set it fight!" Although Hamlet "knows his course," he questions whether the spirit is the devil in disguise, misleading and toying with "his weakness and melancholy," damning him to commit an unjust murder, or if he is really a messenger from heaven, appointing him "minister" to save Denmark and avenge his father's death.

His secret pledge to heaven or hell consumes his being. He estranges himself from others, and waits for heaven's signal that doesn't come. In solemn despair, he cries out for vengeance:

I should have fatted all the region kites

With this slave's offal: bloody, bawdy villain! Remorseless, treacherous, lecherous, kindless villain! O, vengeance!

But he does not avenge. Hamlet's conscience cries for action, but his vain efforts to act and save Denmark from the beast plunges him deeper and deeper into depression Despairingly, he turns his disgust and bitter feelings inward, upon his tortured soul.

O, what a rogue and peasant slave am I!

that I, the son of a dear father murder'd, Prompted to my revenge by heaven and hell, Must, like a whore, unpack my heart with words

Hamlet's strange, disjointed behavior causes commotion within the court. Gertrude blames his fathers death and her hasty marriage for his actions; boyhood friends, Guildenstern and Rosencrantz are convinced Hamlet's ambitions are too big. Ambitious Polonius attributes Hamlet's madness to his daughter Ophelia’s denial and schemes a trap to show the king and queen. Hamlet springs the trap and lashes out at his beloved Ophelia, for she is a woman and "frailty be thy name." Claudius knows "there is something in Hamlet's soul; madness in great ones must not unwatch'd go." He senses Hamlet is a threat that must be removed.

Ironically, the poison that infects the court begins seeping into Hamlet's mind. His thoughts turn cynical and harsh. He relates to all that he despises, and calls himself "proud, revengeful, ambitious." He warns Ophelia "believe none of us." Anticipating heaven's intervention, he schemes a mousetrap play in order to catch the king. "Upon the talk of poison, the king grows distempered with choler," realizing that Hamlet knows of his offense. At that moment, Hamlet, too, realizes his justification for revenge is near.

Claudius' solemn moment in the chapel provides Hamlet an opportunity for bloodrevenge, but Hamlet does nothing. The timing is off; Claudius is purging his soul, "and season'd for his passage." Violently, he storms to his mothers bedroom in order to save her "sick soul." Impulsively, he slays "the rat" hiding behind her curtains: "Is it the king?" he asks. As Hamlet lifts the curtains, he discovers Ophelia’s father, Polonius. "Thou wretched, rash, intruding fool, farewell!"

Hamlet's violent behavior provides the king justification for sending him to England. with allegiance pledged "to keep those many bodies safe that live upon the king's majesty," and conjured plotting, Guildenstern and Rosencrantz accompany Hamlet on his journey, carrying royal letters of destruction. Intuitively, Hamlet changes the letters and arranges for the death of his friends.

Believing that heaven has saved him for a purpose, [this, in particular, seems like it was hacked from a commercial outline—p.c.] Hamlet returns to Denmark, to seek the court's pardon and Laertes' forgiveness. He is a changed man; his days of plotting revenge are over. He believes his fate and Claudius' is in heaven's hands, and tells his friend Horatio, "There's a divinity that shapes our ends."

Although Hamlet has made peace with his conscience, Claudius has not; he is not willing to risk exposure for his vicious deed. The serpent toys with Laertes' "sickness in his heart," cunning him to avenge Hamlet for his father's murder. The two scheme a fencing demonstration and invite unsuspecting Hamlet to participate in the deadly match. Anxious to see Laertes, Hamlet accepts, unaware that Laertes' honor and his blade are tainted with the infection that rules Denmark. Laertes' poisonous foil makes contact. Hamlet's fate is determined.