Saturday, June 1, 2019

Death, Decay and Disease in Hamlet :: Shakespeare Hamlet Essays

Death, Decay and Disease in Hamlet    Within Hamlet, Shakespeare makes a come in of references to Denmarks degraded take ascribable to the deceit that lies within. These references are made by Hamlet, Horatio as well as the apparition, thus enforcing the strong theme of death, decay and disease.  As aforementioned Hamlets makes a number of references to Denmark. Preceding the death of his father and the marriage of his mother, his mental state begins to fall into demise . Although he appears to not have much courage at first, his counselling remains on avenging his father whose murder is described as being most foul. As noted in one of  Hamlets first soliloquies, his downward coil has already began and already he is  contemplating suicide O that this too too sullied flesh would melt, thaw, and resolve itself into a dew (I, II, 130) and seems to me all the uses of this world... Things rank and gross in spirit posses it merely (I, II, 136). To be degradi ng to be thinking of imagery including flesh melting shows that Hamlet is not in the state that he ought to be in.  moreover Shakespeare encourages us to empathize with these emotions by using such rich descriptions.  It could be perhaps argued that Hamlets state of mind which has become debased, but this is until Horatio claims, Something is rotten in the state of Denmark (I, IV, 90). The notion of festering carrion being a metaphor for King Hamlets death epitomizes this notion. The ghost furthers this idea by stating at the moment of his death, his skin became Most lazar-like with brutal and loathsome crust all my smooth body (I, V, 72). This attempts the elucidate on the feeling of death almost like becoming like a leper forward death finally takes its toll. Decay also becomes a strong theme weighing heavily on Hamlets mind. Whilst talking to Polonius he says, For if the sun breed maggots in a dead dog, being a good kissing carrion (II, II, 182). Although Polonius app ears not to notice this, we can see the constant references to death being made by Shakespeares tools, i.e. the characters.  Moreover associated with Shakespeares use of decay and disease imagery is his use of horror, Roasted in wrath and fire thus oersized with coagulate gore (II, II, 431), is a perfect example of this.

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