The Ways We Lie Essay

In William Shakespeare’s Hamlet, corruption is prevalent throughout many characters and the overall setting. Evil corrupts the minds of numerous individuals in the play, causing them to devise schemes that eventually lead to rot and destruction. Physical, moral, and sexual decay are conducted and developed with the help of the different types of lies detailed in Stephanie Ericsson’s essay, The Ways We Lie. Both Shakespeare and Ericsson demonstrate in their works that lying is a human condition that affects everyone but also has serious consequences. Through various forms of lies like facade, dismissal, and out-and-out lies, Hamlet depicts how corruption entering the human mind leads to moral decay and ultimately causes one’s downfall.

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Her most profound act of indecency is her refusal to mourn the death of her husband, dismissing Hamlet’s grief and instead enjoying her marriage with her brother-in-law, Claudius. Gertrude demonstrates acts of moral corruption as she fails to recognize Hamlet's sorrow over his father’s death and does not support her son while he is going through a difficult phase. In addition, Gertrude's actions were sexually corrupted, evidenced by her marriage to her brother-in-law. Hamlet defines the nature of their improper marriage by saying, “[w]ithin a month, / [e]re yet the salt of most unrighteous tears / [h]ad left the flushing in her gallèd eyes, / [s]he [Gertrude] married. O, most wicked speed, to post / [w]ith such dexterity to incestuous sheets!” (I.ii.158-162). When Hamlet confronts Gertrude concerning her scandalous marriage to Claudius by informing her that she has his “father much offended”, she dismisses his opinions (III.iv.13). Instead of admitting her wrongdoings and regretting her choices, she undervalues Hamlet's distress and misery by telling him, “you answer with an idle tongue” (III.iv.14). Gertrude continues to engage in wrongdoing alongside Claudius since she lies to herself and Hamlet by dismissing that her behaviours are tainted and immoral. Her failure to discern horrific activities leads her to blindly accept the sinful actions of herself and the other characters in the play. As a result of her unchecked corruption, her soul undergoes moral decay comparable to “an unweeded garden / [t]hat grows to seed. Things rank and gross in nature” (I.ii.139-140). The corrupted deeds of Gertrude and the individuals she supports eventually lead to her tragic downfall. Her death induced by Claudius, occurring after she drank wine poisoned by him, demonstrates this. Her last words, “[n]o, no, the drink, the drink! O, my dear Hamlet! / [t]he drink, the drink! I am