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Theme Of Mortality In Hamlet

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The Shakespearen play ‘Hamlet: Prince of Denmark’ evokes the ideas of what it means to be human through a chain of corruption and mortality.
Shakespeare uses the genre of Revenge Tragedy in Hamlet to convey the human condition through Hamlets acceptance of mortality and fate and Corruption in The notion of Moral Corruption through Self interest and Political corruption in regards to the use of powers for illegitimate private gain and the Great Chain of being.

The fate of the people in Hamlets time can be reflected of the values, For example Hamlets fate is to kill Claudius because of moral code of honour for the time. However throughout the whole play the social indoctrination is question by various characters but mostly Hamlet as he sits …show more content…

In his soliloquy “to be or not to be” Hamlet is seen to be wagering between avenging his father and taking his own life. However this evokes his acceptable of mortality in quotes such as “Theres a divinity that shapes our ends” where he acknowledged that some things are out of his control. Hamlet learns that it is human to die and Hamlet is powerless to this fact, It is a major part in the human existence and the way one dies is not always ideal,Hamlet accepts his powerlessness to fate in the quote “The rest is silence”. and “Let be” later in Act 5.
This reflects the idea of what it means to be human through acceptance of mortality.

The idea of corruption was almost instantly with Marcellus stating “something is rotten in the state of Denmark” in Act 1. Initially it could be thought he was speaking of the threat of war however in hindsight it was Claudius’ corruption on the kingdom causing mayhem due to a disturbance in the natural order which is shown through the wandering ghost of King Hamlet and Hamlets quote “The dram of evil…doth all the noble substance of a doubt” that reflects corruption Claudius spreads through the kingdom.
The oncoming theme of corruption was also affirmed in Hamlets soliloquy that quotes “An unweeded garden…that grows to seed.Things rank and gross in nature…Possess it merely.” This quote suggests the kingdom and humanity is becoming an unkept and gross due to the corruption that was occurring that would then grow to lead

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