Corruption in Play “Hamlet” by Shakespeare

Corruption is usually understood as the misuse of public power for private gain. It can be found in a variety of forms, presented by different authors and exhibited by various characters. The central premise of William Shakespeare’s play, Hamlet, is that corruption permeates the lives of people who are closest to it. It can be easily seen in the play as it unfolds scene by scene and can be witnessed even until the end of the play wherein the corruption of the characters, the land and the beings of the people reach their pinnacle.

Shakespeare deliberately creates a complex network of opposing ideals to represented corruption in a chain of events starting with immorality, spreading by manipulation, and concluding with the mad act of revenge.

The characters presented by Shakespeare in the play Hamlet demonstrate that power is not the source of corruption, but the greed for power and selfish desire is. The most substantial example comes into play is through Claudius, who, for the greed of the kingdom and Gertrude, kills Hamlet’s father, the former king of Denmark.

Throughout the play, Shakespeare presents Claudius as a morally weak character who values power and material things over those around him. The man appears to simply want to stay in power by any means necessary. Following the production of the play, which was staged by Hamlet to observe Claudius’s reactions, Claudius realizes that Hamlet somehow knows that Claudius killed the former king of Denmark and goes to the chapel to pray.

About half way through his soliloquy in the chapel, Claudius asks if it’s possible for him to be forgiven for his sins even while he still reaps the benefits of them, stating, ‘“Forgive me my foul murder”/That cannot be, since I am still possessed/ Of those effects for which I did the murder:/ My crown, mine own ambition, and my queen.'(3.3.53-56). Even though ambition is stated as a secondary motive, there is little difference from the first reward he mentions, about the throne. His quest for the crown stemmed from his ambition to be king and so he was therefore willing to kill his own brother to hasten his meager claim to the throne. Further proof of his desire for the throne, and its overpowering control of any potential moral standard he held, is found in the last scene of the play. Claudius takes a very minimal effort to save Gertrude at the play’s end. Before she drinks the poisoned wine, Claudius simply gives her a warning, saying, ‘Gertrude, do not drink’ (5.2.282). He takes no other action to try and stop her from drinking from the poisoned glass.

Claudius chooses to avoid exposing what he’s done in order to preserve his throne, rather than protecting the woman he claimed as a wife This shows that, though he may have loved her, Claudius values his status and power far more than the woman that came with it. He therefore allows his thirst for power to corrupt his sense of morality. Likewise, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, Hamlet’s two former friends, agree to provide covert intelligence to King Claudius which demonstrates their corrupt sense of greed. In the hopes of gaining power and favor from the royal court and its king, they choose to sacrifice their friendship with Hamlet. King Claudius and Queen Gertrude send for Rosencrantz and Guildenstern with haste, to use them for what Gertrude says is, “the supply and profit of our hope” (2.2.24). Instead of serving as friends of Hamlet’s, the two manipulate the request of the king and claim it is an order. The two traitors do whatever the monarch asks of them, trying to present it as though they have no choice, as evident when Rosencrantz says, “Might, by the sovereign power into command/That entreaty” (2.2.26-28). Though Rosencrantz does not actually say it, he doubtless implies that he and his friend will do the King’s bidding. This lack of questioning to the the morality of anything Claudius tells them to do, from spying on their friend Hamlet to arranging for Hamlet’s murder indicates their own moral inepitude and the corruption of their thoughts. The two hold the value of their position above the value of their friend’s life. Unlike Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, whose greed and aspiration for a higher political position corrupts their thought, Gertrude commits the moral transgression in marrying Claudius, her late husband’s brother, shortly after the King of Denmark’s death. Though the marriage may not be considered an act of greed, Gertrude’s haste in marrying the new king so shortly after the death of the old is entirely selfish. Her need for love and affection caused her to act selfishly, without any apparent thought or care about the impact of her actions on her son. This is highly immoral because she forgoes the fact that, as a parent, she is morally accountable to provide for the welfare of her son. Various references to her corrupt judgment are made over the course of the play. Hamlet continuously laments Gertrude’s hasty marriage to Claudius and considers Gertrude to have had base motivations for this decision.

Implying that Gertrude had forsaken her duty to mourn a morally admirable husband to wed a morally lax, promiscuous half-beast Claudius, Hamlet state, ‘But two months dead-nay, not so much, not two./ So excellent a king, that was to this/ Hyperion to a satyr,’ (1.2.142-144). The implication of this statement brand Gertrude as shallow, a woman who thinks only about her body and external pleasures. External pleasures that include the role of power Gertrude had as queen. The selfish desire she exhibits to remain loved and in power sheds light on her immoral choice in marrying the new king. When held accountable, Gertrude’s behaviour presents through morally corrupt and selfish act. Therefore, through Claudius, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, and Gertrude, Shakespeare highlights the immorality and corruption present in the greed of man.

Tragic outcomes in Shakespeare’s plays are often the result of overexploitation and manipulation of characters. This manipulation is often the result of corrupt higher powers. A perfect example of such manipulation stems from the relationship between Ophelia and her family. Ophelia is most often remembered for her madness at the end of the play. This madness, prior to her tragic death, comes from the manipulation she faces due to her gender and the control and manipulative advantage it gives the predominant male figure in her family, her father. In an effort to preserve his respected position in court, Polonius tries to manipulate his daughter, in the form of education, by criticising Ophelia and her gender. In response to Ophelia’s confession about her confusion, Polonius patronizingly says, “I’ll teach you: think yourself a baby” (1.3.105). Based on her previous actions, it is clear that, though young, Ophelia is a grown woman old enough to make her own choices about her love life, but Polonius acts as though he must speak to her as he would a child. This implication attacks Ophelia’s mentality and comprehension directly, which presents the manipulative way her father, Polonius, is trying to control her. This is further complicated when Polonius continues on to say, “you have ta’en these tenders for true pay,/ Which are not sterling. Tender yourself more dearly, /Or – not to crack the wind of the poor phrase, /Running it thus – you’ll tender me a fool” (1.3.106-109). Ophelia earlier used the word tender, but when she used it, tender had referred to dond emotions and actions, such as the letters from Hamlet about his feelings. Polonius, by contrast, uses tender as a verb to offer or give.

The first phrase creates the imagery of an exchange between Ophelia and Hamlet. Polonius implies that Ophelia, being young and naïve, will trade her moral aptitude in exchange for Hamlet’s sweet words and therefore cause Polonius to be humiliated in court. This fear of humiliation is the root cause of Polonius’s corruption and he therefore manipulates his daughter and leads to her tragic death. Similar to Polonius corrupt use of his power over Ophelia, the ghost manipulates Hamlet into doing his bidding. Even before the ghost speaks he already manipulates the people of Denmark. When appearing before the guards and friends of Hamlet, but not speaking to them, the ghost eventually leads them to inform Hamlet about his presence. Once face to face with his son, the ghost speaks and, while doing so, uses several methods to manipulate Hamlet into completing his request for vengeance. Beginning with the words ‘I am thy father’s spirit’ (1.5.9), the Ghost recreates a link between Hamlet and the memory of a father he has lost. This invokes sympathy from Hamlet, erasing any possible skepticism he may have had. The effect of the Ghost’s interaction with Hamlet is used as a powerful method to sway him to do as he was bid. The former king of Denmark begins with the general frightening notions about the afterlife the people of the time would fear. He drones on and on about the hellish nightmare he has had to endure in purgatory, claiming that unveiling the secrets of his stay “Would harrow up [Hamlet’s] soul freeze up [Hamlet’s] blood” (1.5.16). In order to raise the sympathy already rooted in Hamlet, the ghost creates an image of a mortifying experience of hell, implying the horror would be too much for Hamlet to sanely comprehend. Next, he makes several negative statements about Claudius’s seduction of Gertrude and his incomparably low regard of the new king. This feeds right into Hamlet’s already tainted image of the incestuous marriage of his mother to Claudius along with his previously expressed displeasure about the Claudius himself. Hamlet, prior to the confrontation, held no true desire to harm Claudius.

In a sense, the ghost uses his paternal like to Hamlet to manipulate and direct a revenge plot he can not carry out himself. His final manipulation is to the command to ‘remember me'(1.5.92). He wants Hamlet to have, at the forefront, thoughts of the father he lost and the reason he lost him. Thus, the ghost manipulates Hamlet for his own private gain.