Imagery in Hamlet Essay

Throughout the play Hamlet, Shakespeare displays many underlying themes by way of imagery. Throughout the story, disease plagues Denmark and the people in it, shown by imagery that Shakespear delivers consistently throughout.

In the opening scene, Horatio makes an interesting statement: "As stars with trains of fire and dews of blood, Disasters in the sun; and the moist star upon whose influence Neptune's empire stands was sick almost to doomsday with eclipse (1.1.117-120)." He compared the ghost as a possible sign of disaster or catastrophe in Denmark, as to what happened before the death of Julius Caesar. From the start of the play, Denmark was already tainted and wrought with disease that would eventually continue over the course of the play.

In Hamlet's first soliloquy, he states that the world is "an unweeded garden,

That grows to seed; things rank and gross in nature possess it merely (1.2.135-137)." Like a spreading weed in a garden, the world is being spread with disease, all starting with the incestuous marriage of Gertrude and Claudius.

At the end of act one scene four, as the ghost and Hamlet exit, officer Marcellus states that "Something is rotten in the state of Denmark (1.4.90)." They are starting to realize that things aren't right with the world they live in, and that more is on the way.

The final scene of act one has the ghost telling Hamlet how he died, and how it was from poison poured into his ear which spread throughout his body causing a scab to form over his body. He also gives Hamlet the idea for revenge against Claudius. Again, disease relates to this particular scene, as well as the whole first act in general. The final line of scene four summed up the chapter when Marcellus claimed something was in the air in Denmark. It provided a base foundation of disease, which affected everyone active person in that first act.

In the second act, Hamlet begins to go mad. "For if the sun breed maggots in a dead dog, being a god kissing carrion, - Have you a daughter (2.2.180-182)?" In one of Hamlet's speeches with Polonius, he uses that line. The speech in general is about how spoiled life is, as well as fully convincing Polonius of his insanity.

The third act is a very interesting one, with many events materializing during the scenes. A play called The Mousetrap was performed in front of the king and queen which reenacted the killing of king Hamlet. Hamlet used the play as a way of spreading his anger to Gertrude and Claudius because of their incestuous marriage, which he compared to a disease. Also during the play, the villain, Lucianus, uses the phrase "with Hecate's ban thrice blated, thrice infected (3.2.238)," which was describing the poisonous mixture in his hands. It serves as another form of symbolism for the marriage and the events that took place, because the poison not only infected the king, it infected every other part of the relationship.

After Claudius makes a hasty exit, retreats to privacy in order to pray. The first thing he says is "O, my offence is rank, it smells to heaven (3.3.36)," which implies that his morally diseased character is so infected that heaven can smell his sins. And even though he is guilty for what he did, he still enjoys the benefits of the murder, making him unknown as what to do. Hamlet enters during his prayers, but decides not to kill him while he is praying, as it would send him to heaven.

After, he goes to Gertrude's room and confronts her. As he starts lashing out, he detects Polonius, stabs him, and kills him, thinking it was Claudius. He continues on, telling her that she left king Hamlet for a scumbag, Claudius, and comparing her love for Claudius to making love in a sweaty, greasy pigsty. At one point during the speech he says "Whiles rank corruption, mining all within, infects unseen (3.3.147-148)," meaning that the disease is being hidden underneath and not being shown, making it even worse.

Since it is now known that Hamlet committed murder, Claudius decides that instead of executing him, he will send Hamlet to England and then can be executed. During the scene, Hamlet jokes to the whereabouts of Polonius' body by telling them to follow the scent of a rotting body, and that his body is being eaten by maggots. Near the end of the act, Ophelia drowns which leaves Laertes without a sister and father. Wanting to exact revenge on Hamlet, he and Claudius devise a plan where Laertes would get to avenge the deaths in his family but not making it seem like murder. They planned for a fencing duel between Laertes and Hamlet, with Laertes' sword being sharpened and poisonous.

As they battled, they both ended up getting cut with the poisoned sword. Gertrude drinks from the poisoned "back-up plan" glass of wine, and dies. Hamlet is then informed by Laertes that the sword was laced, and Hamlet proceeds to kill Claudius. In the scene, everyone gets infected by the poison that Claudius created. The rotten state of Denmark reaches a final peak, until the last of the disease is killed off. Horatio is the only survivor, and lives to tell the story of Hamlet.

To summarize, the theme of disease reoccurs and repeats itself many times throughout the play. Shakespear used similar types of imagery and words, such as "rank" and "sick" throughout Hamlet that keeps reminding the reader of what's going on. From the beginning rotten state of Denmark, to the later infection of poison of most all of the main characters, the disease theme affected everyone in the story.