1. Hamlet: Corruption and Disorder
By: Julieta Marquez, Karla Hernandez, Oscar Gutierrez

2. Thesis:
In Shakespeare’s play, Hamlet, the people’s corrupt way to obtain power will ultimately bring the society into destruction.

3. Corruption in a society
1. Killings to obtain power
Hamlet’s father
He was killed by his brother, Claudius, to become king of Denmark and to marry Gertrude
“Thus was I, sleeping, by a brother’s hand/ Of life, of crown, of queen at once dispatched,/ Cutt of even in the blossoms of my sin,” (Act I )

4. COrruption of society Hamlet
Killed by Laertes and Claudius; Laertes does it to avenge his father’s death but Claudius, although he shows it’s for that same reason, he does it because he wants to be the only heir to the crown
“It is here, Hamlet. Hamlet, thou art slain./ No medicine in the world can do thee good./ In thee there is not half an hour of life./ The treacherous instrument is in thy hand,/ Unbated and envenomed. The foul practice/ Hath turned itself on me. Lo, here I lie,/ Never to rise again. Thy mother’s poisoned./ I can no more. The king, the king’s to blame.” (Act V )

5. Richard Madelaine’s article “Hamlet as Proto-detective Fiction” says:
“even more widespread than usual because of the rotten state of Denmark, as a consequence of its domination by an apparently legitimate ruler who is actually a regicide, a fratricide and incest- monger.”
“Claudius’s employment of spies is protective of his kingly and criminal interests”
“though in the case of Claudius, criminal intent and political calculation are primary, and his chosen instrument of revenge, Laertes”
“The Ghost’s narrative makes a direct connection between Claudius’s criminal method and the way in which he now rules Denmark with the aid of spies”

6. Corruption of society 2.Covering up killings Ophelia
It is said that Ophelia dies by accidentally drowning but it is speculated that she killed herself or that Gertrude had something with her death, making her death suspicious
“Give me leave. Here lies that water. Good. Here stands the man. Good. If the man go to this water and drown himself, it is, will he nill he, he goes. Mark you that. But if the water come to him and drown him, he drowns not himself. Argal, he that is not guilty of his own death shortens not his own life.” (Act V )

7. Corruption of society Hamlet
Although Hamlet was killed by Laertes, he was also killed indirectly by Claudius. Claudius was sending him away to England, to have them kill Hamlet when he gets there but when Hamlet finds out Claudius’ true intentions he does not go. Laertes helps Claudius to revenge his father’s, Polonius, death.
“By letters congruing to that effect, The present death of Hamlet. Do it, England. For like the hectic in my blood he rages, And thou must cure me. Till I know ‘tis done, Howe’er my haps, my joys were ne’er begun.” (Act V )

8. In Richard Madelaine’s article, “Hamlet as Proto-detective Fiction” states:
“her death was “doubtful,” which implies suicide when deranged, though she might have accidentally drowned; her burial, albeit with “maimed” rites, is the result of upper class privilege, or so the Clown claims in the grave-digging scene”
In James R. Andreas’s article, “For O, for O, the hobby- horse is forgot’:Hamlet and the Death of Carnival” states:
“To Claudius, Hamlet’s exile will “seal...the affair.” Everything is business, even death. Moreover, Claudius can count on the complicity of England to rid him of the threat of Hamlet.”
“Claudius’ “great power” and his “sovereign process” should and will guarantee proper “homage.” England should “do it” for him.”

9. Corruption of Characters
Corruption of the King:
Hamlet’s Father: When Hamlet is speaking to his father’s ghost, he confesses that his uncle is the one who ended his life that way he could be king.
“Know this, noble youth: the serpent that stung your father’s life away now wears his crown.” (Act )

10. Corruption of CHaracters
Hamlet
In John Decarlo’s Article “the dynamics of Hamlet’s Cartesian madness”:
“When time is "out of joint"(I.v.188) for Hamlet in that it is no longer clear what is sense and non-sense, or even the means by which to make the decision that would make time right again, in terms of the moral, political, militaristic, and metaphysical dislocation that Elsinore is experiencing; hence, he feels cursed to "set it right"(I.v.190). “
“Nonetheless, owing to both his psychological need to distance himself from the terror, and to hide his feelings from the royal court he decides to wear his 'mask' of madness. This leads to his physical and mental corruption.”
“In doing so, Hamlet makes himself a stranger to himself, which inadvertently engenders a schizoid split or dislocation within his own sense of self, which causes even more of a sense of terror. Above all, in deciding to wear his "antic disposition"(I.v.173) Hamlet effectually chooses to remain silent about his true madness.”

11. Corruption of CHaracters
Corruption of Polonius:
Polonius is one of the most obviously corrupt character in Hamlet. He sets spies on his own son, and plots against Hamlet which leads to his own physical corruption and his death which is his fate.
“You speak like a green girl, Unsifted in such perilous circumstance, Do you believe his tenders, as you call them?. . . I would not, in plain terms, from this time forth, have you so slander and moment leisure, As to give works or talk with the Lord Hamlet. Look to't, I charge you. Come your ways.” (Act I, Sc. iii )

12. Corruption of Characters
Particia Parker’s Article “Black Hamlet: Battening on the Moor”:
"Face like Vulcan" (with "hell-bred eie") explicitly invokes an infernal blackness for this second husband, in lines whose "dull dead hanging look" summons the combination of dullness, death, and Moors reflected in the "dull Moor" of Othello. (4)
The identification of Vulcan with the "blackness" of devil and Moor was routinely applied to the blacksmith hurled from heaven, like Lucifer himself, transformed from angel of "light" to prince of darkness. "Black as Vulcan" is the comparison used for the blackened face of Antonio in Twelfth Night, "besmeared / As black as Vulcan in the smoke of war" ( ), in a play that makes the traditional association of the sooty or "foul collier" with "Satan" ( ). (5)
This describes Claudius physically and gives the reader and image of this character. This image can be connected to the character’s identity and his intentions. Claudius’s is revealed to have negative intentions when it is revealed that he is responsible for the death of Hamlet’s father.

13. Conspiracies of the royal family
The royal family shows many examples of corrupt actions. The attempted execution of hamlet and repeated poison attempts
“Follow him at foot; tempt him with speed aboard;Delay it not; I'll have him hence to-night: Away! for every thing is seal'd and done That else leans on the affair: pray you, make haste. Exeunt ROSENCRANTZ and GUILDENSTERN And, England, if my love thou hold'st at aught--As my great power thereof may give thee sense,Since yet thy cicatrice looks raw and red After the Danish sword, and thy free awe Pays homage to us--thou mayst not coldly set Our sovereign process; which imports at full, By letters congruing to that effect,
The present death of Hamlet. Do it, England; For like the hectic in my blood he rages, And thou must cure me: till I know 'tis done, Howe'er my haps, my joys were ne'er begun.”
“Stay; give me drink. Hamlet, this pearl is thine;
Here's to thy health.
Trumpets sound, and cannon shot off within
Give him the cup.”

14. Conspiracies of the royal family
The corrupt actions however also extend to Hamlet who had his own revenge plot against the King which did not involve any legal means
“O all you host of heaven! O earth! what else? And shall I couple hell? O, fie! Hold, hold, my heart; And you, my sinews, grow not instant old, But bear me stiffly up. Remember thee! Ay, thou poor ghost, while memory holds a seat In this distracted globe. Remember thee! Yea, from the table of my memory I'll wipe away all trivial fond records, All saws of books, all forms, all pressures past, That youth and observation copied there; And thy commandment all alone shall live Within the book and volume of my brain, Unmix'd with baser matter: yes, by heaven! O most pernicious woman! O villain, villain, smiling, damned villain! My tables,--meet it is I set it down, That one may smile, and smile, and be a villain; At least I'm sure it may be so in Denmark:
Writing
So, uncle, there you are. Now to my word;
It is 'Adieu, adieu! remember me.'
I have sworn 't.”

15. Dismal state of denmark
Hamlet remarks upon the dismal state denmark is in, referring to it as a prison that cannot be escaped
“HAMLET
Then is doomsday near: but your news is not true. Let me question more in particular: what have you, my good friends, deserved at the hands of fortune, that she sends you to prison hither?
GUILDENSTERN
Prison, my lord!
HAMLET
Denmark's a prison.
ROSENCRANTZ
Then is the world one.
A goodly one; in which there are many confines, wards and dungeons, Denmark being one o' the worst.”

16. Dismal state of denmark
The state of Denmark continues to deteriorate with the plans on the royal family coming to fruition, resulting in the death of a total of 8 people
“PRINCE FORTINBRAS
Where is this sight?
HORATIO
What is it ye would see? If aught of woe or wonder, cease your search.
PRINCE FORTINBRAS
This quarry cries on havoc. O proud death, What feast is toward in thine eternal cell, That thou so many princes at a shot So bloodily hast struck?
First Ambassador
The sight is dismal; And our affairs from England come too late: The ears are senseless that should give us hearing, To tell him his commandment is fulfill'd, That Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are dead: Where should we have our thanks?”

17. Work Cited
Andreas, James R. “For O, for O, the hobby-horse is forgot’: Hamlet and the Death of Carnival.” Renaissance Papers (1996): Rpt. in Shakespearean Criticism. Ed. Michelle Lee. Vol Detroit: Gale, Literature Resource Center. Web 17 Oct
Madelaine, Richard. “Hamlet as Proto-detective Fiction.” AUMLA 117 (2012): Rpt. inShakespearean Criticism. Ed. Lawrence J. Trudeau. Vol Farmington Hills, MI: Gale, Literature Resource Center. Web. 14 Oct