How Is Hamlet's Rage In A Corrupt And Compromised World

Conflicted by the transitional period between the Medieval chivalry of his theocentric civilisation and the emerging Renaissance humanism of the 17th century, William Shakespeare’s Senecan revenge tragedy ‘Hamlet’ explores the inadequacy and impotence of compassion in the face of the severe strains of action. Shakespeare cleverly threads multifarious theatrical and literary devices in order to narrate the central themes and metaphysical ideas of the text, solidifying the play’s integrity. Through exposing an embodiment of Renaissance culture to the corrupt and compromised world of Elizabethan regime, the logical hero is contextually misplaced, raging against the immoral universe he is restricted to. Hamlet’s introspection and scepticism sets

The motif of illness ‘sick at heart’ and ‘foul disease’ represent the unnatural chaos in Denmark caused by “murder most foul” foreshadowing the disruption of the Elizabethan Chain of Being and Hamlet’s struggle to restore order. Hamlet’s inability to cope with his “father/uncle” and his mother’s “hasty” marriage, further delineates the struggle of a man trying to reconcile his life in an imperfect world and the dichotomous nature of mankind. Shakespeare’s theatrical device of the ghost instigates Hamlet’s natural dilemma and his melancholic state “suits of woe”, metaphorically suggesting Hamlet’s rage against Claudius’ usurpation of power through regicide “the serpent that did sting…” Hamlet is compromised to “set things right” in a corrupt world. Hamlet’s internal dilemma mirrors the chaos and rage of the external world, his soliloquy revealing his philosophical struggle with “I am pigeon-livered and lack gall”, introducing him as the first modern man who questions the human condition in a compromised

His internal conflict between expectation and desire manifests itself in the perception that Denmark is a metaphoric fallen Eden “rank and gross in nature”. He provides a personal critique of Denmark’s political and moral corruption and his disillusion with mankind “Man delights not me.” Averse to action, Hamlet’s regard for the eternal salvation of his soul forces his delay in the path of revenge as his philosophical musing “and count myself a king of infinite space” exemplifies his unease of the human condition being reduced to the “quintessence of dust”. Hamlet queries his Christian morality, as he hesitates to kill Claudius, indicating his rage in the “corrupted currents of this world” - a contrast to Laertes, whose impulsive violence follows the expectations of his Medieval context as he swears “to cut his throat I’th church”. Likening ‘death’ to ‘sleep’, Hamlet establishes the paradoxical conundrum of the nature of mortality, fearing the euphemistic “undiscovered country from… no traveller returns”. Yet Hamlet is still a man of reflection and consequently feels a sense of misplacement in this world, as represented through the repetition of “words, words, words”. Hamlet embodies the contradiction found in modern man, where humanist idealism, confronted with corruption that compromises the