Hamlet by William Shakespeare is full of plotting, cunning, and unfortunate instances where choices lead to one unsavory consequence to another. Sin is the primary instigator and end result of these actions and reactions. Marcellus rightfully states, “something is rotten in the state of Denmark” describes the ruling family’s influence on the state of Denmark. The air of corruption is present because of the moral decay and disease rampant among the characters. Claudius is guilty at heart with a dark secret. Claudius commits fratricide–the killing of one's brother or sister–to his brother, King Hamlet, the previous king of Denmark. Claudius kills his own brother by pouring henbane poison into his ear to gain the throne: “The serpent that did …show more content…
Hamlet does not believe she ever loved the late King Hamlet saying, “O’ most wicked speed, to post [she] / With such dexterity [went to the] incestuous sheets!” (1.2.56–57). He thinks Gertrude betrays his biological father with the little to nonexistent grief she displays over King Hamlet’s death. Her actions not only causes anger in Hamlet, but also instills a of sense disillusionment with women. Hamlet tries to gauge her reaction with the play The Murder of Gonzago, with a few added lines written by himself, which mirrors the events in Hamlet. The Player King before his death talks about death and remarriage to the Player Queen. The Player Queen avidly states she would not forget him nor remarry the killer after his death. Hamlet chooses at this time to ask his mother’s opinion about the play in which Gertrude replies, “The lady doth protest too much, methinks” (3.2.217). Considering the situation, Gertrude is essentially saying she thinks one should remarry after the husband's death even if it is to the one who murders their love ones. Her lusty wiles catches up with her and she dies with the sin of incest and lust on her soul. Ironically, Gertrude dies, poisoned by Claudius, the one she thinks is her true …show more content…
Through every single one of his actions and reasoning, his one motivation is revenge for his father and possibly for himself as well: “Haste me to know't, that I, with wings as swift / As meditation or the thoughts of love, / May sweep to my revenge” (1.5.7). Hamlet is blinded by his emotions and his passions for justice. His actions become questionable morally. He murders Polonius in his mother’s study unknowingly; sent his two schoolmates to their death in England; kills Laertes with his own poisoned sword; slays and poisons Claudius, and indirectly becomes the cause of Ophelia’s suicide by rejecting her and killing her father. While Hamlet is sick with corruption, his death along with the death of every other corrupt characters helps purify the state of Denmark by ridding the impure. Hamlet appoints Fortinbras as his successor with his dying breath and