Author: cara oconnor

“Hamlet acts as the moral compass for the royal court - he is the only one who is able to see the discord and degradation of Denmark’s monarchy - and it is something he is hoping to avoid and change.”
Do you agree? Support your response with evidence from the play.

Hamlet acts as the moral compass for the royal court and attempts to highlight the degradation in traditional values within the monarchy. His aphoristic musings on the diseased kingdom are elucidated through extended imagery, “Tis an unweeded garden that grows to seed...things rank and gross in nature possess it merely.” This once-noble and honourable kingdom has become “ulcerous” and “soiled” and only the Prince has the capacity to see the damage occurring. Together with the motifs of “sullied flesh”, “rotten” and “foul and pestilent congregation of vapors,” he highlights the tarnished and corrupted reputation of Denmark due to the King and Queens hasty marriage.
Furthermore, Hamlet’s description of the disgraceful state of his country grows in intensity and passion as he struggles to find any semblances of moral behaviour. The repetitive and metaphorical “black spots” on Gertrude’s soul, Claudius’ “bosom black as death” and his “soul as black as hell” accentuates the extent to which evil has infected his family.
Hamlet’s anger at the world in which he inhabits is illuminated in his personification, “churchyards yawn” and “hell itself breathes out contagion to this world.” His reality is crumbling and restricting, and just as he metaphorically labels Denmark a “prison”, he is indeed powerless to stop the spread of such “vile” actions.
The rotten conceit is continued as Hamlet describes Claudius as a “bloat King” and “bloody, bawdy villain”, as he wishes he had “fatted all the region kits with this slave’s offal.”
Similarly, Hamlet’s reflection on the diminishing reputation of Denmark comes to the fore of the play when he reports to Horatio, “This heavy-headed revel east and west makes us traduced and taxed of other nations. They clepe us drunkards and with swinish phrase soil our addition. And indeed takes from our achievements...the dram of evil doth all the noble substance of a doubt, to his own scandal.” His disdain for Claudius and Gertrude’s revelling emphasises Hamlet’s concern for the kingdom. He is acutely aware of their dwindling status and would whole-heartedly believe it puts Denmark at risk of invasion or conflict with surrounding European nations. Metaphorically he becomes the moral compass of the court, concerned with the country’s honour and international standing than with drinking and festivities.