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The Social Environment & Hamlet's Conflicts

This study will examine the significance of the "diseased social order" in Shakespeare's Hamlet. Specifically, the study will show how the corrupted social environment aggravated Hamlet's internal conflicts and led to the tragedy which ultimately resulted.

It is impossible to separate the diseased social order of Denmark as it is portrayed in the play and the tragedy of Hamlet. It might be argued that much of the tragedy would have been averted had Hamlet slain Claudius when he was first made aware that Claudius had killed his father, but no one knows what other consequences would have occurred had he taken action immediately. In any case, the murder itself emerged from the diseased social order, and, as part of that social order---at the very top of it as a matter of fact---Hamlet could hardly be expected to be exempt from the corruption. It might even be argued that the conflict within him was a matter of his own conscience clashing with the corrupt social order. In other words, it may not have been something lacking in himself which delayed his taking action, but rather that hesitation may have been his particular manifestation of the diseased social order which hesitated in the face of spreading corruption.

In any case, there is much evidence of the corruption of society and its impact on Hamlet and the resultant tragedy. One of the signs of both personal and social corruption is deception. People and institutions are not what they appear to be, not what they present themselves as being. From what we can tell, Hamlet's father was not corrupt, but he has died. To all appearances, the king's uncle Claudius and Hamlet's mother properly mourn for their dead brother and husband, but after only two months, they marry. Hamlet has vaguely suspected something is wrong, but he is mostly resentful that his uncle has taken his father's throne. Now, with Claudius marrying his mother, he suspects evil on the part of Claudius and, perhaps,...

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The Social Environment & Hamlet's Conflicts. (1969, December 31). In LotsofEssays.com. Retrieved 10:59, March 29, 2024, from https://www.lotsofessays.com/viewpaper/1702187.html