The Themes and Images of Decay and Disease in Shakespeare’s Hamlet

The setting of William Shakespeare’s Hamlet is fourteenth-century Denmark where the dramatist foregrounds themes and images of decay and disease through visual and olfactory imagery in the state itself, the king’s court and nature. Establishing the relationship between body politic and body natural, how the moral corruption of King Claudius, who has murdered his brother, usurped the throne and married his wife, reflects upon the state of Denmark. In addition, the physical, mental and moral corruption in characters such as Hamlet, Gertrude, Polonius, Laertes and Ophelia will be examined in relation to the above-mentioned themes and images. Despite all the decay and corruption throughout the play, the symbolic significance of the flowers Ophelia appropriately gives to the members of the court will be analysed. Furthermore, how decay and disease in the state and in individuals impact nature will be posited. Applying close reading, the play will be interpreted in relation to themes and images of decay and disease with the aim of establishing how all these reflect upon the the socio-political condition of the court of Elizabeth I in the very early years of the seventeenth century