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Hamlet: Imagery

Poison and Disease

The imagery of poison and disease occurs throughout the play. There is a constant reference to sickness. Gertrude speaks of "her sick soul". Laertes refers to "the sickness in my heart". Hamlet tells Rosencrantz and Guildenstern that his "wits diseased". He uses an image of disease to warn his mother:

"Lay not that flattering unctions to your soul,

It will but skin and film the ulcerous place,

Whiles rank corruption, mining all within,

Infects unseen".

Claudius compares himself to "the owner of a foul disease". It is ironic that he constantly sees Hamlet in terms of a disease which must be got rid of when in fact it is he who has contaminated the state of Denmark. He says:

"diseases, desperate grown,

By desperate appliance are reliev'd

Or not at all".

For Claudius, the "cure" lies in sending Hamlet to England. Unwittingly, he instigates the care which will rid Denmark of its disease: "the bloat king".

The images of sickness and rottenness are symbolic of the corruption of Denmark and the evil in man.

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