The Use of Disease in Hamlet
The Use of Disease in Hamlet
William Shakespeare is famous for his use of language and puns, his jests and motifs. The characters in Shakespeare’s Hamlet use language to communicate ideas, distort truth, and manipulate other people. In Hamlet there are numerous recurring ideas, which serve as motifs. One of these recurring images is disease. The characters use the imagery of “disease” in correlation to sickness and rottenness.
Sickness enters Denmark when the Great Chain of Being is disrupted. Early in the first scene, when Francisco and Barnardo are standing watch, Francisco mentions that he is ill. “Tis bitter cold,/ And I am sick at heart” (I.i. 8-9). Francisco is the first (that the reader knows of) character to become ill. Francisco’s sickness foreshadows the encompassing sickness, which is entering Denmark. The sickness in Denmark continues when Horatio is contemplating the reasons for the ghost’s appearance. “Was sick almost to doomsday with eclipse” (I.i. 132). Horatio is describing the conditions in Rome just before the murder of Julius Caesar. He believes that the appearance of the Ghost is a portent to Denmark, as the sick moon was a portent to Rome. Sickness is important here because the murder of Julius Caesar parallel’s the murder of King Hamlet. In his first soliloquy, Hamlet says of the world, “Things rank and gross in nature/ Possess it merely” (I.ii. 140-141). He feels that the whole world is diseased, that it is "an unweeded garden / That grows to seed." Hamlet is right to feel the world is sick, it became that way with the murder of his father. The sickness motif is extended with questions of Hamlet’s mental health.. After the play Hamlet is asked by Rosencrantz and Guildenstern to go to his mother. Hamlet replies that he cannot because he is mad. “Make you a wholesome answer. My wit’s/ diseased” (III.ii. 349-350). Hamlet’s “diseased wit” is the encompassing thought of whether or not to kill Claudius. He is sickened by the dilemma of what is right or wrong. The Queen becomes sick when she hears of Ophelia’s madness. “To my sick soul (as sin’s true nature is)” (IV.iv. 21). The Queen’s sick soul represents the disease she carries. When one is troubled with guilt or...