The Theme Of Poison In Hamlet

The concept of poison is all around society: poisonous people, poisonous ideas, and poisonous environments; however, the poison in society cannot be avoided, it’s inevitable a finite company would suggest. As Michael Uhl once put it “you’ve got to pick your poison”, and hope for the least of the evils, which unfortunately is not always the case. In Shakespeare 's Hamlet, the motif of poison functions to be the symbol of corruption throughout the play that highlights the theme of death, madness, and the power of language.

The use of poison within Hamlet showcases the theme of death through the falling of a myriad of characters in the play. At the beginning of the play, the ghost of King Hamlet illustrates to Hamlet the nature of his death “the

The clearest example of this would be the question of Hamlets madness caused by the Ghost showcasing the death of King Hamlet through the use of poison. The poison itself was the catalyst that caused Hamlet “to put an antic disposition on” (Shakespeare 1.5 192) that could’ve led to true or feign madness, but did however lead to the illusion of madness in the royal family’s eye. The absurdity portrayed by Hamlet root cause was surrounding the unspeakable action his uncle, King Claudius, took to snatch the lifestyle of King Hamlet. Similarly the madness of Hamlet can be seen through the discussion between Hamlet and Polonius, which in turn allows Polonius to conclude for himself “though this be madness, yet there is/ method in’t” (Shakespeare 2.2 223-224). Polonius catches onto Hamlets feign for the madness that puts Hamlets “antic disposition” on risk. The exposure of Hamlets act of madness petrifies his plan therefore Hamlet had no other choice but to reinforce his madness by killing “Polonius by thrusting a rapier” (Shakespeare 3.4 28). The theme of madness is portrayed through the motif of poison as Hamlet feigns his madness only to enact revenge on King Claudius for poisoning his father, and once his madness is to be exposed by Polonius, Hamlet was forced to conserve his plot for revenge by murdering Polonius. Thus the poison acts as the root cause of the madness

The prime example of the manipulation of mind through the use of language could be seen by King Claudius manipulating Laertes to assist with the plot to kill Hamlet. As King Claudius spoke, “Revenge should have no bounds. But, good Laertes, / Will you do this?” (Shakespeare 4.7 146-147), attempting to convince and poison the mind of Laertes to murder Hamlet acting as if he had no connection to the death of Polonius. The metaphorical use of poison of the mind of Laertes showcases the gift King Claudius acquires of corrupting the minds through the use of language. Moreover the madness of Ophelia traced back to the poisoning of her mind through the power of language. Unlike Laertes, who is manipulated through the power of language, Ophelia is deprived of the ability of language, to speak her thoughts and ideas, which ultimately drives her mad. Ophelia’s father has been governing her life and when bought up the affections Hamlet has for her, the father quickly banishes each possibility of communication, which Ophelia quickly has to agree to, “I shall obey, my lord” (Shakespeare 1.4 145). As a woman in the Middle Ages, Ophelia had to be submissive towards her father, causing her to lose her opinions to the patriarchal society within Hamlets setting. After the death of her father, Polonius,