Hamlet and the Court of Elsinore

Summary

The court of Elsinore which is the focal point of all the action in Hamlet has a dual character, realized largely by means of style and imagery. The good values of the court are presented through its honour and dignity, through qualities associated with the majesty and eloquence of style in the play; the unpleasant side of the court through the imagery that springs from and extends the significance of the action. These aspects are important in setting the tone and establishing the themes, for they are made actual on the stage from the beginning, and the final revelation of evil is brought about through the conflict between them. Writers on the imagery of Hamlet have given a gloomy picture of the play’s atmosphere as one in which poison, disease and corruption are ‘dominant’; this is misleading, for though corruption underlies the play’s action, it exists chiefly in Hamlet’s imagination: as a result, it is latent rather than actual, like the murder of Hamlet’s father, which is not seen, but remains always in the background. The oppositions between the honour and the prison-like nature of the court are at least as important in creating the atmosphere of Hamlet, and a consideration of them suggests a more balanced picture. For corruption is significant only in relation to what is good or fine, and plays in which it is dominant, as several Jacobean examples testify, tend to be horrific or grotesque.