E X T E N S I O N THE SPRINGS 1 OF CORRUPTION Corruption is an element that permeates the play and creates the state of permanent anxiety almost all the characters suffer from. The sense of decay and mystery is produced by the imagery the characters use in their moments of depression, by the presence of the Ghost, by the whole atmosphere which, from the very beginning, evokes incumbent disaster and the fear of something illomened2. Why a ghost at the beginning of the action? Why the fear and premonition of incoming disaster which Francisco, a simple soldier, feels? The Ghost s revelation is terrible: made to a son still mourning his father, shocked by his mother s hasty marriage, disgusted by the show of passion between Gertrude and Claudius. The revelation is as black as the night in which the Ghost is condemned to walk: King Hamlet was killed by his own brother! Here is the origin of that corruption which, in a few months time, brings about the elimination of the royal family and of the people closest with them. In Elsinore, the Machiavellian3 art of duplicity is widely used. Polonius, the King s Chamberlain, seems to subordinate all concerns4 of life (he even uses his daughter Ophelia and her feelings) to the search for knowledge and the power which comes from it. His instinctive solution to all problems is to spy out the solution, to be constantly on guard, vigilant and careful. He is not interested in his personal power, he sees himself as a loyal servant of the Crown and as a loving parent, but he interprets the world as a dangerous place in which it is essential to survive. 1. spring: origin, cause. 2. ill-omened: unfortunate. 3. Machiavellian: from N. Machiavelli, the author of Il Principe (pub.1532), where he taught the use of unethical methods to get power. 4. concern: what is important. 69