Skip to main content

In Hamlet how is Denmark in trouble?

Hamlet opens with an atmosphere of of gloom and foreboding. Not only has King Hamlet, Hamlet's father, died recently, the guards on duty at the castle are discussing  disquieting events with Horatio. The guards have seen the ghost of the dead King Hamlet, a disturbing enough situation, but beyond that, Marcellus notes that cannons are being made and shipwrights are building ships in "sweaty haste." Horatio informs Marcellus and the other guards that the rumor is that young Fortinbras, "of unimproved mettle, hot and full," is preparing to march on Denmark to regain the lands his father, who was slain in battle, lost to King Hamlet. Therefore, Denmark is readying itself for war.


If being faced with an invading army were not enough, the Danish court itself is corrupt. People serve their own interests rather than the larger good of the country. Claudius, for example, has murdered his brother so he can become king, and courtiers like Polonius are more concerned with getting ahead in their careers than behaving with integrity. As Marcellus says, meaning more than he knows, something is rotten in the state of Denmark. 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Is there a word/phrase for "unperformant"?

As a software engineer, I need to sometimes describe a piece of code as something that lacks performance or was not written with performance in mind. Example: This kind of coding style leads to unmaintainable and unperformant code. Based on my Google searches, this isn't a real word. What is the correct way to describe this? EDIT My usage of "performance" here is in regard to speed and efficiency. For example, the better the performance of code the faster the application runs. My question and example target the negative definition, which is in reference to preventing inefficient coding practices. Answer This kind of coding style leads to unmaintainable and unperformant code. In my opinion, reads more easily as: This coding style leads to unmaintainable and poorly performing code. The key to well-written documentation and reports lies in ease of understanding. Adding poorly understood words such as performant decreases that ease. In addressing the use of such a poorly ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Is 'efficate' a word in English?

I routinely hear the word "efficate" being used. For example, "The most powerful way to efficate a change in the system is to participate." I do not find entries for this word in common English dictionaries, but I do not have an unabridged dictionary. I have checked the OED (I'm not sure if it is considered unabridged), and it has no entry for "efficate". It does have an entry for "efficiate", which is used in the same way. Wordnik has an entry for "efficate" with over 1800 hits, thus providing some evidence for the frequency of use. I personally like the word and find the meaning very clear and obvious when others use it. If it's not currently an "officially documented" word, perhaps its continued use will result in it being better documented.
Post a Comment
Read more