“Faith, if he be not rotten before he die / (ass we have many pocky corses <nowadays> that will / scarce hold the laying in), he will last you some / eight year or nine year” (5.1.169-72).
Hamlet converses with the gravedigger and the gravedigger enlightens Hamlet with the topic of death. The gravedigger utilizes this analogy to demonstrate how some people are rotten before the die. Literally, the meaning of rotten is old, decaying matter. He exemplifies the other meaning of rotten as bad personality and motives. The gravedigger states that some people just fall apart by being so rotten, and that will end up in doom. This foreshadows the character King Claudius. He has been very rotten, since the beginning, by having the sole cynical intentions of desiring the queen, crown, and land. In order to achieve those desires, he had to have killed King Hamlet. There was no remorse from the new king, highlighting his rotten persona. Following the gravedigger's words of wisdom, King Claudius starts to deteriorate as he is struck by the eerie words of Hamlet, as Hamlet explains how he must get his revenge. Also, Claudius deteriorates when he cannot handle Hamlet's play, as his conscious creeps up upon him. Finally, in Act four, the audience can see how rotten Claudius really is when he manipulates Laertes to take revenge on Hamlet, so Claudius does not have to do any work. This foreshadowing shows how Claudius is becoming more and more rotten as the play progresses; sooner or later, he will fall apart into his own death.
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