Something's Rotten in the State of Denmark

The amount of times that the motif "rotten" appears in Shakespeare's Hamlet is astounding. The word carries an incredible amount of meaning and can be interpreted in a multitude of ways. First of all, all the dead bodies in the play are "rank", dirty, and infested with worms. This can be seen in Polonius's death. As soon as Hamlet stabbed Polonius, his downward spiral began. It was the climax of the play and the next few acts were his undoing. When Hamlet commits this sin he begins to seem more mad, driven by a passionate rage. He jokes about Polonius's body being rotten to Claudius, but I think he could also be hinting at the underlying meaning of the word body. The body of Denmark, the political state itself, is rotting. As soon as Hamlet the "royal judge", the "savior" took the drastic step of murder, all hope was lost, and the political state began to unravel. It was rotten, ruined, and dead. This was demonstrated by the end of the play when almost all of the nobles, except for Horatio, are dead, and Fortinbras takes over. The final scene shows the consequences for Hamlet's actions. Why do Hamlet's actions have such catastrophic results? Hamlet's constant internal struggle between good and evil concluded as soon as he stabbed the fool behind the curtain, and evil wins within him. There is no turning back once he kills Polonius, causing him to commit to the purpose given to him from Hell. Evil won within his heart and took over Denmark. The infection spread rapidly from within and caused the destruction of the whole political state. The "something" rotten in the state of Denmark was definitely Hamlet.