All It Takes For Evil To Flourish Is For Good Men To Do Nothing

“All it takes for evil to flourish is for good men to do nothing”

This old saying is relevant to the tragedy of Hamlet. Claudius embodies evil and Hamlet a good man. By Hamlet doing nothing he allows Claudius’ evil to flourish into a poisonous tragedy at the end of Hamlet.

Claudius is undoubtedly evil. He commits evil deeds and can therefore be seen as an evil person. From early on in the play we hear that, “Something is wrong in the state of Denmark”. That something is the King. Claudius admits to his most evil of deed, “A brother’s murder!”. He later marries his brother’s widow. Claudius is called a villain by Hamlet when he expresses his disbelief at how evil Claudius really is, “That one may smile and smile and be a Villain.”. “The king is to blame” for the tragedy which unfolds at the end of Hamlet and for this reason can be seen as embodying evil.

Hamlet is a good person. He has the ability to act yet instead becomes caught up in his conscience and does nothing about the evil Claudius. Hamlet is referred to by the king as “great one” and by Ophelia as “a noble mind”. In Denmark Hamlet is, “loved of the distracted multitude”. He has the ability to kill Claudius when he comes across him praying. He could have killed Claudius but after much deliberation becomes a victim of his conscience. He decides that this is, “hire and salary, not revenge” and does not go through with the murder. Hamlet could also have simply not looked for revenge and acted by simply reporting the incident to someone, which although unrealistic and unorthodox, was still him doing something and could have prevented the flourish of evil. Throughout Hamlet Hamlet is gets too caught up in his own thoughts to act and contemplates whether “To be or not to be”.

Hamlet is a good man and when he does act the evil is stopped although in a tragic manner. If Hamlet had acted earlier the evil of Claudius would not have flourished and resulted in the death of so many. If Hamlet had simply killed Claudius whilst he was praying he would not have had, “the bearers put to sudden death” and Rosencrantz and Guildenstern would not have had to “go to’t.” and would still be alive. Claudius would also not have told Laertes that, “Revenge should have no bounds” which essentially caused the tragic mass poisoning at the end of Hamlet.

Hamlet is shown to be a good man who becomes too caught up in his thoughts to act. His inaction and the fact that he does nothing allows evil to flourish and grow into the tragedy that it is. If Hamlet had simply acted earlier the evil of Claudius would have been stopped before it flourished. Therefore the old saying is very relevant to the tragedy of Hamlet.