1. Corruption
1.1. Hamlet's desire to kill himself
1.1.1. "To be, or not to be - that is the question: Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune Or to take arms against a sea of troubles, And by opposing end them. To die-to sleep- No more; and by a sleep to say we end The heartache, and the thousand natural shocks That flesh is heir to. 'Tis a consummation Devoutly to be wished. To die - to sleep. To sleep - perchance to dream: ay, there's the rub." Hamlet (Act III, Scene I, 56-65)
1.2. Socrates was charged for "corrupting the youth"
1.2.1. "You have charged me with great misfortune. Now answer me. Does it seem to you to be so also concerning horses? That all human beings make them better, while one certain one is the corrupter? Or is it wholly opposite to this, that one certain one is able to make them better - or very few, those skilled with horses - while the many, if they ever associate with horses and use them, corrupt them? Is this not so, Meletus, both concerning horses, and all the other animals? Of course it is, altogether so, whether you and Anytus denny or affirm it. For it ould be a great happiness for the young if one alone corrupts them, while the others benefit them. But in fact, Meletus, you haave sufficiently displaye that you never yet gave an thought to the young. And you are making your own lack of care plainly apparent, since you have cared nothing about the things for which you bring me in here." Socrates - The Apology (25b-25c)
2. Self Interest
2.1. Maxwell argues that individuals make decisions based on their own benefit
2.1.1. "The difference between objective knowledge and our personal intuitive insight into our own well being is important. People can know that stealing is wrong, but they experience a benefit through theft that makes them feel the wrongful action results in their obtaining some good, which improves their lives. Remember the important psychological principle, there is no motive for committing actions that are right or wrong, which bring no perceived benefit. If we keep the distinction between the ends and means clear, we see that nobody commits an act for the sake of the wrong involved but with a view to obtaining the perceived benefit or good, which results from the action. Even when the benefit of horrendous actions defies our understanding, the actor usually still has a conscious motive to benefit herself." Maxwell (page 2)
2.2. Claudius and Hamlet both make decisions based on self interest. Their judgment is clouded by both anger and hatred. Due to this hatred, they believe that morally wrong acts are permissible.
2.2.1. The Ghost tells Hamlet to avenge his death by killing Claudius. Hamlet considers murder throughout the play.
2.2.1.1. "GHOST Revenge his foul and most unnatural murder. HAMLET Murder? GHOST Murder most foul, as in the best it is, But this most foul, strange, and unnatural. HAMLET Haste me to know 't, that I, with wings as swift As meditation or the thoughts of love, May sweep to my revenge." Hamlet (Act 1, Scene V, 31-37)
2.2.1.2. "I am thy father's spirit, Doom'd for a certain term to walk the night And for the day confined to fast in fires Till the foul crimes done in my days of nature Are burnt and purged away. But that I am forbid To tell the secrets of my prison-house, I could a tale unfold whose lightest word Would harrow up thy soul, freeze thy young blood, Make thy two eyes, like stars, start from their spheres, Thy knotted and combinèd locks to part, And each particular hair to stand on end, Like quills upon the fretful porpentine. But this eternal blazon must not be To ears of flesh and blood." Hamlet (Act 1, Scene 5, 14-28)
2.2.1.3. "Now might I do it pat, now he is praying, And now I'll do 't. [He draws his sword.] And so he goes to heaven, And so am I revenged. That would be scanned: A villain kills my father, and for that, I, his sole son, do this same villain send To heaven." Hamlet (Act III, Scene III, 77-83)
3. Sickness
3.1. Suicide
3.1.1. Ophelia's love for Hamlet may have led to insanity. It's possible she felt trapped with all the demands from Polonius, Laertes, and Hamlet.
3.1.1.1. "Follow her close; give her good watch, I pray you. O, this is the poison of deep grief; it springs All from her father's death. O Gertrude, Gertrude, When sorrows come, they come not single spies, But in battalions. First her father slain; Next, your son gone, and he most violent author Thick and unwholesome in their thoughts and whispers For good Polonius' death, and we have done but greenly In hugger-mugger to inter him; poor Ophelia Divided from herself and her fair judgement, Without the which we are pictures or mere beasts; Last, and as much containing as all theses, Her brother is in secret come from France; Feeds on his wonder, keeps himself in clouds, And wants not buzzers to infect his ear With pestilent speeches of his father's death, Wherein necessity, of matter beggared, Will nothing stick our person to arraign In ear and ear. O my dear Gertrude, this, Like to a murd'ring piece, in many places Gives me superfluous death." Hamlet (Act IV, Scene V, 75-95)
3.2. Insanity
3.2.1. Maxwell suggests that the only individuals who do not make decisions based on self interest are insane.
3.2.1.1. "Even when the benefit of horrendous actions defies our understanding, the actor usually still has a conscious motive to benefit herself. So it is that some people can commit horrible actions with no sensible benefit. In such circumstances, either the benefit of the action is only perceptible to such persons' own distorted inner sense of well being or such persons are aware of acting out of uncontrollable compulsion. In the latter case they are rendered unable to make real choices and are thus removed from the realm of morality altogether. To the extent that we are unable to choose, we are unable to be moral." Maxwell (page 3)
3.3. Evil
3.3.1. "No matter if the harmful result is slight or great, the presence of fear and ignorance as the origin of harmful behavior is what constitutes the identity of evil. The identity of evil is not increased or decreased by variations in the resulting intensity of harm. Only the behavior originating fear and ignorance can offer us the identity of evil." Maxwell (page 7)