You are of course refering to the sounds of the partying
that reach Hamlet and Horatio in Act I scene 4. Here, there is a basic juxtaposition
between the serious purpose of Horatio and Claudius and the frivolous partying of the
new King, which shows his irresponsible nature. Consider Hamlet's assessment of this
tradition:
This heavy-headed revel east and
west
Makes us traduc'd, and tax'd of other
nations:
They clepe us drunkards, and with swinish
phrase
Soil our
addition...
Such a
"tradition" therefore only serves to highlight the changes that have occurred in
Denmark. Claudius is not doing a very good job of being King, and the way that he is
presiding over an opportunity for drunkenness and vice whilst Denmark is facing a
military threat in the form of Fortinbrass and Norway is certainly at best questionable
and at worst reprehensible. For Hamlet, the rightful heir of Denmark, to hear such
sounds whilst he is waiting to see the ghost of his father only serves to underline the
way in which there is "something rotten in the state of Denmark" that has occurred with
the change of leadership.
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