The truth is an object that sometimes alludes society. Manipulation run rampant among people whose sole ambition is to achieve an ignoble cause. Shakespeare exploits this concept in Hamlet, in which most of the characters use deceit to achieve their goals. One of the most treacherous characters is ironically Hamlet. Throughout his journey to avenge his father, he continually misleads people to advance his cause. In the beginning he deceives to try and discover the truth behind his father's death. As the play progresses, Hamlets forges to enact his revenge. Once the Ghost of King Hamlet reveals his murder by Claudius, Hamlet concocts a plan to feign insanity. He uses deceit to trick the ignorant nobility of the play into divulging information …show more content…
This play itself is deceptive as well. Not only is Hamlet trying to deceive Claudius, he is also creating a fake play for the actors. The play is based on the Murder of Gonzago. Hamlet added, “One scene of it comes near the circumstance. Which I have told thee of my father’s death” (141). This scene is eerily close to murder scene that King Hamlet’s ghost told Hamlet. Due to Hamlet’s false madness, Claudius has a false sense of security and is under the impression that the play is an innocent act. Hamlet’s intent is shown when he tells the players that, “Now this overdone or come tardy off, though it make the unskillful laugh, cannot but make the judicious grieve” (137). He is telling the players that if this play is poorly acted, Claudius will take it as a joke and will not react. Also the regular viewers of the show will be unhappy and, “the censure of the which one must in your allowance o'erweigh a whole theatre of others” (137), meaning that the regular viewers are the only people you should make comfortable viewing this play. Hamlet here is indirectly telling the players that the play needs to make Claudius uncomfortable so that he can verify that Claudius did kill King Hamlet. Hamlet also deceives himself by even putting on this play. Hamlet knows that Claudius did kill his father, but due to his self doubt he is able to …show more content…
They want to figure out why Hamlet is mad. Again Hamlet’s madness offers him an opportunity to advance his search for justice. When Hamlet enters Gertrude's room, he puts on an act. He feigns anger, which plays into his insanity. When Gertrude tells Hamlet that he has “thy father much offended” (169), Hamlet explodes. The ‘father’ that Gertrude is referring to is Claudius, which completely offends Hamlet since he knows what Claudius has done. Hamlet wants to get Gertrude on his side, so he wants to tell her about Claudius’s crime. To get his point across he “will speak daggers to her, but use none”(161). He wants to expose Gertrude for all her hypocrisies and to drive home his message we wants to speak aggressively. When Hamlet says “Come, come, and sit you down. You shall not budge. You go not till I set you up a glass. Where you may see the inmost part of you” (171), Gertrude takes this threat as a threat of murder and calls for help. Polonius scuffles around and Hamlet kills him thinking it was Claudius. Once Polonius is dead, Hamlet tells Gertrude about his entire scheme. He tells her about his fake madness and Gertrude agrees to keep his secret. She also agrees to be abstinent, just to ensure she will not accidentally reveal Hamlet's madness. This is significant since Gertrude will now betray Claudius. Gertrude up until
With the staging of the Murder of Gonzago, Hamlet shows a hidden motive to try to get Claudius to confess from the guilt that coincides with the murder he committed earlier in the play. “Give him a heedful note for I mine eyes will rivet to his face, and after we will both our judgments join in censure of his seeming.” By Hamlet telling Horatio to watch Claudius’s facial expressions during the play especially, he has revealed his true motives of his
In the scene of Hamlet by shakespeare. Hamlet wants to prove that the death of his father was committed by king claudius. As one would plan a way to deceive and trick a consumer into thinking that a product is good and it will last them forever, because hamlet's father told him that he was poisoned by king claudius, hamlet wanted to create a play that imitated the death of his father to see if king claudius would express any emotions of guilt and shame. As the scene comes into play, hamlet shares horatio his ingenious plan to reveal claudius guilt of killing hamlet's father by putting out a play imitating a player king being poisoned by a player trespasser. Before the play is carried out, hamlet instructs the players to not overreact, use any indication that may make anything obvious to king claudius that he has been in fact shamed in public for murdering hamlet's father who was also the king of denmark before claudius insidious actions on taking on hamlet's father for his own good, or so it is said by the ghost of hamlet's father.
Knowing that he has every desire to kill King Claudius which leads to many more events to come. Hamlet knows who and how his father was killed, he begins to act irrationally and does not think of the consequences that may come. Without being sure, Hamlet will not go through with the gruesome task without being sure, thus is born “The Play Within the Play”. Hamlet must find out for sure if Claudius is responsible for his father’s murder and the play set up exactly how the ghost king’s death occurred, is just the right idea. Almost immediately, the King becomes flustered and exclaims that he cannot watch the play.
After hearing the story of his father’s murder, he did not right away plan for revenge and instead, he goes away and prays (Hibbard 196). In addition, Hamlet’s character is very self-conflicting. He wants to take revenge, yet he walks around acting crazy, dreams about irreverent things yet wants someone to slap him out of his current pathetic state (Hibbard 234). Even though Hamlet swore to the ghost that he will take revenge, he still does not trust the ghost as he thinks it might be the devil, so he decides to arrange a play for Claudius and see if he will confess his crimes, this act of his furthermore illustrates his indecisiveness to trust other and himself (Hibbard 235). Most importantly, at the climax of the play when Claudius was confessing his sins, Hamlets decides not to kill his uncle when he was repenting his sins as he does not want to send him to heaven (Alsaif 134).
At the end of Act 1, scene 5, Hamlet is talking to the Guards who said they saw a strange shadow in armor. Hamlet decided to go and see what they are talking about. Hamlet believes that they are just going to see someone lurking around the Kingdom but instead he sees King Hamlet's ghost for the first time. Hamlet’s dad just died at war so he was wearing all of his armor, so they knew it was him. After talking with the ghost for a little while, Hamlet finds out that Claudius, his uncle, killed him and he can not go on until he does something to avenge his death. Hamlet is enraged and decides he needs kill Claudius in order to avenge his father's death. Hamlet is also mad because right after his father died, Claudius married Gertrude, his mother. As Hamlet says, “How strange or odd some’er bear myself/ (As I perchance hereafter shall I think meet/ to put an antic disposition on (1.5.190-193).”\. After seeing and talking to his deceased father in the woods, Hamlet tells Horatio and Marcellus that he is going to be acting insane. He does this because he is using it as a tactic to avenge his father's death and kill Claudius. He also says that if he sees them, they can not say anything to hint that he is faking insanity. By telling Horatio and Marcellus this, it tells the readers that he is not actually insane. If Hamlet is actually crazy, he would not be able to come up with an
Deception is a powerful tool, one that can be used for good or evil. In William Shakespeare’s Hamlet, the characters are surrounded by false appearances which are deceitful and cause great tragedy. The theme of deception is a reoccurring topic that stems from the beginning and continues throughout the play. The characters use deception in the form of false appearances in order to create distraction, and achieve what they truly desire.
Hamlet initially fools readers into thinking he is murderous and ready to take action after he vows to avenge his father’s death; however, time passes, and Hamlet takes minimal steps in executing his plan to assassinate his uncle. Instead of going immediately to murder, Hamlet stalls by creating a play which reenacts his father’s death. He does so in order to see Claudius’ reaction so that he can ensure that it is not “a damnèd ghost that [he has] seen,” and that Claudius is, indeed, guilty (Act III, Scene ii, Line 87). If he is truly out to get revenge, Hamlet should not need any further reassurance over the ghost’s word, yet he gets some, anyways. After his uncle watches the play and then flees from the
Third, Claudius covers his tracks by manipulating Hamlet’s college friends Guildenstern and Rosencrantz to make sure nobody knows his monstrous act. In the Act II, Scene II, he disguises his motives by pretending that he cares about Hamlet’s state of mind, but in truth he wants to gather information if Hamlet is just pretending and knows his crime. “It is to be observed that the King was shrewder than his minister (Polonius); he did not believe that Hamlet is crazy” (Snider, 80). This is the reason why Claudius summoned Hamlet’s college friends to get a different opinion about what is going on with Hamlet. Additionally, Claudius addresses Guildenstern and Rosencrantz upon their arrival, “That you vouchsafe your rest here in our court Some little time: so, by your companies to draw him on to pleasures, and to gather, so much as from occasion you may glean, whether aught, to us unknown, afflicts him thus, That, open'd, lies within our remedy” (“Shakespeare”, 1375). Lastly, Claudius deviously arranges for Hamlet to be in England as an emissary in hopes that Hamlet will get killed there. In Act IV, Scene IV, Claudius expresses his desire to eliminate the thorn in his throat and the threat to his kingship, “The present death of Hamlet. Do it, England; For like the hectic in my blood he rages, and thou must cure me: till I know 'tis done” (“Shakespeare”, 1414).
In Hamlet by William Shakespeare, one of the most significant themes is dishonesty and deception are used to get people what they want. This theme is structured throughout the play by three major forms: the fear of being deceived, the act of deception, and the ultimate result of the deceptive act. Throughout the whole play, almost every character utilizes dishonesty to get them what they want, no matter the outcome. In Act I Scene V, Hamlet states: “How strange or odd some'er I bear myself (As I perchance hereafter shall think meet To put an antic disposition on).” In this quote he is informing to his peers that he will pretend to be mad because he wants to be able to investigate the accusations made by his father's ghost against Claudius, without raising any suspicion that he knows the truth about his father's death.
In order to avenge his father's death, Hamlet plots to feign madness in order to deceive others and draw attention away from his suspicious activity. Through this madness, Hamlet stages a play and he vows that its “the thing wherein [he]'ll catch the conscience of the King” (Act II, Scene II, line 567). And his plan succeeds. Hamlet uncovered Claudius' hidden truth surrounding the death of his father and he felt greatly accomplished. It is this very deception that makes Claudius uneasy because Hamlet possesses his dreadful secret.
Deception is the main element of Shakespeare's drama, Hamlet. The deception can be destructive or kind; it can be towards others or, self-inflicted. Through the themes and diction used by Shakespeare, he further helps the reader better understand the whole meaning of the play. Through the use of imagery, symbolism, allusions, similes and metaphors Shakespeare creates the theme of revenge and justice versus morality as he goes through the tragic life of Hamlet. Hamlet, portrayed as a deceitful and deranged man, has different motives for doing
Hamlet finds out the plan and switches the writing by stating that Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are the ones to be killed. When Hamlet was talking to Gertrude, Polonius spied on them, because of that Hamlet thought it was Claudius and stabbed him.
In the beginning of the play King Hamlet of Denmark has died and his brother takes the throne and known as King Claudius who then marries Queen Gertrude. King Hamlets ghost returns to revenge his murder and his son Prince Hamlet is the one who shall fulfill it. For prince Hamlet to do he would portray to be insane. Hamlet allows for everyone to think he is insane and can easily demonstrate the disgust he endures towards his mother the queen for marrying his uncle now King Claudius. Despite of prince Hamlets madness King Claudius is determining to kill Hamlet as soon as he can prove that he is of sane. The play is filled with life, blood, and spirit. A play filled with evil and corruption no one knows what to believe or what is to be true.
He goes on to perform a play in which he has the actors act out his father's murder so he can watch Claudius closely to see how he will react. Hamlet doesn't trust the ghost he has seen. He does this play in order to make sure that the ghost isn’t toying with his emotions and forcing him to act out when the actions are undignified. This play “is something to get the truth out” according to
Hamlet’s distress sparks rumors of insanity, and when Polonius claims he has discovered the cause of Hamlet’s hysteria Gertrude says to Claudius, “I doubt it is no other but the main\ His father’s death and our hasty marriage” (2.2.56-57). By saying this, Gertrude admits the situation is twisted and a reasonable cause for Hamlet’s unusual behavior. At this point, Gertrude is alone with Claudius where she can safely imply that the marriage was wrong. When in public, Gertrude must pretend like it is normal to influence the people. Immediately after promising to not tell anyone about Hamlet killing Polonius, Gertrude goes and tells Claudius.