Appearance Versus Reality In Shakespeare's Hamlet

This allows Hamlet to further on his plans without being discovered. His emotions are being masked by phrases in order to move on and cover his tracks of being found out that he is

Polonius played a vital role in Hamlet even though he was not one of the main characters. He continued to reinforce the theme of corruption and displayed the social and ethical collapse of Denmark. His deceitful actions show the reader that he is one of dishonesty and chicanery. In the play, Polonius was portrayed as someone who is a deceiver and pretender that betrays people he is supposed to be devoted to; and who only cares about things that will benefit him. These characteristics of Polonius are seen through his interactions with Ophelia, Hamlet, Laertes, Reynaldo and the King.

Hamlet is mourning over the death of his father, he is in a depressed mood. He is mad at his mother Gertrude for marrying his uncle Claudius.

The facades that each character assumes are all important to the complex duplicity and insanity that follow. It shown that all characters in the play have multiple personalities with the exception of Horatio. The characters reveal what’s behind their mask only when they talk to the audience during the asides and soliloquies in addition to the manipulation of language for Hamlet’s case. Furthermore, Shakespeare introduces the actors to add the ‘play within a play’ effect. This acts as a tricky literary device that suggests that the play itself revolves around the charade undertaken by most of Shakespeare’s characters as the ‘play within a play’ occurs in the middle of the play…...

Claudius also seems like a respectable king because he mourns the death of King Hamlet and tells “[the] whole kingdom to be contracted in one brow of woe” (21). Although Claudius seems to be a good king who is deeply saddened by the death of the late King Hamlet, he is actually a horrible man who murdered King Hamlet in a way “most foul,...strange and unnatural” (57). He took his crown and acted as if his death was an accident. Claudius makes it difficult for Hamlet to uncover the truth behind his actions because he constantly acts like nothing is ever wrong. After many different plots against Claudius, Hamlet prevails and the real Claudius is exposed. Claudius played an important role in the play because he reinforced the motif Seems Versus Is and showed the reader that although people can come across as honest and respectable, deep down they can have an evil side.

Claudius is not the only fraudulent character in the first two scenes where the theme of appearance verses reality is prevalent. When Hamlet’s mother tries to get Hamlet to accept the fact that all things in nature die she asks him, “If it be, Why seems it so particular to thee?” (I, II, 79) Hamlet responds with, “ “Seems,” madam? Nay, it is I know not “seems.” ” (I, II, 79) Hamlet accepts the fact that all things in nature eventually die, yet he refuses to believe the appearance of how his father dies. The queen is again applied to this theme when she addresses Rosencrantz and Guildenstern to spy on Hamlet:

       Hamlet is organized around various pairs of opposing forces. One of these forces is the difference between that what seems and that which actually is, in other words, appearance versus reality. What is, and what merely appears to be? We can discern two principal angles from which this question is approached in Hamlet. First, we have the angle of inward and outward emotions, and the profound distinction that is drawn between them. In other words, the tranquil face that we all show to the world is never the same as the turmoil of our souls. In Hamlet, Shakespeare explores this both explicitly, through the device of the play within the play, and implicitly, through the ways in which he uses

” ( 2.2.120 ), Claudius replies “ As of a man faithful and honorable” ( 2.2.120). Because of this, Polonius appears to be relatively vain, and his arrogance becomes greatly pronounced. When questioned upon his knowledge he even goes as far as to use his own daughter, Ophelia, to gain information on Hamlet to aid himself and Claudius. These negative manipulative traits are again exemplified as he urges Gertrude to find out about Hamlets motives. He again masks his instructions as advice he states; “ Tell him his pranks have been to broad to bear with and that you grace hath screen’d and stood between heat and him “ (3.4.5).

Shakespeare’s play, Hamlet, begins with the appearance of a ghost, an apparition, possibly a hallucination. Thus, from the beginning, Shakespeare presents the air of uncertainty, of the unnatural, which drives the action of the play and develops in the protagonist as a struggle to clarify what only seems to be absolute and what is actually reality. Hamlet's mind, therefore, becomes the central force of the play, choosing the direction of the conflict by his decisions regarding his revenge and defining the outcome.

His son Laertes, and daughter Ophelia, trust him greatly, while some question his truthfulness. To others around him, from messengers to Kings, he is seen as loving and caring with a great devotion to those he loves and admires. However, Hamlet is one of the other people who can see through this act. Polonius knows that this actions are not for his children but to further himself. Polonius can dish out advice all he likes, but cannot take it,”This above all: to thine ownself be true,/And it must follow, as the night the day,/Thou canst not then be false to any man.

This shows that Polonius will do anything to find out why Hamlet is crazy, even if it means to make his life full of corruption. Polonius causes Hamlet to live in a corrupt

Polonius’ interactions with Hamlet are often the source of misinterpretations that Polonius is a bumbling fool. In every conversation, Polonius appears oblivious to the witty and cruel remarks Hamlet makes in response to his persistent questioning. Even when explicitly called a “fishmonger,” Polonius feigns surprised ignorance and suggests that Hamlet is insane rather than sarcastic (II.ii.187). He appears to continue ignoring Hamlet’s thinly veiled insults even when Hamlet compares Ophelia to “maggots in a dead dog,” assuming that Hamlet is “still harping on [his] daughter” (II.ii.669). However, Polonius is not the “tedious old fool” that he appears to be; just as Hamlet confessed to being “not in madness,/But mad in craft,” Polonius merely feigns stupidity (II.ii.224; III.iv.204-5). By pretending to be clueless, Polonius is able to question and study Hamlet further without

William Shakespeare uses the literary technique of the soliloquy to allow the audience to see deeper into his characters’ thoughts in his play, Hamlet. This technique helps to reveal Hamlet’s true character, expressing emotions that the audience cannot see through his interactions with other characters. Through Hamlet’s soliloquies, one may notice that his reluctance to take actions that involve death can be attributed to his fear of the unknown and his uncertainty in regards to afterlife.

Hamlet uses Polonius’s initial interactions within a domestic setting and the royal court to establish Polonius’s character. When Polonius notarizes Reynaldo to spy on Laertes, Polonius lauds his method with such rhetorical flourishes as “wisdom and of reach” and “with windlasses and assays of bias,” to ensure that his ‘grand’ scheme is not lost on Reynaldo (2.1.61-62). The text chooses to show Polonius strutting such ornate rhetoric to commend himself, even when there is no one to impress beyond his own servant, to illustrate how Polonius is by his very nature pompous. When Polonius subsequently hears Ophelia relay her encounter with a deranged Hamlet, Polonius’s first instinct is to “go see the king,” rather than to comfort Ophelia beyond simply saying he’s sorry (2.1.114). Polonius’s primal instinct to serve his lord reveals a servile disposition baked into his very being. These intrinsic tendencies are hyperbolized through Polonius’s interaction with the royal family. Upon entering the court, Polonius immediately professes to “hold my duty … both to my God

Unlike Ophelia, who was driven to madness and death due to a combination of her submissive nature and forces out of her control, Polonius orchestrates deceitful schemes to obtain what he wants due to his nosy, intrusive nature and utter disregard for the privacy and well