Appearance vs. Reality in Hamlet

There are those in the villages that protest, but there are always those who have something against their rulers even in the best of times. In the end Claudius gets what is his when Hamlet stabs him with the poisoned blade and forces him to drink the poison that was meant for him but drank by his mother.

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:

In this way, the two courtiers are nothing more than puppets for Claudius to use. Hamlet recognizes this inability to act as good friends and confronts them in the The Mousetrap scene. He discloses, “You would play upon me, you would seem to know my stops, you would pluck out the heart of my mystery, you would sound me from my lowest note to the top of my compass.” (3.2) Hamlet is cognisant of the true intentions of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern which are not honest at all, but rather, corrupted. Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, at this point in the play, have utterly lost their ties to Hamlet as a friend, and only see him as a puzzle that if deciphered, they can return and be praised by Claudius. According to Prof. McKinney, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are like sponges to be soaked up and drained by Claudius and discarded when they are of no more use. Claudius has manipulated the minds of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern by way of desire for royal appeasement, and corrupts their ability to frankly help their childhood friend, Hamlet.

In the play Hamlet by William Shakespeare their world has become so obscured by lies that the characters as well as the readers can no longer decipher literary fact from fiction. The play begins shortly after the death of Hamlet’s father and subsequent marriage of his mother and uncle. Already shattered from what he perceives to be a betrayal to his father’s memory Hamlet’s world is completely turned upside down when he discovers that his uncle, Claudius, is responsible for his father’s murder. The theme of reality versus perception is prevalent throughout the play in which things that appear to be good and honest are truly corrupted with malevolent intentions. Claudius, Polonius and Hamlet himself embrace their dishonest nature in order to

Another thing that sets Hamlet over the edge is the fake friendship Rosencrantz and Guildenstern commence with Hamlet. King Claudius invites Rosencrantz and Guildenstern to the palace with selfish intentions. Claudius requests the men to investigate Hamlet by “get[ing] from him why he puts on this confusion, Grating so harshly all his days of quiet” (III.i.2-3). He wants them to figure out why he’s acting so dazed and confused, as well as ruining his own peace and quiet, while all along Hamlet is well aware of their true endeavors. During their attempts Hamlets says, “Call me what instrument you will, though you can fret me, yet you cannot play upon me” (III.ii.340-341). Hamlet compares deception to playing a musical instrument by making the comparison that his friends think that it is easier to manipulate him than an

Hamlet is a play by William Shakespeare in which nothing can be taken at face value: appearances are frequently deceptive, and many characters engage in play-acting, spying and pretense. What deliberate attempts are made at deception? Are the intended audiences deceived? While some deceptions are perpetrated in order to conceal secrets, others aim to uncover hidden truths. The play itself is built on deception, and can be seen especially through three characters’ words and actions— Claudius, Polonius, and Hamlet.

Laertes turns to Hamlet, again confessing, “I can no more: the king, the king’s to blame” (V.II.284). A sudden realization of the soon to be death, Hamlet rushes in a fury and confronts Claudius, first stabbing him with the poisoned saber and then forcing Claudius to “Drink off this potion” (V.II.290) that is “temper’d by himself” (V.II.293) just as a Claudius did to Hamlet’s

Which then caused Polonius’s death because, he was eavesdropping for Claudius. So, with Hamlet trying disguise his appearance to distract from what was happening in reality causes, chaos to happen. Hamlets characters are all pretending to be someone else to find out why Hamlet is acting differently, they want to know why so they befriend him. Claudius has been pretending to be a great ruler while hiding the dark secret

Specifically, in Act five, scene two, the chain of events is all due to Claudius aiming to murder his nephew. By poisoning

Hamlet asks the actors to add a dozen or so lines that mirror the events that have occurred in Denmark to the play, The murder of Gonzago. Hamlet wants to determine whether Claudius is guilty, therefore he says to Horatio, “Observe mine uncle. If his occulted guilt Do not itself unkennel in one speech, It is a damnèd ghost that we have seen, And my imaginations are as foul As Vulcan’s stithy” (III, ii, 78-79). When the play is performed, Claudius takes offense and gets up to leave. Hamlet uses his reaction as confirmation that he killed Old Hamlet. Hamlet is successful in proving Claudius guilty but takes too long to do so. However, when Laertes decides to commit to something, he always see’s it through. With the help of Claudius, he devises a full proof plan to eliminate Hamlet. Yet it is not limited to one scheme but rather an array of ways to make certain of Hamlet’s demise. Claudius recalls that Hamlet has been jealous in the past of Laertes’ prowess with a sword, which was recently praised before all the court by a Frenchman who had seen him in combat. The king speculates that if Hamlet could be tempted into a duel with Laertes, it might provide Laertes with the chance to kill him. Laertes agrees, and they settle on a plan. Laertes will use a sharpened sword rather than the customary dull fencing blade. Laertes also proposes to poison his sword, so that even a scratch from it will kill Hamlet. The king concocts a backup plan as well, proposing that if Hamlet succeeds in the duel, Claudius will offer him a poisoned cup of wine to drink from in celebration. He leaves no leaf unturned. As a direct contrast to Hamlet, he lets his moral compass take a back seat to his primary goal, which is to exact

Claudius final deception lies within the son of his fallen adviser Polonius who has been murdered by Hamlet. Whilst Laertes is mourning the death of his father he gets a bit riled up and turns that anger on to Claudius. Claudius realizes this and turns the anger on to Hamlet and uses Laertes to kill Hamlet.

This research paper’s theme is about the characters’ cunningness and deception, which led to the thesis statement: “The Shakespeare play Hamlet, is a story about cunningness and deception.” The reason why I came out with the idea is because throughout the class discussions and personal readings, several instances were perceived how the characters are being untruthful. They play their roles cunningly and deceptively to stay in their own games for personal gain. The root of conflict in the play and the series of events that took place in the kingdom of Denmark, are reactionary to the cunning and deceptive deed of Claudius. Whereupon, the following characters that will be subject of discussion about these behaviors are: King Claudius, Hamlet, Polonius, Laertes, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, Young Fortinbras, King Norway, and Queen Gertrude.

While Hamlet believes that “[to] be or not to be,” (Shakespeare 3.1. 64), is the question, I would argue that a larger question exists that remains unanswered: what is? How does one differentiate between what is real, and what is an illusion created by the depths of the mind? In The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark by William Shakespeare, the characters are challenged to constantly distinguish between what is and what seems -- the presence of reality or appearance. Reality, in a literal sense, is “the state of things as they actually exist,” (Fowler); however, it’s possible that existing -- or not existing -- is subjective. Hamlet, the protagonist and tragic hero of the play, interprets a much different reality than the surrounding characters and devises appearances that drive others away from understanding his truth; in turn, he is made a pawn in the illusions of others, specifically Gertrude, Claudius, and Laertes, to the point

The character Claudius is the most fitting example of the theme appearance vs. reality. In the play, Claudius murders young Hamlet’s father who was also the king of Denmark at the time. To the public, Claudius appears to be depressed about the king’s death. He then portrays himself as being honorable and trustworthy because he has taken on the duty as king. This false persona is shown when he addresses the public about his feelings about the death of his brother. “Though yet of Hamlet our dear brother’s death the memory be green, and that it us befitted to bear our hearts in grief, and our whole kingdom to be concentrated in one brow of woe” (I.ii.1-4). In Act 1, scene 5, Hamlet’s dead father appears to him as a ghost and reveals the reality