Hamlet theme of appearance vs. reality Essay

murder in a rash mood. It is not seen by Gertrude. It tries to urge

There is a general understanding that appearances can be deceiving. This is one of the most fundamental questions in philosophy, appearance vs. reality. When we meet people and get to know them throughout our lives, we soon discover that there is a genuine side to everyone behind the appearance they show. In the play Hamlet, by William Shakespeare, the characters Polonius, Rosencrantz, Guildenstern, and Claudius use appearance vs. reality to manipulate and deceive, which ultimately leads to their downfall.

What should Hamlet do? Explain the moral theories of each philosopher: Plato, Aristotle and Augustine. For each, determine the right thing for Hamlet to do. Then, assess the prince's actions from the perspective of each recommendation.

Hamlet decides to get more information / prove what the ghost was saying before doing

“There is no truth. There is only perception.” a knowledgeable quote by French novelist, Gustave Flaubert, discussing how humans perceive things versus reality. Perception is how one interprets the world and its individuals through their own knowledge and experiences; therefore, there is a diverse amount of viewpoints on the same subjects and people. As a result, those who are capable of perceiving situations accomplish more than those who are incapable. In Hamlet, William Shakespeare develops the theme that those who are incapable of perceiving others leads to punishment, however, those who successfully perceive are rewarded. This theme can be proven through three major characters: Claudius, the main antagonist, Gertrude, the mother of the main character, and Hamlet, the main character. These characters portray both successful and failed attempts of perception throughout the play.

       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

forgiven. He wants to repent for his sin, but he knows that he can’t because he is not truly sorry.

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.

Hamlet fascinates many readers and the first thing to point out about him is that he is mysterious. Shakespeare's work demonstrates Hamlet's dilemma as the role of revenger showing a man of thought forced to be a man of action. Hamlet is extremely philosophical and introspective. He is particularly drawn to difficult questions or questions that cannot be answered with any certainty. Faced with evidence that his uncle murdered his father, Hamlet becomes obsessed with proving his uncle's guilt before trying to act. He is equally overwhelmed with questions about the afterlife, about the wisdom of suicide, and about what happens to bodies after they die.

But in fact, that’s a lie that’s fooled everyone in Denmark and that hamlet should know, the real snake that stung his father is now wearing his crown, deliberately referring to King Claudius. The effects of this encounter of old king Hamlet’s ghost appearance and having learned the knowledge that was unknown of, Hamlet was dumbfounded. Hamlet’s reliability although,  wasn't completely geared towards the ghost. He wanted to test if King Claudius was at fault before he attempted any form of revenge as we learned in Act 2, Hamlet sure couldn't have expected this news coming from the ghost of his own father’s about his true murder, which was committed by his own uncle, Claudius who now wore the crown and had married Queen Gertrude, who was originally married to old king

     As appearances play an important role in today's society, so they also play an important role in William Shakespeare's play Hamlet. From the first scene to the last, Shakespeare elaborates on the theme of appearance versus reality through plot and character.

What is Hamlet about? Maybe a summary of the plot could answer this question but it wouldn’t do it justice. However it’s impossible to narrow down any of William Shakespeare’s work to one theme. The fact is, that all of Shakespeare’s plays are about many things. There are many ways to look at a Shakespearean play, and none are wrong of course, but it is not entirely true to say that one theme is the most important. Some of the more common and dominate themes that can be found in any of Shakespeare’s works are: conflict, appearance and reality, order and disorder, and change.

One aspect that makes William Shakespeare’s Hamlet alluring is how he broke the limiting mold of the one-dimensional character by representing characters in all of their human complexity. Hamlet, for example, is a compelling character because he is complicated. As Hamlet himself observes early in the play in, “Tis not alone my inky cloak/nor customary suits of solemn black, /Nor…forced breath/No, nor the fruitful river in the eye, /Nor the dejected ‘havior of the visage…/with all forms, moods, and shapes of grief, /That can denote me truly” (1.2.80-86). Hamlet insists that he is an individual with many psychological and philosophical facets, though he

A lot about a character shows when that character steps back and says what they are thinking aloud. This is the case for Prince Hamlet. William Shakespeare’s play “Hamlet” features Prince Hamlet, who is depressed about his father’s death and his mother remarrying so soon. Hamlet is visited by the ghost of his father and is ordered to get revenge for his father’s death. Hamlet devotes himself to the task, but because of his nature,he enters deep melancholy and even apparent madness. Throughout the play, Hamlet can be seen being very noble but indecisive at the same time. Hamlet’s soliloquies reveal a lot about his character. However, they mainly show the readers how he can be noble but is indecisive. He can also be viewed as someone in a deep state of depression. These values are shown through his actions of insulting himself for not acting upon what he believes in and continuously reassuring himself that what he does is correct, as well as his word choice and feelings that are expressed out loud to himself during the seven soliloquies.

Magic realism is quite prominent during all of Hamlet. The presence of the ghost is one of the main ways realism is shown throughout the play. The ghost in Hamlet is the old king. This ghost is portrayed as being alive in the play. Due to the fact that he has multiple lines and participates in dialogue with Hamlet, it gives the impression of living. The whole purpose of the ghost being in the play is for motivation. The ghost is the individual who tells Hamlet that he was killed by Claudius. By revealing this information to Hamlet, it justified Hamlet’s hate and lust for revenge against Claudius. On the flip side, the use of the ghost portrays Hamlet as crazy. It makes it seem as if Hamlet is in a completely different world than all of the other characters in the play. The magic realism in this play helps to create a more complex storyline that purposely creates drama. Overall, I believe that the realism in this play’s main purpose was to solidify the reasoning behind