William Shakespeare 's Hamlet - Appearance Vs. Reality

     Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are two of Hamlets childhood buddies who when asked by the king, try to find out what is troubling their friend. The two of them go to Hamlet pretending to be his friends, when in all actuality they are only there because the king asked them to find the truth. Hamlet realizes their purpose for their visit is to find the real reason for his sadness as of late. As the play continues the twins are asked again by the king to go to Hamlet and try again to find the real reason for Hamlets behavior. Hamlet insults them at every chance knowing they are lying to him about their purpose of the visit. "Tis as easy as lying; govern these

Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are foils to Hamlet. The two are introduced as friends to Hamlet. But also they are like messengers for the king. Hamlet learns of their

Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are sent for by the King and Queen to spy on Hamlet and learn why he "puts on

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.

Hamlet’s childhood friends, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern both try to deceive Hamlet. However, their unskilled uses of dishonesty and disloyalty have resulted in their ironic death. They are introduced in the beginning of Act 2, Scene 2 as Hamlet’s childhood friends who are sent for by King Claudius for their services. When they first meet Hamlet and are asked the reason for their arrival, they answer: “To visit you, my lord, no other occasion” (2.2.78). However, Hamlet has already seen through their attempted act of trying to fool him and then replies: “You were sent/for, and there is a kind of confession in your looks, which/ you modesties have not craft enough

In the end, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are naively loyal to Hamlet, and this becomes their downfall. They know that Hamlet has killed Polonius, and yet, they take no precautions as they accompany Hamlet to England. Their trust in both Claudius and Hamlet gets them killed. Hamlet’s reveals his mistrust of his schoolmates in a conversation with his mother, and refers to Rosencrantz and Guildenstern as, "...my two-school fellows, whom I will trust as adders fanged..." 

Hamlet behaves very ambiguously with Rosencrantz and Guildenstern and continues to act this way with Polonius. Once Hamlet realizes that the two were sent by Claudius and Gertrude he got angry and had a feeling something wrong was going on and kept asking them questions as to why they went behind his back and betrayed him. He was being very suspicious even before they admit they betrayed him.

One of the oders that the lord had them do was to keep an eye on Hamlet and discover why he was acting so distraught or crazy. At the point when Hamlet saw Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, he was exceptionally happy to see them and recalls the amount of fantastic great companions they are. Before Rosencrantz and Guildenstern could inquire as to why Hamlet was acting distraught, Hamlet stated, Were you not sent for Is it your own particular slanting Is it a free appearance Come, bargain fairly with me: come, come, nay, talk. Rosencrantz and Guildenstern's reaction was, When Hamlet discovered that Rosencrantz and Guildenstern were working for the King, Hamlet immediately finished his

       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.

I know the good king and queen have sent for you” (II. ii. 264-267). Hamlet’s ingenuity allows him to sense quickly the guilt and betrayal of his friends, but Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, amateur spies, are slow at realizing this. Once

Rosencrantz and Guildenstern also looked to the King and Queen for approval. They didn't resort to the use of a daughter, but on the use of a close friendship. They used their bond with Hamlet to get information that the Court wanted. Claudius and Gertrude were very convincing in telling Rosencrantz and Guildenstern of how Hamlet was suffering, telling them that "[Their] visitation shall receive such thanks as fits a king's remembrance (P.34)". At first Rosencrantz and Guildenstern weren't too keen on selling out their friend. But instead of standing up to the King and Queen, Guildenstern told them that "we both obey and here give ourselves to be commanded (P.34)". They were more interested in doing what was right in the eyes of the Royal Court than doing what right in their eyes. Rosencrantz and Guildenstern weren't just Hamlet's friends; they were greeted by Hamlet as his "excellent good friends (P.40)". Hamlet viewed them in the same regard as he viewed Horatio, one who Hamlet stayed with and loved all through the play. Rosencrantz and Guildenstern didn't seem to care, and used this trust and love by their friend to please Claudius and Gertrude. This neglect of heart by these two characters was not something that they wanted to do for themselves, but something that they did

Appearance vs. Reality in Hamlet Hamlet is one of the amazing plays written by William Shakespeare and is the plot to many other famous movies and stories. In the play Hamlet things go wrong very quickly and a lot of those things can be misleading. For example to start it's thought that the character Polonius is thought highly of but in reality he is seen more as a joke. To add to that it appears that Polonius cares for his daughter but in reality he only cares about himself. Leading to his death it is seen that Polonius seems to be a creep and spying on Gertrude, when he's really listening in to Gertrude and Hamlet’s conversation, and at the end, in Act 5 Claudius seems to be a good king, but in reality, he is plotting something much darker for Hamlet.

Shakespeare examines the theme of appearance and reality in his book-Hamlet. The dilemma of what is "real" is established at the very beginning of the play. Hamlet doesn’t know what to believe and devises a plan to find out. The old king Hamlet appears to be bitten by a snake, but in reality he was poisoned, the ghost appears as an apparition, but it’s actually real, and the play-with-in-a-play strongly depicts the theme of appearance vs. reality.