Make-believe, a game many children have played at least once, permits people to envision themselves as various characters, such as world-renowned pirates or rebels in a dystopian world. In one of William Shakespeare’s most iconic works, Hamlet, the titular protagonist is struck with immense grief after his father’s passing. Suspicious of his uncle Claudius, who is crowned the new king and marries his mother, Queen Gertrude, Hamlet works towards uncovering the truth of the late king’s death. A British philosopher, Colin McGinn, wrote “Shakespeare’s Philosophy” and argues that Hamlet creates characters for him to embody throughout the play because it is the only way he can take action towards his goals. While what McGinn said about Hamlet creating …show more content…
Upon encountering the ghost, Hamlet is cautious, evident by how he voiced, “Angels and ministers of grace defend us! / Be thou a spirit of health or goblin damned, / Bring with thee airs from heaven or blasts from hell” (1.4.39-41). Worried the devil was disguised to dupe him into killing Claudius, Hamlet decides to investigate what happened to his father. The conviction to uncover the truth demonstrates Hamlet's zero tolerance for deceit. Another instance where Hamlet is wary of the power of acting is when the first player “in a fiction, in a dream of passion” wowed him with an emotional speech on the Trojan War (2.2.538). "What's Hecuba to him, or is he to Hecuba / That he would weep for her,” Hamlet wondered as he could not fathom how someone displays so much fervor for someone they do not know (2.2.545-546). This spawns Hamlet to self-reflect and ponder his situation because the player acted so well when he had yet to act as a son and help his father. Deciphering when someone is putting on a show and when they are their true self is a huge plot point and is something the audience experiences with Hamlet as the play progresses. It also further emphasizes the theme of reality versus perception as the lines between truth and lies