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Deceit In Hamlet Act 3

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Hamlet Act Three Essay Question 5 What defines a rat is the fact that these creatures are subtle, reprehensible, and deceitful. In Shakespeare’s tragedy, Hamlet, no other characters define this description quite as well as Polonius. Being the main advisor to King Claudius, Polonius is in a high position of power and has a right to deploy any means to find what he wants from people, however, born from a lust for power, Polonius relies upon deceit to arrive at the truth. This use of deceit has been used as message by Shakespeare to convey several distinct themes about people who use these tactics. Polonius, while seemly stuck between being a devoted parental figure and a ruthless politician, is revealed to be an extremely self-centered character with a goal of self-preservation, achieved by any means possible, as his actions often imply. This goal of self-preservation to maintain his family name and his position to the king has severely limited Polonius’s range of the conflict around him and causes a disconnect …show more content…

Stemming from Scene two, Polonius reveals his method of extracting information when he sends Reynaldo to spy on Laertes in Paris and orders him to find information through roundabout ways of asking, “Inquire me first what Danskers are in Paris/...that they do know my son/...put on him what forgeries you please. (Shakespeare 2.1.8-23)” Through this method of extracting information, Polonius is the cause of many of the conflicts in this play; fueling Hamlet’s paranoia. Hamlet, by scene three, has had many misfortunes and tests to his trust, and is viewed as being unpredictable and unruly by Polonius, who thrives on control and order. Polonius believes that by helping Hamlet, he is helping the king, thus gaining higher favor. Polonius fuels Hamlet’s paranoia by pitting his friends against him through deception to make them garner information on Hamlet’s woes in his

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