Deception In Hamlet's Soliloquy

Hamlet uses his tactic of deception in order to distance himself from the other characters, whereas Iago uses his tactic of deception to create an intimate atmosphere. Throughout the play of Hamlet, Hamlet’s main strategy of deception is feigning his insanity. As he pretends to be a madman, he only shares his genuine ideas and thoughts with Horatio, in which Horatio proceeds to remain by Hamlet’s side. Although Hamlet tries his best to let Gertrude know about his plan, she still remains distanced from Hamlet—relationship-wise and location-wise—as result of his strategies. For instance, as Claudius latches on to Hamlet’s intentions, he attempts to send Hamlet to England—away from Gertrude and Claudius—because of his insanity plan. Moreover, had it not been for this

Some critics argue that Hamlet’s soliloquy is feigned. In each of Hamlet’s other soliloquies, he “uses first-person-singular pronouns at a rate of at least one per four lines”; however, in this particular soliloquy, he did not use first-person-singular pronouns at least once (Hirsh). It is clever for Hamlet to pretend to be mentally unstable: if he is allegedly ill, then how would he have the audacity to murder Claudius? However, the more Hamlet deems himself as insane, the less important information he has to work with due to the large gap in his relationships. In contrast, Iago would prefer to be closer to his victims to create an intimate atmosphere. Iago proves to the reader that the more one knows about someone, the more information he or she can use against the other. If Iago attempted to undergo Hamlet’s plan to be further away from the other characters, he would not be able to achieve his revenge. Iago’s technique involves luring “the other characters into his plan, making them each feel he is their closest confidant, completely devoted to their wishes”