Hypocrisy: The Star Of Hamlet

Kendra Gonzalez

Ms. Canning

British Literature/2nd period

Hypocrisy: The Star of Hamlet Individuals who have studied any of Shakespeare’s many works of literature can agree that he knew the impact a hypocritical character could make on his works like the back of his hand. Shakespeare purposely made this trait prevalent in several of the main characters, which included Claudius, Polonius, Rosencrantz, and Guildenstern. Shakespeare reveals the overall theme of “not staying true to your word will get you in trouble” through Rosencrantz and Guildenstern’s blind obedience to the king, Polonius’ meddling ways, and Claudius’ desires to rule the kingdom. It is unlikely to think that someone as dear as a childhood friend would someday betray

From getting a servant to spout lies about his own son after telling him to be true to himself to hiding behind an arras to hear a private conversation between Gertrude and Hamlet, which led to his demise, "when deceitfulness proves expedient, Polonius embraces it," according to Michael Sacks in "Conniving and bumbling, yet sometimes wise: an examination of the many facets of Polonius. In Hamlet by William Shakespeare, Polonius guides Laertes with several principles to live by and ends his speech by saying, "Thou canst not be false to any man" (1560). The advice Polonius gives Laertes before his departure to France is beautiful and any individual would benefit from following it, especially Polonius; although Polonius promotes honesty, he contradicts his statements by having a servant spy on and fabricate stories about Laertes. Additionally, by spying on Gertrude and Hamlet, Polonius continued to show deceitfulness. Polonius never said that anything about lying in his speech to Laertes when it benefited oneself, but he unhesitatingly did it when it was favorable for him. Ultimately, Polonius was killed because he lacked the ability to follow his own words of

Unfortunately, Claudius really did commit the horrible crime and did shady actions in order to get away with murder and steal the crown. "If news that the ghost of the man Claudius murdered is haunting the castle did reach Claudius, Claudius would assume as a matter of course that the motive of the Ghost's visitation was to demand that his son revenge the murder," according to James Hirsh in "The 'To be or not to be' speech: evidence, conventional wisdom, and the editing of Hamlet;" because Claudius would automatically conclude that the only action Hamlet would turn to is seeking out Claudius' death, it automatically pegs him as guilt ridden, and this combined with his hunger for power lead him to be the biggest hypocrite of them all. “The polite language used by Claudius is duplicitous,” claims James Andreas in “The Vulgar and the Polite: Dialogue in Hamlet;” Andreas means that Claudius manipulates those around him by using comforting words that have no actual meaning. Claudius pretends to mourn the death of King Hamlet and sympathize with him by sharing that he also has a dead father, acts as he cares about Hamlet's well-being while sending him on a boat to England but is