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Lies And Deception In Hamlet Analysis

876 Words4 Pages

In the play The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, one of the greatest tragedies written by William Shakespeare, the issue of appearance versus reality is a recurring feature. In Act One, readers realize that lies and delusions are constant obstacles that block the characters from seeing the truth and authenticity. Characters in the play have trouble recognizing the difference between what seems to be and what is. The play emphasizes the difficulties that come with identifying appearance from reality. Lies and deception are woven into all the characters. Act One allows the audience to question reality from delusion. In one way or another, mistrust, disbelief, and suspicion are exhibited in all characters. This is done by incorporating deception, lies, and betrayal amongst the play. Act One provides …show more content…

In Scene One, characters are first deceived by appearances with the ghost’s entrance. Horatio waits with Bernardo and Marcellus to see if a ghost will truly appear. After his initial skepticism, he attempts to reason why the late king would appear. He says, “‘That I can./ At least the whisper goes so: our last king,/ Whose image/ even but now appear’d to us,/ Was as you know by Fortinbras of Norway,’” (Shakespeare 1.1.91-94). They believe the king will only appear to warn Denmark of the approaching danger brought by Fortinbras. However, the audience later discovers that the late king appeared so that young Hamlet would avenge his death. Another example of deception in appearances is when Polonius advises his son on how to appear French when he was setting off for France. Polonius tells him,“‘Costly thy habit as thy purse can buy,/ But

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Thesis: The theme of appearance verses reality is seen differently in William Shakespeare’s play “The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark,” Shirley Jackson’s short story “The Lottery, and Nathaniel Hawthorne’s short story “Young Goodman Brown”. 1) Hamlet a) Madness i) Putting on a façade to fish out the truth ii) Not a threat b) “as I perchance heareafter shall think meet to put on an antic disposition on” (I. ii. 172-173) 2) The lottery a) Happy event i) sunny day ii) “‘Be a sport, Tessie” Mrs. Delacroix” (142) b) Murder i) Stoned to death. 3) Young Goodman brown a) Puritan “Your family as ever o among the Puritans” (343) i)

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1) In Hamlet, pouring poison in a person’s ear had both a literal and symbolic significance. The literal meaning is that they are telling lies to people in order to deceive them. They are pouring poison or “poisonous” words into that person’s ear. The symbolic meaning of pouring poison in a person’s ear can be associated with the symbolic meaning of the snake in the story of Adam and Eve where the snake lures Eve in through lies. The characters in Hamlet were misled in the same way because they had poison poured into their ears.

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Contrasting his attitudes with the moments that the king walks in, his behavior towards Polonius while the play is preparing, and his actions to Ophelia during the play, Hamlet is sporadic, when alone with Horatio, he is calm and collected, then again the sudden resumption to his “antic disposition” when Rosencrantz and Guildenstern enter. There is a long break in which we don’t sense any insanity from Hamlet, this is due to the fact that he has no need to assume his disguise. When we find Hamlet with the players, he is giving them directions for the play. With the players, Hamlet acts normal and of sound mind because the players are not likely to betray him, they don’t have the opportunity or the wish to do so.

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The Ghost has been appearing, seen by the guards for the two nights leading to the events of Scene 1. Marcellus, Bernardo, and Horatio have gathered together to confirm the identity of the Ghost, and to discuss how they may approach it. When the Ghost appears and they identify it as the Ghost of King Hamlet, young Hamlet’s father. Horatio has an exposition, in which he tells the audience of the character Fortinbras, a prince from Norway.

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