ipl-logo

The Theme Of Betrayal In Ronnie Winter's False Pretense

742 Words3 Pages

William Shakespeare’s play Hamlet remains today as a significant piece of literature. The tale of the prince’s search to avenge his father resonates with the subjects found throughout the play. Today, the same themes are uncovered in countless songs. One such song, Ronnie Winter’s False Pretense, has several of the topics seen in Hamlet, such as disloyalty and insanity. Hence, the common themes that the works both have are betrayal, hurt, and the madness of the characters showcasing their pain to the world. In Hamlet and False Pretense, the characters each struggle with a betrayal that befalls them. Hamlet is quick to note his once childhood friends Rosencrantz and Guildenstern have turned against him, saying, “[There’s letters sealed; and my two schoolfellows, Whom I will trust as I will adders fanged…” understanding that he can no longer rely on them (Shakespeare 3.4 225-226). Likewise, in False Pretense, the song’s narrator deals with a betrayal from someone close to them. The narrator’s disbelief is shown through their statement of “The world’s got a funny …show more content…

In the play, Hamlet tells Horatio and Marcellous that “(As I perchance hereafter shall think to meet to put an antic disposition on…)” saying that he will act unlike himself (Shakespeare 1.5 191-192). In the song, the narrator tells “(But) you were wrong and I’m laughing right in your face” not caring how their actions come off as. Besides this, Hamlet also demonstrates madness when he says “I am but mad north-north west. When the wind is southerly, I know a hawk from a handsaw…” as he is saying he can turn this madness on and off (Shakespeare 2.2 402-403). The False Pretense narrator tells “So play the game until you run out/ And play the game into my hand.” The narrator is saying something that does not quite make sense. Altogether, the underlying madness in the two incorporates why they act out on their

Show More
Related
946 Words | 4 Pages

Hamlet is talking to Rosencrantz and Guildenstern and he is basically telling them that he is acting delusional. “I am but mad north-north-west. When the wind is/ southerly I know a hawk from a handsaw” (Shakespeare II. ii. 351-351).

Read More
1154 Words | 5 Pages

Polonius explains Hamlet 's madness to Claudius and Gertrude, “Mad call I it, for, to define true madness. What it 't but to be nothing else but mad? But let that go (Act 2, Scene 2, lines 93-94). Polonius then goes on to describe his ides of the stages of Hamlet 's madness and his inability to sleep, “And he, repelled-a short tale to make- Fell into a sadness, then into a fast, Thence to a watch, thence into a weakness, Thence to a lightness, and by this declension Into the madness wherein now he raves, And all we mourn for” (Act 2, Scene 2, lines 146-151).

Read More
1457 Words | 6 Pages

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.

Read More
873 Words | 4 Pages

A decision is the thought process of choosing between two or more outcomes that may or may not have a great impact. When thoroughly pondered, living life is fundamentally based on making the best decisions. Whether or not they are great or small decision making is critical. Often times, it is the smallest decisions one can make that impact the even bigger decisions later to come. Starting from the time people wake up in the morning, the will be surrounded by the most basic decisions until they go to sleep that night.

Read More
567 Words | 3 Pages

Hamlet is a powerful story of love, life, revenge, and death. The themes within the play are written to live on for eternity. It is difficult to fully and accurately represent a play as great as this one. The movie that we watched in class did not wholly represent the wonders and the magnitude of the themes within Shakespeare’s work.

Read More
1940 Words | 8 Pages

Hamlet Character deception is a common characteristic that has and will be a reflecting characteristic in literature for centuries. In many of William Shakespeare’s tragedies, deception, whether positive or negative, is being used to mislead, to protect characters, or to hide a crime or future crime. Analyzing why the characters are using deception against each other is very important to the reader’s understanding of the work as a whole. In William Shakespeare’s Hamlet, He uses Hamlet’s deception of character and also the character’s use of deception towards Hamlet to carry out the overall theme of the tragedy. The theme that is represented, is that in able to get malicious revenge, you must be able to act as if you are someone different than your true self while in turn, being able to deal with others deceiving you.

Read More
1514 Words | 7 Pages

What would one expect the personality of a man whose father was murdered by his uncle, who becomes his step-father? The personality in question points to Hamlet, the Prince of Denmark—who William Shakespeare depicts in his play “Hamlet.” A character analysis of Hamlet reveals that through his internal dialogue, his interpretation of his father 's murder, and his actions, his traits—bitterness, depression, and anger—emerge. Scholars have studied Hamlet for decades, and most have concluded that Hamlet 's personality indicated insanity. However, after observing Hamlet 's actions, his actions throughout the play do not resemble those of an insane person.

Read More
1544 Words | 7 Pages

He uses his deception of madness to make this sound like mad ramblings to everyone else, but he is truly asking these questions and wondering about the ins and outs of how life truly works, and what it all means. So Hamlet basically acts insane to cover up the seriousness of these questions he is seeking the answers to. “But in a fiction, in a dream of passion,/Could force his soul so to his own conceit,/That from her working all his visage wann’d,/ Tears in his eyes, distraction in’s aspect,/ A broken voice, and his

Read More
1153 Words | 5 Pages

Hamlet says that actors cannot keep secrets. They tell everything they know without thinking it over. Hamlet cannot be an actor because he is secretive. He is witty enough to know what to tell and what to keep to himself. In the past scene, he made Horatio swear to keep his secret.

Read More
1533 Words | 7 Pages

Hamlet’s depression inhibits his obsession for vengeance due to his inability to take action. Hamlet has suffered emotional trauma and often uses sarcasm to mask his pain. He pokes fun at the situations he’s faced with

Read More
542 Words | 3 Pages

When the play first began Hamlet did not seem crazy but more depressed and suicidal after his father’s death, he did not begin to act crazy until learning about his father’s murder. ”How strange or odd soe’er I bear myself, to put an antic disposition on...”, here Hamlet tells Horatio that he will start to act crazy but for them to just ignore it. After this when Hamlet only acts mad around thoses who he does not trust but when

Read More
801 Words | 4 Pages

In William Shakespeare’s play, Hamlet, Hamlet assumes the disguise of a man that has lost his mind. Hamlet uses this madness to masquerade around in such a way as to not draw attention to his true plan, to avenge his murdered father. Many readers debate as to whether Hamlet is truly mad, or whether he is fully aware of his actions and what he is doing. However, both sides of the debate can agree that Hamlet’s apparent madness is a key element of the play, Hamlet. There are many reasons as to why readers debate Hamlet’s madness.

Read More
451 Words | 2 Pages

In Shakespeare’s tragedy, Hamlet, there are a series of events that causes Hamlet to act abnormally. He has to deal with his father’s death, mother’s remarriage, and his lover Ophelia. However, it is often argued whether Hamlet’s madness is real or fake. Throughout the tragedy, he is over-exaggerating his madness for his plan of revenge.

Read More
1004 Words | 5 Pages

Insanity is an idea that has been examined for a long time in numerous mediums such as films, music, plays, and even works of literature. William Shakespeare’s “Hamlet” is no exception to that rule. Hamlet is one of Shakespeare’s most complex characters, and many scholars have been debating for centuries whether or not Hamlet is truly insane, or whether there is a particular reason for his odd behavior. In Shakespeare’s Hamlet, Hamlet merely pretends to be mad but in reality is sane.

Read More
932 Words | 4 Pages

In this paper, the audience will understand how Hamlet’s moral ambiguity is significant to Shakespeare’s play as a whole. In the beginning of the

Read More

More about The Theme Of Betrayal In Ronnie Winter's False Pretense

Related Topics

Open Document