Appearance Vs Reality In Hamlet Research Paper

Appearance vs Reality in Hamlet In Shakespeare’s Hamlet, the ability to determine what is true and what is false through the theme of appearance vs reality is evident through the malicious behavior of the characters. Throughout the play, each character is continuously trying to figure out what the other characters think, rather than what the other characters appear to think. Hamlet appears mad in front of the other characters in order to hide his true intentions. He wants others to think that he is no longer sane, giving him the opportunity to kill Claudius. Hamlet magnifies and demonstrates immense hatred towards Ophelia as a plot to persuade Claudius and Polonius that he is mad due to the declining of Ophelia’s love. In William Shakespeare’s Hamlet, there is a clear divide between appearance and reality that is demonstrated through the characters of Hamlet, Claudius, and Polonius. …show more content…
Claudius, the new king of Denmark, appears to hide behind a mask of being gentile and concerned by grieving his dead brother and appearing to care for his people. He appears that he is grieving his brother: “…and that it us befitted./To bear our hearts in grief, and our whole kingdom./To be contracted in one brow of woe…”(I.ii.3-4). However, in actuality, he is disguising a dark secret because he is the one that is responsible for the death of Old Hamlet. Furthermore, he demonstrates acts of selfishness when he fears Hamlet’s apparent madness not because of Hamlet’s well being, but his own. Hamlet’s madness is a disguise to manipulate the characters while he carries out his master plan. Polonius, Rosencrantz, and Guildenstern are sent by Claudius to determine the cause of Hamlet’s