Deception In Hamlet Analysis

Hamlet is a play by William Shakespeare about a prince named Hamlet who was spoken to by the ghost of his dead father telling Hamlet to kill his uncle Claudius (the new king) because Claudius killed him. The story revolves around Hamlet's dillema of how to kill his uncle while being deceptive enough so that no one finds out about the ghost.
Shakespeare’s masterfully written tragedy, Hamlet, is wrought with tragedy and themes of revenge, but it is equally notable for the deception and lies that the players have towards each other. Throughout the play, characters hatch plans and spy on each other, creating a high tension mood. Shakespeare does this in order to add dramatic tension, but also to convey the human truth that everyone lies. Character …show more content…
The play was intentionally written to clue the reader towards inconsistencies between the characters actions and thoughts, implying that there are subtexts for all of their actions. This is most vibrantly seen in the “play within a play” and the wordplay that Hamlet creates. Each of these topics reveals more about the effectiveness of deceit to obtain truths from unwilling people, which was intended to reveal human nature. In the pre-climax scene of “The Mousetrap”, the structure of the play is fully exploited in order to use deceit to reveal Claudius’ lies, which connects to the theme of using deceit to obtain truth. Taking place roughly halfway through the full play, The Murder of Gonzago is a clever device to force action and to lead the audience into questioning what they are watching. To see actors on stage, fooling other actors, is to see a meta-play, leading audience members to consider the truths that have been spoken. In addition, the “play within a play” concept is used structurally to convey meaning in regards to deceit. The subtext that actors could be hired to reveal Claudius alludes to how Shakespeare’s plays are intended to reveal a facet of human truth. Although the play is made-up, the audience members react towards it in some fashion, revealing their own preferences and truths that mere accusations would not achieve. In …show more content…
Shakespeare takes the traditional model of a play and twists the interpretation of theatrical techniques in order to reach a greater understanding of what is truth. He achieves this through turning the ideas of soliloquies and common truths around to mean something completely different. Even the asides and soliloquies that are perceived to be raw truth through the medium of the play are called into question of honesty. Typically, the audience can rely on these theatrical devices to understand the play better, but in Hamlet, even these functions are not assumed to be true. One example of this is that most of Hamlet’s “soliloquies” actually have Horatio standing besides, nodding along. Although Horatio provides a character that Hamlet can talk to, it also provides a pair of watching eyes on Hamlet’s character, which he must then adapt to. For instance, in the soliloquy on death that he delivers with poor Yorick’s skull, Hamlet seems more reserved in emotion than during the famous “To be or not to be”, where a true flood of emotion is poured out. Forcing the audience to doubt their ears is a technique that Shakespeare may have used in order to emphasize the idea of