Leonardo Di Vinci once said, “The greatest decision men suffer is from their own decisions.” Deception can occur in everyday life and is an important process for building relationships or in general social interaction. In the Shakespearean play, Hamlet uses deception to reveal the role that Claudius had in the death of his father. Hamlet uses deception to gain the knowledge needed to indict Claudius with the murder of his father, while Claudius is using deception to cover up his role within murder. The significance of deception in Hamlet is seen through the characters of Hamlet and Claudius which they use as a means for personal gain.
To start off, the act of deception is first seen used by Hamlet which he cleverly uses to uncover the information …show more content…
In Hamlet, Claudius uses deception to deceive everyone else in the play about the murder of Hamlet’s father. As the readers, we know that Claudius murdered his brother by pouring poison into his ear when he was sleeping. Claudius expresses his guilt in an aside: “The harlot’s cheek, beautied with plastering art,/Is not more ugly to the thing that helps it/Than is my deed to my most painted word:/O heavy burthen! (3.1.50). In this quotation, Polonius says to Claudius that people act devoted to God to mask their bad deeds. In the aside after the conversation, he admits to himself that Polonius is right and accepts the murder and the guilt that he feels for killing his brother. Deception becomes an important part for Claudius because he must make everyone around him believe that he is not the killer of Hamlet’s father. This is rather hard because Hamlet knows that Claudius is guilty and therefore, tries his best get truth out of him. Claudius is the new King and deceiving his country is important to him and becomes a part of his personality since he believes that is what he must do to be a good leader for his country. Thus, that is another reason as to why deception was very important in the play and how it was used by another character such as, Claudius. In conclusion, the Shakespearean play, Hamlet, both
To start off, the act of deception is first seen used by Hamlet which he cleverly uses to uncover the information …show more content…
In Hamlet, Claudius uses deception to deceive everyone else in the play about the murder of Hamlet’s father. As the readers, we know that Claudius murdered his brother by pouring poison into his ear when he was sleeping. Claudius expresses his guilt in an aside: “The harlot’s cheek, beautied with plastering art,/Is not more ugly to the thing that helps it/Than is my deed to my most painted word:/O heavy burthen! (3.1.50). In this quotation, Polonius says to Claudius that people act devoted to God to mask their bad deeds. In the aside after the conversation, he admits to himself that Polonius is right and accepts the murder and the guilt that he feels for killing his brother. Deception becomes an important part for Claudius because he must make everyone around him believe that he is not the killer of Hamlet’s father. This is rather hard because Hamlet knows that Claudius is guilty and therefore, tries his best get truth out of him. Claudius is the new King and deceiving his country is important to him and becomes a part of his personality since he believes that is what he must do to be a good leader for his country. Thus, that is another reason as to why deception was very important in the play and how it was used by another character such as, Claudius. In conclusion, the Shakespearean play, Hamlet, both