Betrayal And Dishonesty In Hamlet

Register to read the introduction… When Hamlet continually asks his friends to play the flute, it is not because he wants to mock them or because he wants to tell them that they’re liars, but it is more an expression of how easily the concept of dishonesty comes into peoples lives. In saying that playing the flute is “as easy as lying” (Ham. 3. 2. 87), the reader sees best the ease with which this dishonesty comes.

Also aiding in the expression of this concept of betrayal is the incident when Hamlet likens Rosencrantz and Guildenstern to a sponge. In this moment he expresses how they have soaked up the king’s commands and unflinchingly served their own purposes by doing such. What is most striking about this …show more content…
Yes it is amusing when they complete each other’s sentences and continually look to each other for reassurance. It is also very funny to observe their general lack of knowledge of anything, in other words, they are completely clueless. One example of this comes in a moment of seriousness, when Hamlet is accusing Rosencrantz and Guildenstern of being like sponges, without values or a conscience. Instead of seeing it as this, Rosencrantz expresses his stupidity by asking, “Take you me for a sponge, my lord?” (Ham. 4. 2. 14). This clueless remark serves as a relief for the seriousness of what Hamlet is actually saying. However, these incidences are only funny when one looks at them from the surface, because if one were to make a deeper analysis of the play, they would see the much darker role that they play. The proof of this comes most strongly at the end of the play, when the death of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern is announced after the rest of the deaths have occurred (Ham. 5. 2.