Examples Of Deception In Hamlet

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Taking situations at face value is not a good idea; more often than not, there are less than innocent undertones. This can be seen in Hamlet by William Shakespeare, where the subthemes all have the element of appearances being drastically different than reality. Hamlets close friends are double agents who side with his enemies. He, along with the rest of Denmark are constantly lied to and deceived by those in power. Those who want to rebel, must put on the appearance of being mad, in order to not be incriminated. Furthermore, there are several instances where characters enact revenge on those who have wronged them. The deceit of the characters in the play is seen through their dishonesty, shameless lying, and realizing the constant misleading facts around them. Deceitfulness is shown through the deceptiveness of the characters. Polonius is one of these characters; he lets his son go off to France seemingly alone, then sends a spy after him “Yet here, Laertes! aboard, aboard, for shame! The wind sits in the shoulder of your sail, And you are stay'd for. There, my blessing with thee! (1. 3. 55-56). Polonius implies to Laertes that he trusts him enough to go away. It it then …show more content…

They appear to be heartbroken, and distressed, which is clearly displayed on their faces. The reality is that they are feigning it in order to look good. Another more evil way of deceiving people about one's honour is to pretend to reward someone, but in reality try to kill them. In act 5, Claudius throws a pearl into Hamlets cup to reward him for winning a pass against Laertes. To the public's eye it would appear that he is rewarding his nephew for doing well. The truth is that the pearl is poisoned and he is trying to murder him This was done in public, which goes to show that deception is not limited to occuring in private. These evidences all show how rampant the deception is in the state of

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