Entrapment And Deception In Hamlet

Entrapment and deception are the dominant themes in William Shakespeare’s Hamlet, they are evident throughout the play and show how key they are to the plot. Entrapment is best shown through the mouse trap play the entire scene is dedicated to trapping Claudius. Deception is shown in a variety of ways, most notably is Hamlet’s antic disposition. Throughout Hamlet, Ophelia is also used to deceive and manipulate others. Lastly, Laertes’ and Hamlet’s duel aims to trap Hamlet. Shakespeare’s use of these themes helps to highlight the impact of deception and entrapment within Hamlet. One of the greatest examples of entrapment in Hamlet is the mousetrap play; Hamlet uses the play to confirm what he suspects. Before the play starts, Hamlet has the

The best example of deception is Hamlet’s antic disposition fooling most characters throughout the play. By fooling everyone Hamlet could accomplish a great deal more with ease without Claudius suspecting any of his deeds. After ghost of Hamlet’s father tells him of Claudius’s heinous deed he uses this madness to avenge him as wells as save Denmark from him. To do this Hamlet had to deceive almost the entirety of the kingdom to plot his revenge against Claudius. This makes deception the most important theme in Hamlet. While Claudius is busy speculating the origin of this madness Hamlet was covertly planning the mousetrap play. Which only worked because Claudius wasn’t expecting it. Without deception there was a good chance that Claudius would realize that Hamlet learned of the murder and was actively plotting how to prove to his mother and the kingdom that he killed Hamlet’s father. When Hamlet feigned madness it also had an unexpected effect on Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, many people were speculating on the source of his madness and this led them to underestimate him. Rosencrantz and Guildenstern were two of them, on their way to England they gave Hamlet the chance to change the letter for the English monarch and bring about their own deaths. Hamlet’s deception made it possible for him to plot against Claudius without

Ophelia is a crucial character because the role she plays in setting up Hamlets antic disposition, she is used by a number of characters including her father for the sole purpose to deceive and gather information and “misjudges Ophelia’s” ability to gather accurate information due to Hamlet’s deceitful character (The World Of Hamlet 260). Hamlet is the first to use her when he sets up his antic disposition early in the play, which ignites many of the events that lead to the tragic ending of Hamlet. After Polonius speculates that Hamlet has gone mad with love for Ophelia he reports this info to the king. To confirm this, he watches their interaction in the nunnery scene. Polonius wants to prove his theory and deception is what leads him to investigate more thoroughly, believing Hamlet is truly mad with love for Ophelia he ease drops on Hamlet and Gertrude’s conversation and it ends up bringing about his death. Once again, we see that deception is the most important theme of Hamlet because it is responsible for moving the plot along through