The Theme of Appearance vs. Reality in William Shakespeare's Works Characters within one of William Shakespeare's greatest tragic plays,
Hamlet, appear to be true and honest but in reality are infested with
many falsehoods and deceptions. Characters such as Polonius, Claudius,
and Hamlet give an impression of a person who is sincere and genuine,
but behind their masks are plagued with lies and evil. As a result of
Shakespeare's ingenious character development, there is a dominant and
overwhelming theme that is concurrent throughout the play. The theme
of appearance versus reality engages the reader to overlook apparent
behavioural fallacies of the character to achieve a greater sense of
understanding of the decisions made by that character.
Polonius, the King's royal assistant, has a preoccupation with
appearance. He always wants to keep up the appearance of a loving and
caring person, which is evident through his love and care of his son,
Laertes. Polonius speaks to his son with advice that sounds sincere
but in reality it is rehearsed, hollow and without feeling (Author,
Page Number). Polonius gives his advice only to appear to be the
loving, caring father. For example, Polonius gives Laertes his
blessing to go away, only to have a spy follow him and keep an eye on
him. This shows his lack of trust for anyone; he gives the appearance
of a confident father who trusts his son to go off on his own but
actually lies about his trust for his son by sending a spy to watch
him. Furthermore, Polonius displays traits of hypocrisy and
insincerity. In his speech to Laertes i...
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...ing words that demeaned her existence.
More importantly, the comparison provides the reader with a clear,
focused picture of the two different personality types of Hamlet. On
one side, Hamlet is crude and full of deceptions, on the contrarily he
is also a loving and understanding person.
Through the characters in the play, the superficial theme, appearance
verses reality, is analyzed. Polonius, Claudius and Hamlet all appear
to be good and honest, but internally all contain lies and have hidden
intentions within them. The characters portray themselves as one
person on the outside and a different one on the inside, infesting
themselves with deception and falsehood. By continually wearing these
masks, the characters have created an environment of confusion and
disorder, ultimately resulting in a tragedy - their demise.
Timothy Findley and Shakespeare use the theme of appearance versus reality in their texts: The Wars and King Lear. Characters in the novel and the play: Robert, Goneril, and Regan, intentionally appear to be something they are not in order to achieve a goal. However, they differ in where it leads them by the end, as in King Lear the characters die, unlike in The Wars where Robert cannot escape his true self and goes back to follow his personal morality.
Schlegel, August Wilhelm. Criticism on Shakespeare s Tragedies . A Course of Lectures on Dramatic Art and Literature. London: AMS Press, Inc., 1965.
Hazlitt, William. "Characters of Shakespeare's Plays: Hamlet." Essays in Criticism. Second ed. Ed. Cyrus Hoy. New York: Norton, 1992. 164-169.
Spurgeon, Caroline. “Shakespeare’s Imagery and What it Tells Us.” Shakespearean Tragedy. Ed. D. F. Bratchell. New York: Routledge, 1990.
William Shakespeare is widely known for his ability to take a sad story, illustrate it with words, and make it a tragedy. Usually human beings include certain discrepancies in their personalities that can at times find them in undesirable or difficult situations. However, those that are exemplified in Shakespeare’s tragedies include “character flaws” which are so destructive that they eventually cause their downfall. For example, Prince Hamlet, of Shakespeare’s tragedy play “Hamlet,” is seemingly horrified by what the ghost of his father clarifies concerning his death. Yet the actions executed by Hamlet following this revelation do not appear to coincide with the disgust he expresses immediately after the ghost alerts him of the true cause of his death. Thus, it is apparent that the instilled self doubt of Prince Hamlet is as the wand that Shakespeare uses to transform an otherwise sad story to an unfortunate tragedy.
William Shakespeare’s dramatic and poetic techniques and his use of hyperbole are used to describe the characters emotions and weaknesses. The use of dramatic irony is used to create personal conflict. This is done throughout the play to describe the characters concerns and their situations.
Hamlet is Shakespeare’s most famous tragedy, which contains and portrays many themes in outstanding ways. Throughout this play, the title character, Hamlet, is obsessed with trapping a culprit and bringing him to justice. (Hamlet, 15) Sorting fact from fiction and appearance from reality is a major theme of the play. Appearance vs. Reality encircles throughout the play and remains constant. It’s about those characters that play their roles behind the veil of duplicity. Within the play, everything appears to be true and accurate, but in reality it’s vice-versa. (Hamlet- Appearance vs. Reality) In this play, Appearance vs. Reality is dealt with by many characters. The way Shakespeare used this theme in Hamlet is not only interesting, but quite astonishing in the way it affects the play in general, but the ending tremendously.
In the written text, Shakespeare emphasis's the hidden reality through the use of dramatic techniques of imagery and symbolism. There is a constant use of light and dark imagery which is used by the protagonist , MAC...
I agree with the statement that Polonius, adviser in the court of King Claudius of Denmark, is a good father who desires what is best for his children. Although he may be a fussy and overcautious old man, Polonius constantly gives good advice and his best wishes to both his children, Laertes and Ophelia.
Throughout A Midsummer Night’s Dream by William Shakespeare, there are multiple analyses that one can follow in order to reach a conclusion about the overall meaning of the play. These conclusions are reached through analyzing the play’s setting, characterization, and tone. However, when one watches the production A Midsummer Night’s Dream directed by Michael Hoffman, a completely different approach is taken on these aspects, leading to a vastly different analysis of the work. Though there are many similarities between the original written play A Midsummer Night’s Dream by William Shakespeare and the on-screen production of the aforementioned play which was directed by Michael Hoffman, there are differences in setting and
In this speech, Shakespeare targeted his Elizabethan audience through allusions to the Great Chain of Being, which governed their society, with the intent of influencing the themes that his audience interpreted. Targeting the audience with that aspect of their lives had the effect of developing Hamlet’s underlying themes: the frailty of man, appearance versus reality, and the uncertainty of death.
The façades that the individual characters assume are all essential to the complex deception and insanity that follow. Shakespeare's characters, it would seem, all have `multi-faceted' personalities (with the exception of Horatio). The true thoughts of these characters are seen only as asides, soliloquies or, in Hamlet's case, through the manipulation of language.
“A Midsummer Night’s Dream” begins as many typical romantic stories. Two people are in love; in this case, Hermia and Lysander. But an obstacle stands in their way; in this case, Hermia’s father who wants Hermia to marry Demetrius. However, this is where this play begins to differ from all others. Shakespeare leads four crossed lovers, Hermia, Helena, Demetrius, and Lysander, through a winding path that somehow magically ends with everyone happily getting married. The pivotal aspect of this play is Shakespeare’s development of the different characters. In the drama enactment; a character’s appearance, personality, and character are used together to help unfold the story. Characters convey many different kinds of information through an art form called characterization. In the play, “A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” William Shakespeare does an exceptional job of describing each of the four young lovers. Each one of the characters was given personality, whether distinct or vague, that set them apart from the other characters in the play. Through the actions of the different antagonists, Shakespeare reveals to the audience the different and distinct aspects of each character, including each character’s physical appearances, personality, and specific traits. One aspect that causes the four characters to differ is their physical appearance. While the author Shakespeare makes the appearance of Lysander and Demetrius having virtually indistinguishable physical and monetary figures, he comparatively makes the appearances of Hermia and Helena quite distinguishable, their names being the only thing that is remotely being similar between the two of them. Hermia’s physical appearance is described as having “blessed and attractive eyes,” (ACT ...
the law he brought back for the sake of lust. Angelo is an immoral and
Throughout Hamlet by William Shakespeare, the theme of Appearance versus Reality stays constant. Many characters in the play appear to be honest and sincere but are really filled with deceit and mischievousness. Additionally, Hamlet the Prince of Demark displays many strong yet justified feelings and emotions. His despair, anger and melancholy are all emotions for this troubled character. In Hamlet by William Shakespeare, the word See operates in a unique way the shows both enhanced perception and insightful feeling across multiple characters.