well, for the matter of fact all i had to do was make this up and it worked.... i hope. a central motif in the play is trickery or deceit, whether for good or evil purposes. counterfeiting, or concealing one's true feelings, is part of this motif. everyone seems to lie; good characters as well as evil ones engage in deceit as they attempt to conceal their feelings: beatrice and benedick mask their feelings for one another with bitter insults; don john spies on claudio and hero; don pedro and his 'crew' deceive benedick and beatrice. who hides and what is hidden?
But he does. While Hamlet slowly is driven mad by visits from the ghost of his father and the scheming plots of his uncle Claudius, the one thing that actually keeps Hamlet focused and centered are his feelings for Ophelia. Hamlet’s seemingly unreasonable actions and questionable motives toward her are all part of a ruse to fool everybody at court and actually protect her from being used as leverage by the murderous King Claudius. There are several moments where Hamlet professes his love for Ophelia in moments where he didn’t have to, which in my opinion point to where his heart really lies. Let’s explore the moments within the text where Hamlet actually used his smarts to trick the other conniving characters into thinking that he didn’t love Ophelia and was going insane instead.
Following the revelation from the Ghost, Hamlet assumes an “antic disposition”, in order to distract those surrounding him from his suspicious behaviour. This in itself is a lie to the people around him, who, before being told otherwise, are convinced of his madness. “My uncle-father and aunt-mother are deceived”. Despite being only “mad in craft”, Hamlet’s madness becomes a cover up for his rash actions, and becomes a means for Gertrude to protect her
Similarly in The Duchess of Malfi, when the Duchess’ attempt to deceive her brothers and conceal her marriage leads to her death. However self-deception is also a recurrent theme in both of the plays, in Othello, it can be argued that Othello’s self- deception proves just as destructive as Iago’s, as by deceiving himself of his true nature and labelling himself as “one not easily jealous,” he continually supresses his feelings of inner turmoil until he breaks under the influence of Iago. F R Leavis agreed with this stating, “The mind that undoes [Othello] is not Iago’s but his own.” The role of deception would be nowhere near as essential to the play without the influence of Iago; described by AC Bradley as the “artist of evil” his ruthless manipulation of the other characters in the play ensures not only the destruction of Othello, but his own. Self- deception plays a crucial role within Othello and The Duchess of Malfi; it allows the audience to see further into the characters personality and gain a deeper understanding of them as a character. Othello himself is the most palpable example of self- deception within the plays as from when the audience is first introduced to him in Act One Scene Two, he believes
Orgon is able to finally see Tartuffe’s lies and hypocrisy, but it is too late as Tartuffe has accused Orgon of wrongdoings to the King. Yet in the end, justice prevails as the King decides to punish Tartuffe instead of Orgon. It is as the King says, “he sees into our inmost hearts/And can't be fooled by any trickster's arts.” The King recognizes that Tartuffe is a liar and schemer
Upon Malvolio’s entrance in Act II Scene V, Sir Toby states “here’s an overweening rogue!” (Act 2, scene 5, line 27) after plotting with Fabian and Maria to punish Malvolio, referring to him as a “little villain” (Act 2, scene 5, line 12). Upon his entrance in the scene, Malvolio states his ambitions for nobility, “To be Count Malvolio!’ (Act 2, scene 5, line 32) to the group. The disdain the other characters have for Malvolio throughout the play is only met with vanity, hubris and patronizing comments on Malvolio’s part, doing very little to conjure any remorse for the character following his downfall later in the play. Malvolio opposes the fun and festivities of the “Twelfth Night” and chastises the characters in the play several times for their celebrations. Malvolio questions their actions in the form of patronizing dialogue by asking “My masters,
Prospero’s daughter, Miranda, even “pitied thee” (Act 1.2 lines 353) and thought Caliban English. Prospero bluntly states his change of heart, “[I] lodged thee in mine own cell till thou didst seek to violate the honor of my child” (Act 1.2 line 346-348). When Caliban is to rebut Prosperos claim he only makes a fool of himself in the process; “Thou didst prevent me” (Act 1.2 lines 350). Caliban simply blames Prospero for his attempt
The hearers to collection. They aim at it, And botch the words up to fit to their own thoughts,”(Shakespeare, 4.5.5-10). Ophelia is set free by the death of her father. She is exposed to the realization of truth; she is only able to express the truth through the imaginative language and she is perceived to be insane. Since she is exposed to the truth—it is fair to say she is the sane minority standing out against the insane illusion of the mob within the play.
However, it was unfair of Lenoato to make Claudio believe he had to spend the rest of his life with a complete stranger. In a way, Leonato got his revenge on Claudio for shaming him and his daughter. In Much Ado About Nothing, the point that Shakespeare seems to be making is that deception is not necessarily evil, but can be used to create pleasurable outcomes. The tricks themselves do not hold any moral values. People use tricks to get want they want, therefore it is the quality of the individual waho uses trickery that determines the type of outcome.
—To keep us from sinning and to bring us to forgiveness when we have sinned 2. “In the corrupted currents of this world And oft 'tis seen the wicked prize itself Buys out the law. But 'tis not so above There is no shuffling. There the action lies In his true nature, and we ourselves compelled Even to the teeth and forehead of our faults To give in evidence (158-165)”. Claudius Claudius is saying that in this crazy world, convicts take things they stole and use them to buy off the law, pushing justice aside.