Madness is a vital plot element in William Shakespeare’s Hamlet. Both young Hamlet and his love Ophelia appear mad throughout the play’s duration, but only Ophelia has a genuine affliction of insanity. Although stricken with grief by his father’s death and the clamorous events that follow, Hamlet does not become truly mad because he is still able to distinguish right form wrong and maneuver logically in his plan to avenge his murdered father. Shakespeare surreptitiously places revelations of Hamlet’s sanity throughout the play. Though his planned maneuver to murder his uncle Claudius, the contrast between his feigned madness and Ophelia’s true madness, and his ability change behavior around different characters that possess his trust, Hamlet’s true, rational condition emerges from beneath his veil of insanity.
He then comes up with a plan to have the actors put on a play that is similar to the Murder of King Hamlet. Hamlet assumes that if Claudius has a reaction towards the play, he is guilty. This soliloquy is important because it reveals that Hamlet believes that he is dull spirited, it also points out that Hamlet is frustrated at himself for not having killed Claudius yet. All Hamlet is thinking about for the duration of this soliloquy is Claudius, and how he killed King Hamlet. Toward the end, Hamlet comes up with an idea to know if Claudius is guilty.
Hamlet increasingly gets angrier and angrier with himself as he keeps talking, and his anger turns to Claudius. Hamlet is now angry and self-loathing. He calls himself a “scullion” which means the lowest of the servants. He tells his brain to start working and gets an idea: to watch Claudius’ reaction to the modified version of The Mousetrap to confirm or deny his guilt about the King’s murder, which is the fourth part of Hamlet’s soliloquy. In the soliloquy, Hamlet is at first upset with himself about finding ways to avoid avenging his Father’s murder, like his spirit in ghost form told him to.
As we progress through his soliloquys in the play we see changes in Hamlet’s emotions and feelings towards what he eventually wants to do. By the third soliloquy we have found out about Hamlet’s fathers ghost and that Claudius was the one who killed him. Hamlet is angered by this and assures that he will only think of getting revenge on Claudius. Later he realizes that he should stop procrastinating and hurry up and avenge his father, but he doesn’t have the courage to do it. Hamlet also expresses the possibilities that the ghost could have been the devil.
King Claudius is determined to discover an alternative motive to Hamlet’s madness besides depression. When Hamlet meets up with his school buddies, they inform him that the players are coming, so Hamlet organizes a plan to catch the King and know if he is the one who killed his father. This starts Hamlets deception, but his actions are to figure out if King Claudius is the foul in the flock. Although eavesdropping may not be present here, Hamlet is more or less eavesdropping on the reaction of Claudius’s face. His reaction to the play will be
Why Does Hamlet Delay? For centuries William Shakespeare’s tragedy Hamlet has been under much analysis. In the play, the ghost of Hamlet’s father comes to him saying that he was murdered. Hamlet is surprised to also find out that his uncle Claudius is the murderer of his father. Hamlet’s father tells him that he must get revenge on his uncle for him; he wants Hamlet to kill Claudius.
The most significant character who uses acting to hide the truth for his own benefit is Claudius. His insincerity is established at the beginning of the play, when he addresses the citizens of Elsinore about the death of King Hamlet. He opens with “Though yet of Hamlet our dear brother’s death/The memory be green” (I.2.1-2), which seems an odd beginning to his speech, as it expresses the idea of death in terms of greenery and growth. The play has barely begun, yet Claudius is already acting—he is making something happy of something that is unquestionably tragic. He continues, “it us befitted/To bear our hearts in grief, and our whole kingdom/To be contracted in one brow of woe” (I.2.2-4), which prompts the city to grieve for the late king.
Maya Bishop Ms. J. Yurick ENG 4U November 6, 2012 Shakespeare’s Hamlet: Appearance versus Reality In Shakespeare’s Hamlet, Hamlet gradually uncovers the truth about his father’s recent murder. The difference between what seems to be and what actually is, forms the theme of appearance versus reality. Things within the play appear to be true and honest but in reality are infested with lies and ulterior motives. Many of the characters hide behind a mask of falseness. Hamlet, Claudius, and Gertrude all put up a facade in an attempt to get what they want, and these characters play their roles behind a veil of duplicity.
Appearance vs. Reality in Hamlet In Shakespeare’s play Hamlet, a young prince is confronted by his father’s ghost and is instructed to avenge his murder. Hamlet must uncover the truth of his father’s murder and devise a plan for revenge against his uncle, the king. This is impeded by Hamlet’s doubt, depression and the untrustworthy people surrounding the prince throughout the play. Appearance and reality are juxtaposed throughout the play as the characters hide their malignant intentions behind false behaviors.
In the events leading up to his demise, Laertes is corrupted by Claudius and his evil motives. He is seduced by Claudius, and since Laertes is a man of action, he is manipulated into seeking revenge against Hamlet. Claudius convinces him that Hamlet is behind the death of both his father and sister and his rage gets the best of him. “He is justly served./It is a poison tempered by himself./ Exchange forgiveness with me, noble Hamlet./ Mine and my father’s death come not upon thee,/ Nor thine on me.”