In the play Hamlet acts mad. He is not crazy however but is merely pretending to be. Before he begins this act he tells Horatio and Marcellus what he is about to do. Polonius notices that there is too much sense in Hamlets charade for him to be truly crazy. Hamlet makes sure his uncle is guilty of murder before enacting his revenge.
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.
Iago feels that the best way to do so is by manipulating Othello telling him that his wife is cheating on him with Cassio, who Iago coincidently hates as well. Iago reveals, “That thinks men honest that but seem to be so, and will as tenderly be led by the nose as asses are. I have ‘t. it is sengender’d. Hell and night must bring this monstrous birth to the worlds light” (Shakespeare 1.
One example of his impulsivity would be when Romeo interferes with the fighting between Tybalt and Mercutio. Another impulsive decision was when he commits suicide. He does not check to see if Juliet is dead before he kills himself. Romeo is also mischevious. He sneaks into the ball and if he would not have been in the Capulet’s house, he would have never met Juliet.
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
Romeo managed to swear his love for two women - Rosaline and Juliet - in one night, which only proves how impetuous he is. However love is not the only emotion that causes Romeo to make groundless decisions. When Mercutio tries to pick a fight with Tybalt, Romeo, trying to soothe the fight, interferes, and in result, Mercutio gets killed under his arm. While dying, Mercutio says "Why the devil came you between us? I was hurt under your arm" (3.1.105-106).
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,
He was caught and defined as one of the conspirators. Where plebeians found him to be a conspirator not a writer who he admitted he was. His Flaw was saying his name after he was mentioned to be one of the conspirators and he gets taken away by the plebeians. “” I am Cinna the poet not cinna the conspirator””. (3.3 29+32) The fatal flaw of the third conspirator, Cassius is that he is scared of what will happen to him after he murdered Caesar.
William Shakespeare’s play Othello, shows how a respected general ultimately reaches his dark fate through manipulation and lies. Due to some carefully concocted lies by Iago, and some obvious tragic flaws, Othello lets jealousy get the best of him. As the play progresses, evil Iago’s plan seems to fall right into place, leading Othello, and other innocent lives around him to death. In the beginning, Othello is very much in love with Desdemona and has no reason to distrust her. He speaks to her in a loving and excited manner stating “It gives me wonder great as my content/to see you here before me.