Deception in Hamlet :: essays research papers

Deception is a recurring theme in Hamlet. In a tale of murder, love, and politics, fraud could have no to a greater extent fitting place. The lies and pretensions interweave each other, and there is no character remaining out of this web. All the central characters have their secrets to hide and mistruths to spread, and this is central to the spot and its progression. King Claudius deceives all those around him with his mourning and celebrating demeanor, and his strange celebration and waking. He seems to grieve for the brother that he slew, and works to console all others that whitethorn or may not grieve for his brothers death, much(prenominal) as his nephew and step-son Hamlet. His pretense is great, and forces Hamlet to investigate the truth of the ghosts tale, unraveling the mystery of his fathers death and others involvement.Prince Hamlet has perhaps the roughly devious series of deceptions in the tragedy. He feints madness, in order to breach up the minds of those he se eks to learn information from, by putting them despatch their guard. Hamlet also sets in motion a plan to resonate his uncles guilt in the murder of his father through a play within a play within a play, capably named The Mousetrap. His clever pretension also leads Polonius astray in his presumption as to the cause of Hamlets supposed strange manner and Ophelia to recollect that his love for her has gone with his sanity. Ophelia is also key in the theme of deception in the play. However, she is more so privy to the intentions of others to deceive than to her own. Her lies are moreover a sense of self-preservation in a world dominated by men. She deceives Hamlet on her feelings for him at the behest of her father, Polonius, in his scheme to determine the legitimate cause of Hamlets strange behavior. Ophelia in turn is real herself deceived by Hamlets scheme to feint madness. Essentially she is the channeling of Polonius maculation of political investigation, and as used as sh e may be by all sides, she is not seriously affected by it towards the end of mould III, other than through the death of her oppressive father.