Deception and representation in Hamlet

One of Hamlet’s most important themes is deception. It has an effect on all of the characters in the play in some way. Shakespeare shows how dishonesty has a negative impact on family loyalty and partnerships in Hamlet. The web of lies that surrounds the characters is what shatters their relationships. Characters in the play lose their lives as a result of the lies they tell. Furthermore, the new king, Claudius, constantly deceives the people around him and pays dearly for it as circumstances turn against him in the end. Deception can get practiced on others, or it can be self-inflicted in the sense that a person may convince himself/herself that something is the way they want it to be when they know that that is not the case. At some point in the play, deception becomes the foundation of the play.

Hamlet is suspicious of Claudius actions and uses deception to gather evidence against him (Claudius). He (Hamlet) reveals his plan of feigning insanity to Horatio. By pretending to be mad, he manages to draw attention from himself as he had also engaged in suspicious activities which were meant to avenge his father’s death. Hamlet puts on a play with the intention of catching Claudius in fault. To ensure this he stages the murder of Gonzago. This is an art of trickery since while everybody else thinks that the play is meant to entertain it is meant to expose Claudius errors (Shakespeare, William)

Claudius also uses deception when he wants to get rid of Hamlet. He lies to Rosencrantz and Guildenstern that Hamlet who is believed to be lunatic has to leave Denmark to ensure public safety of the people of Denmark. The truth is that Claudius has arranged for Hamlet to get assassinated once he gets to England. All the while Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are carrying Hamlet’s death warrant on the England bound ship. Hamlet, however, proves to be very cautious and cunning as he discovers Claudius plans before they get to England. He changes his name to the names of his naive voyage companions. As a result, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are led by Hamlet to their deaths as they get executed in his place. By so doing Hamlet ruthlessly deceive the two who are killed and Horatio is disappointed and shocked by these actions. He wonders what kind of King Hamlet is to lead innocent people to their death. In this case, although he was trying to protect himself Hamlet is represented as a ruthless and self-serving man who only cares about himself which are not qualities of a king (Mabillard, Amanda)

Self-deception is also present in the play. Hamlet knows that for him to rule comfortably, he has to kill Claudius. However, he is reluctant in murdering Claudius because he continuously finds reasons for not killing him. For instance, Hamlet tries to convince himself that the ghost that had appeared to him may not be real or maybe the devil and hence killing Claudius would be wrong. He is represented by a perfect opportunity to kill Claudius in his chambers when he catches him praying. Instead of taking advantage of the chance that presents itself he convinces himself that murdering Claudius while he was playing would guarantee that Claudius went to heaven. This deception proves very harmful for Hamlet as Claudius ends up becoming king in his place (Shakespeare, William).

Polonius, Ophelia’s brother, is also very deceitful in the play. He often reprimands his sister about her relationship with Hamlet. He and their father do not want Ophelia to marry Hamlet, and thus they deceive her that Hamlet only wanted to marry her for sex and not out of love. The rejection that Hamlet gets from Ophelia is so heartbreaking since he is apparently in love with her and is prompted to say that she should get put in a nunnery. Hamlet even goes to the extent of telling Ophelia that he had never loved her when this wasn’t the case. Ophelia seems to follow whatever her brother says even when she knows it is not the right thing to do. In this case, she brings out the representation that women are beings who are not capable of making their own independent decisions and have to rely on what men tell them. To determine whether or not Hamlet is behaving irrationally due to the afflictions of his love to Ophelia, Polonius arranges for Hamlet to meet Ophelia by accident. He prompts Ophelia to read a prayer book so that Hamlet may think she is just meditating and this is an act of deception (Mabillard, Amanda). It is out of Polonius deceit that the relationship between Hamlet and Ophelia breaks and the sister ends up mad.

Hamlet also deceives his mother into thinking that he wanted to hurt her. When he meets his mother, Gertrude, in her closet he acts in a way to suggest that he was going to harm her. His mother gets convinced that her son wanted to hurt her, but this isn’t the case since Hamlet has no intention of being brutal physically to his mother. While Hamlet and Gertrude are speaking Polonius hides in the arrays to eavesdrop on their conversation, and this deception costs him his life since Hamlet kills him thinking that he was Claudius (Mabillard, Amanda). Hamlet also presents women as people who need men for their survival. He uses his mother as an example by saying that it had only been two hours since his father had died and his mother had already married his uncle.

Deception and representation are present throughout the play. A lot of drama arises out of the lies that get told. To revenge his father Hamlet pretends to be mad. However, out of his need for revenge he loses the love of his life Ophelia since Ophelia’s brother, Polonius is on Claudius side and uses deception to separate Hamlet from Ophelia. In the journey to revenge Hamlet kills Polonius by mistake and ends up leaving Denmark to escape the consequences of murder and hence Claudius becomes king in his place. All the characters are deceptive in one way or another, and the results of their dishonesties are harmful, and people lose lives out of the fraud. Had each of them being honest then things would have turned out differently, and lives would have gotten spared. For this reason, it is very important that people remain honest in their endeavors.

Works cited

Shakespeare, William. “Hamlet.” Shakespeare online. N.p.,2010. Web 6 Dec 2017. .

Mabillard, Amanda. Deception in Shakespeare’s Hamlet. Shakespeare Online. Web 6 Dec 2017. < http://www.shakespeare-online.com/playanalysis/deceptioninhamlet.html“ >

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