Appearance Vs Reality In Hamlet Research Paper

Hamlet Comparative Essay The Theme of Appearance vs. Reality encircles William Shakespeare’s Hamlet, in the play everything appears to be truthful and accurate but in reality this is not the case. Many of the characters in Hamlet hide behind a façade there’s Polonius, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern just to name a few. But the two most important characters, Hamlet and King Claudius have the put on the biggest masks in the play. Hamlet uses the mask of madness in his appearance by using Ophelia’s rejected love and scorn to give the appearance of madness to anyone that looks at him. This is shown when Hamlet goes to Ophelia with dirty clothes, pale and looking mad:
My lord, as I was sewing in my chamber,
Lord Hamlet, with his doublet all unbraced,
No hat upon his head, his
stockings foul’d,
Ungarter’d, and down-gyved to his ancle:
Pale as his shirt, his knees knocking each other,
And with a look so piteous in purport,
As if he had been loosed out of hell
To speak of horrors, he comes before me.
(Shakespeare, Hamlet, Act II, sc I, lines 78 – 85)
But in reality Hamlet is just using Ophelia’s rejected love as a way to show people that he is insane to carry out his plan of avenging his murdered father Old King Hamlet. This is shown when the ghost (Old King Hamlet) tells Hamlet of his murderer and tells Hamlet to avenge his death. Hamlet tells the onlooker Horatio to swear that even though he may begin looking crazy that he must never tell anyone of what had happened that day:
And therefor as a stranger give it welcome.
There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio,
Than are dreamt of in your philosophy. But come,
Here, as before, never, so help you mercy,
How strange or odd soe’er I bear myself,
As I perchance hereafter shall think meet
To put an antic disposition on,
That you, at such times seeing me, never shall,
With arms encumber’d thus, or this head-shake,
(Shakespeare, Hamlet, Act I, sc V, lines 166-175)
Hamlets reality is to murder King Claudius and avenge his father’s death. He must first make an appearance of madness so King Claudius will not suspect Hamlet of plotting against him so Hamlet can have the upper hand. The second largest character in Hamlet is King Claudius. King Claudius realizes that what he has done to his brother to obtain the crown is wrong and in appearance wants to reconcile and repent for his wrongs. This is shown when King Claudius is in the church praying:
O, my offence is rank, it smells to heaven; It hath the Primal eldest curse upon’t,
A brother’s murder. Pray can I not,
Though inclination be as sharp as will:
My stronger guilt defeats my strong intent,
And like a man to double business bound,
I stand in pause where I shall first begin,
And both neglect. What if this cursed hand
Were thicker than itself with brother’s blood,
Is there not rain enough in the sweet heavens
To wash it white as snow? Whereto serves mercy
But to confront the visage of offence?
And what’s in prayer but this two-fold force,
To be forestalled ere we come to fall,
Or pardon’d being down? Then I’ll look up;
My fault is past. But O, what form of prayer
Can serve my turn? “Forgive me my foul murder”?
(Shakespeare, Hamlet, Act III, sc III, lines 38 – 53)
In appearance King Claudius wants to repent for what he has done, but in reality he does nothing about it and continues to reap the rewards of his crime (Being King, sleeping with his brother’s wife) and instead of repenting he tries his hardest to continue reaping the rewards when he figures out Hamlet knows what he’s done he is willing to kill his nephew.
This is shown when King Claudius sends Hamlet to England with letters to the King for Hamlet’s execution.
And England, if my love thou hold’st at aught-
As my great power thereof may give thee sense,
Since yet thy cicatrice looks raw and red
After the Danish sword, and thy free awe
Pays homage to us-thou may’st not coldly set
Our sovereign process; which imports at full,
By letters conjuring to that effect,
The present death of Hamlet. Do it, England;
For like the hectic in my blood he rages,
And thou must cure me: till I know ‘tisdone,
Howe’er my haps, my joys were ne’er begun.
(Shakespeare, Hamlet, Act IV, sc III, lines 59-69)
King Claudius gives the appearance of repentance when in reality does not want to repent but just to reap the rewards of his crime and he will do anything and kill anyone that gets in his
way. Hamlet’s appearance of madness had aided him in achieving his goal of avenging his father’s murderer by using his appearance. This is shown at the end of the play when Hamlet stabs King Claudius and forces him to drink the poisoned cup:
The point envenom’d too!
Then, venom, to thy work.
(Shakespeare, Hamlet, Act V, sc II, lines 314-315)
Here, thou incestuous, murderous, damned Dane,
Drink off this potion. Is thy union here?
Follow my mother.
(Shakespeare, Hamlet, Act V, sc II, lines 318-320)
While King Claudius’ appearance of repentance did not aid him in achieving his goal and reality of keeping his Kingship and wife because his own treachery was his undoing, his wife, his nephew and his acquaintance were slain by his own treachery and it backfired on him because then the same treachery he used was used on him, killing him in the end. The theme of Appearance vs. Reality was very apparent in Hamlet through the actions of King Claudius and Hamlet, Hamlet had the appearance of madness with the reality of being sane and King Claudius had the appearance of repentance but reality of doing whatever he could to keep his rewards of his crime. Both tried to use their appearances to their advantage but only one succeeded, Hamlet.