Hamlet: Illusion vs. Reality

Illusion Versus Reality In Shakespeare’s famous tragedy Hamlet there is a dominant and overwhelming theme that is amplified throughout the entire play. Things are not always what they seem. Many of Shakespeare’s most complex characters hide behind multiple masks of lies and deceit. The American Heritage Student Dictionary defines illusion as “an unreal or misleading appearance or image” and reality as “the state of things as they actually exist”. The focus of this essay is the struggle between illusion and reality in Hamlet. The theme of illusion versus reality outlines the great play due to the fact that various characters portray themselves as different people on the outside than they really are on the inside. Because illusions and appearances portrayed by Claudius, Ophelia, Polonius, and Hamlet are so easily misinterpreted as reality, the characters and readers of Hamlet must constantly strive to distinguish between what is real and what is an illusion. Claudius is rarely honest with any character in the play, including himself. He manipulates everyone around him in order to achieve his own wants and wishes. Claudius first wears a mask of grave sorrow for the abrupt death of a king. This is right before he marries the king’s widow in order to obtain the throne. He also lives in an illusion of love for an inherited son. He tells Hamlet that he is the next in line for the kinghood. He is also very kind to Hamlet despite rude comments Hamlet directs towards his uncle. This is an enormous illusion. The reality is Claudius feels threatened by Hamlet and worries from the start that Hamlet may be aware of the circumstances of his father's untimely death. Claudius eventually finds himself in an internal struggle between illusion and reality; he realizes that he must separate his own deceptive actions from his true feelings. After pretending to be sorry for so long, he tries to pray, "O, my offence is rank, it smells to heaven; It hath the

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