Worship, Passion, and Normalcy in “Equus”

Miles Singer
AP English 12
4 March 2014
“Hamlet”, an Analysis of Treachery The play “Hamlet” by William Shakespeare features an array of tragic deaths steaming from various acts of treachery. Shakespeare sets up situations destined to fail for his characters to show how treachery will always backfire in the end. The deaths of characters such as Polonius, Laertes, and Claudius all contribute to Shakespeare’s claim that duplicity will fail.
Shakespeare’s portrayal of the death of Polonius is a clear example of how acting treacherously will ultimately backfire. Throughout “Hamlet” Polonius acts as a loyal servant of the king, and constantly does his bidding no matter what it entails. Polonius is never portrayed as a good or smart man, and constantly acts harshly toward his daughter Ophelia. In one instance Polonius is saying farewell to his son Laertes and states: “There-my blessing with thee! …This above all: to thing own self be true…Thou canst not then be false to any man. Farewell. My blessing season this in thee!”(I, iii, 57,78,80-81) Polonius speaks to his son with vigor and passionate emotion, as he truly feels sad that he is leaving and tells him to be true to himself. Only seconds after Laertes departure Polonius begins to heavily berate Ophelia on her choice of love and goes off on a rant about the corruption Hamlet and the bad choice she has made in believing his tenders.: “Affection? Pooh! You speak like a green girl.” (I, iii, 102) Polonius completely reverses his personality when speaking to Ophelia, going from encouraging and affectionate to brutally controlling. This is only one of the many instances where Polonius has revealed his malicious personality. Near the death of Polonius in act III Polonius states: “Tell him his pranks have been too broad to bear with, and that your grace hath screen’d and stood between much heat and him. I’ll sconce me even here.”(III, iv, 2-5) Polonius enters the Queen’s room only seconds before Hamlet to tell the Queen that he will hide behind a curtain to listen in on their conversation and possibly catch a confession from Hamlet about the source of his madness. Polonius is clearly acting treacherously by attempting to spy on Hamlet while he speaks to his mother. Polonius’ death shortly comes to follow: “Polonius: What, ho! Help! Hamlet: How now? A rat? Dead, for a ducat, dead! Polonius: O, I am slain!”(III, iv, 24-26) Polonius’ attempted plan to spy on Hamlet backfired immensely through Hamlet stabbing and murdering him. Shakespeare incudes this sequential and pattern-like “treacherous act follow by death” to convey his claim that a deceitful act of treachery will eventually backfire on the perpetrator. Another character affected by their treachery is Claudius. Claudius is arguably the most deceitful character in “Hamlet”, as it is shown through his various acts of betrayal and duplicity. Shakespeare portrays Claudius as the main villain in “Hamlet”, as he is the sole cause of Hamlet’s father’s death. The king shows his deceitfulness in many of his acts throughout the play, one of the worst being his corruption of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern. Claudius calls for Rosencrantz and Guildenstern to occasionally accompany Hamlet around the castle and re-spark the friendship they once shared. “I entreat you both that, being of so young days brought up with him…Some little time, so by your companies to draw him on to pleasures, and to gather so much as from occasion you may glean.” (II, ii,10-11,15-16) Claudius couldn’t care less about Hamlet making friends, but only wants to use Rosencrantz and Guildenstern as spies to report back whatever Hamlet says to him or the queen. This disregard of anyone but himself and the sneakiness of his act truly portrays the personality of the king. Toward the end of the play Claudius tries to pull off one final treacherous act that would cement him a place on the throne until he dies; the murder of Hamlet. When planning the death of Hamlet Claudius states: “When in motion you are hot and dry-as make your bouts more violent to that end-and that he calls for a drink, I’ll have prepar’d him a chalice for the nonce, whereon but sipping, if he by chance escape your venom’d stuck.” (IV, vii, 156-160) Here Claudius plans to poison a cup of wine for Hamlet to drink that will kill him where he stands. This is a clear example of Claudius’ treacherous personality as he tries to murder Hamlet like he did his father. Then chaos shortly follows: “Queen: I will, my lord; I pray you pardon me. King: It is the pois’ned cup. It is too late.” (V, ii, 266-267) Claudius’ attempt to murder Hamlet through poisoned wine backfired completely by actually killing Gertrude, the king’s one true love. Claudius’ various acts of treachery and the attempted murder of Hamlet, only to have it backfire in his face truly represents Shakespeare’s claim that treachery will always fail. Another character plagued by their treacherous acts is Laertes. Laertes is originally portrayed as a good and simple man, but is eventually overcome with grief from his father and sister’s deaths, and vows to kill the one responsible for their murders. In one instance when Laertes first hears of his father’s death he becomes mad with rage and storms the king’s castle: “King: The doors are broke. Laertes: Where is the king? Sirs, stand you all without…I thank you. Keep the door. O thou vile king, give me my father!” (IV, v, 112-116) On the instant that Laertes hears of his father’s death he rushes back to Denmark with an army to try and overthrow the entire kingdom. At first the act of trying to take the kingdom for Polonius seems noble, but in reality Laertes is in a blind rage trying to kill and slaughter anything in sight to get the truth about the murder of his father. At one point during his quarrel with the king Laertes has the point of his sword up to the king’s neck demanding justice for a crime the king was not even a part of. This act of gathering a mob the second he hears bad news clearly outlines Laertes true personality of doing whatever it takes to get his own justice. From that point on Laertes becomes a servant of the king in trying to murder Hamlet, and display’s his most treacherous act by killing Hamlet. While Laertes and Claudius are scheming up a plan, Laertes states: “I will do ‘t. And for that purpose I’ll anoint my sword. I bought a unction of a mountebank so mortal that, but dip a knife in it, where it draws blood…under the moon, can save that thing from death.” (IV, vii, 138-144) This is clearly a most treacherous act as he plans to pretend he is partaking in a fair fencing fight, yet the point of his rapier will be coated in lethal poison meant to kill Hamlet. Through Shakespeare’s claim that treachery will always backfire Laertes is given a taste of his own medicine when Hamlet stabs Laertes with his own poison-coated blade. “Laertes: Have at you now! [Laertes wounds Hamlet; then, in scuffling, they change rapiers, and Hamlet wounds Laertes]” (V, ii, 277-278) Laertes’ act of trying to deceive Hamlet and use and unfair poison-soaked blade, then falling victim to his own deception is a clear example of Shakespeare’s claim that treacherous act will always backfire in the end. “Hamlet” features an array of deaths most of which steam off their own treacherous acts backfiring in each of their faces. Polonius attempted to spy on Hamlet and his mother but was stabbed in the process. Laertes tried to extract his revenge on Hamlet by coating his blade in poison, only to be sliced with his own contraption. Claudius, guilty of many treacherous acts including the murder of King Hamlet, attempted his final scheme of poisoning Hamlet’s wine, only to have his true love Gertrude drink out of it and die. It is no coincidence that all of these characters, addicted to treacherous and deception, were eventually punished in the highest degree by their own acts. These deaths all backup Shakespeare’s claim that treachery will always backfire in the end.