Appearance vs. Reality
Daniel Webster once stated, "The world is governed more by appearances than realities, so that it is fully as necessary to seem to know something as to know it." In other words, much of what goes on in the world is due to what people think rather than what actually is; therefore, the only thing one must do is present himself in the way he wants others to believe he truly is. The play Hamlet by William Shakespeare best exemplifies this quote by the use of various literary devices, including characterization, symbols, and soliloquies. The play makes several references to how things appear versus the truth. Through Shakespeare's in depth development of the theme of appearance vs. reality, nearly everything in the tragedy must be questioned at some point due to the uncertainty of appearances. Firstly, the theme of appearance vs. reality is established at the very beginning of the play when the dead King appears to have been bitten by a snake. In reality, he has been poisoned. Also, early in the play, the Ghost appears as an apparition from hell, but he is actually there to serve a purpose. He is in truth revealing the facts to Hamlet about the reality of his father's death as well as foreshadowing the death and destruction i
Shakespeare uses a soliloquy by the young Hamlet in Act I, scene ii to portray these dreadful feelings of hatred towards his mother. reality has always been a favorite of Shakespeare, but it seems that in Hamlet particularly he has been able to develop the theme well beyond any other works. They are to represent Gertrude, King Hamlet, and Claudius in their murder as well as betrayal scenes. This feigning of insanity for Hamlet has caused him to become a dynamic character in the play, slowly becoming mad himself as well as later driving Ophelia mad, causing her death. The most obvious, and perhaps the cleverest, symbol of appearance vs. Furthermore, at his current state, he did not have much to lose, being on the verge of suicide. In Act I, scene ii, Claudius in the presence of council shows his true skill and ease of manner at speaking. Also, the appearances of Claudius in the beginning made it very difficult for Hamlet to uncover the truth, making him doubt what the ghost had revealed to him. At this point it is unsure whether Hamlet is truly beginning to go insane or not. Naturally when Hamlet finds out from his father's ghost that his uncle was the King's murderer, his life again has purpose. Through the use of Polonius's aside in Act II, scene ii "How pregnant sometimes his replies are!" the reader is able to see that Hamlet has begun his "crafty madness. Another way in which appearance vs. Through his punning though, Hamlet reveals his tormented state to the reader. What is genuinely "real?" What is mere "appearance," and not real? To these questions, we may never find answers. "Though yet of Hamlet our dear brother's death the memory be green, and that it us befitted to bear our hearts in grief, and our whole kingdom to be contracted in one brow of woe.
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