Hamlet And Truth Essay, Research Paper

As the young prince of Denmark, Hamlet, tries to uncover the truth of his

father’s death, he has no one to turn to. Many of the characters within the play

appear to be genuine and honest but are really infested with evil. Not knowing

who is actually genuine and honest, Hamlet trusts no one. Shakespeare develops a

theme of appearance vs. reality where Hamlet’s dedication to the truth is

stressed in contrast to the appearance which others serve. Many of the

characters seem to hide behind masks, which give the impression they are sincere

and genuine, when in reality they are plagued with lies and evil, notably

Claudius. In order for the truth to be revealed Hamlet must disguise himself and

real motives to find out what is real and what not. From the very beginning

Hamlet questions the motives of his uncle Claudius, who has just married

Gertrude, his mother the queen. As the plays goes on he finds his father was

murdered by the newly crowned king. Hamlet cannot share his feelings with his

mother because she is literally sleeping with the enemy. This is where Hamlet’s

distrust begins. He uses the expression "shows of grief?.that a man might

play.", to develop the theme of appearance vs. reality while referring to

Claudius. He realizes that Claudius is willing to do anything to stay king of

Denmark, obviously including betraying Gertrude. Gertrude believes that Claudius

loves Hamlet, when on the contrary Claudius hates him and is plotting his

murder. Hamlet knows he cannot trust the other woman in his life, Ophelia,

because she has taken the side of Claudius because of her father Polonius. There

is no real reason that Polonius has given Ophelia not to trust him because

Polonius has always given the illusion of being a loving caring father. Polonius,

however, is only interested in the appearances of things. Polonius tries to

convince Ophelia that Hamlet does not love her, only lusts after her. He cannot

conceive the fact that Hamlet really does love Ophelia. Tender yourself more

dearly, Or- not to crack the wind of the poor phase, Running it thus- you’ll

tender me a fool. He thinks only of himself and shows this. He is more

interested in his public image then his daughters welfare. Polonius’ mentality

is shown through his son. His greatness weigh’d, his will is no his own; For he

himself is subject to his birth. He may not as unvalued persons do, Carve for

himself, for on his choice depends The sanity and health of the whole state

Laertes refers to Hamlet as not being a private person but a public one.

Whatever he does has public concern. Ophelia’s family is anti-Hamlet which makes

Ophelia biased and makes Hamlet not able to fully trust her. The ghost is

something else that Hamlet is not sure that he can trust. Hamlet’s has doubts

about the nature of the ghost. Hamlet realizes that if he merely ups and kills

Claudius and avenges the death of his father the ghost, he would definitely have

been tried and put to death. This would leave the people with no king, and a war

would probably break out.