Appearence vs. Reality in William Shakespeare's Hamlet

Appearance vs. Reality

In Shakespeare’s tragedy, Hamlet, there is a dominant and overwhelming theme that is concurrent throughout the play. Throughout the play, all the characters appear as one thing on the outside, yet on the inside they are completely different. The theme of appearance versus reality surrounds Hamlet due to the fact that the characters portray themselves as one person on the outside, and one different on the inside. In the play, Claudius, Hamlet’s uncle, appears to be kind, gentle, and caring on the outside, but in actual fact, he uses his loving behavior as a mask to cover up the fact that he is a selfish, mean, and cold murderer. The women in Hamlet appear to live happy and wonderful lives on the outside, but their happiness is used to cover up the corruptness of their lives on the inside. And finally Hamlet appears to be mad and insane, but really he is using his madness as a veil to hide his secretive quest to seek the truth behind his father’s death.

Appearance versus reality is coexistent theme that develops as the Danish kingdom gets engulfed in a web of a deception, corruption and lies.

Hamlet is filled with characters covering up their true intentions with a whole other person, whom appears to be innocent. One character, that used deception to cover up their true intention, was Claudius. Claudius, Hamlet’s uncle, is a very deceptive and cruel person. Claudius killed his brother, which was Hamlet’s father and then married his brother’s wife in order to become the new king of Denmark. No one knew that Claudius committed the murder so he did not receive any punishments for his actions. Claudius was forced to put on an angel-like appearance that transformed him from a cold murderer to the perfect king. This illusion that

Claudius puts on ensures that his secret is kept hidden. Under the illusion, Claudius is no longer a mean, and selfish guy, instead he appears in all aspects to be the perfect gentlemen. Claudius exemplifies the appearance versus reality theme, by the fact that appears to be kind and gentle, but in actual fact he is using his kindness and gentleness as a cloak to cover up the malicious murder that he so violently committed. Claudius through out the play feels guilt for action, and thus tries to repent for his sin in, (3.3.55-56) by praying. In ...

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... threatens her, and forces her to see give into his ways. Hamlet sits his mother down in her bed and tells her, “This is your husband. Look now what follows…”(3.4.73) Hamlet tells his mother that her husband Claudius is a murderer and that she should have not married him because he is no good. As I see it, when Hamlet is telling his mother the bad things about her husband, he is not polite and sincere about it at all. He is yelling and screaming at her. This rash behavior is not madness- it is Hamlet. This is one of the few occasions where Hamlet expresses his true feelings without the use of deception.

Hamlet is filled with many falsehoods and deceptions. It seems like no one in the play can express what their true motives are. Deceptive illusions are used frequently in Hamlet to provide protection from the destructive force of truth. All the characters are corrupt, are thus rely on deception to get what they want. The only non-corrupt characters in Hamlet seem to be the gravedigger and his assistant. With the exception of a few characters, the theme of appearance versus reality is the fundamental basis for all actions of the characters in the play.