Examples Of Paradox In Hamlet

“Hamlet, this pearl is thine. Here’s to thy health.” Hamlet by William Shakespeare is a tragedy in which young Hamlet, Prince of Denmark is acting to get revenge for the death of his father. Throughout the play the idea of appearance hides reality is thoroughly developed. Shakespeare uses the contradictory language technique of paradox, the motif of acting and the technique of mise en abyme where there are plays within this play and dramatic irony to show us the development of the idea appearance hides reality. At the exposition of the play we instantly see the characters act as someone their not and this develops throughout the play because we begin to see the cruel consequences that come with their fake appearances, as we see when Rosencrantz and Guildenstern conceal their true intentions when they are spying on Hamlet. Through these examples we can clearly see the development of this idea because at the conclusion of the play the final statement about appearance hides reality is made.

Paradox is a language technique that Shakespeare has used to develop the idea of appearance hides reality. “I must be cruel only to be kind” is said by Hamlet in Act 3, Scene 4 which means that in order to protect the Queen from any of Claudius’s evil plans, he must first upset her by being ‘cruel’ which will lead to kindness. This relates to the

By using paradoxes, metadrama and dramatic irony the audience got an extra insight into the character's true nature and what they were really planning behind their fake appearance. This makes us query the characters external appearance because we are mindful of the reality. The characters find it is easy enough to put on a fake smile, to give the impression that their something else. “Character is like a tree and reputation its shadow. The shadow is what we think it is and the tree is the real thing.” – Abraham