Theme Of Lies And Deception In Hamlet

Hamlet Essay

Act 3 Scene 3 lines 36 "O, my offence is rank, it smells to the heaven”

In this scene Claudius is praying for the sins that he has committed. The word “rank” in general means something with a strong and offensive odour. However, in the play “rank” is often used throughout the play but with different meanings each time. For example in Hamlet’s first soliloquy, he describes the world as being an “unweeded garden, That grows to seed; things rank and gross in nature” (Act 1 Scene 2 lines 134-136)

It is also used when one of the players describes his poison as “Thou mixture rank, of midnight weeds collected”. It is used in other scenes and carries a lot of different but powerful meanings each time.

Therefore, the use of the word

The play is filled with corruption, lies and deception which result in tragic ends for most if not all of the main characters. It’s not just the one character though that creates all the corruptions and the deceits. For example Polonius pretends to be a loving and caring father but in reality he’s selfish, hypocritical and incredibly nosy. Rosencrantz and Guildenstern act as if they have come to comfort their “friend” Hamlet but turns out they were just spying on him and planning on killing him. They are all just as villainous as Claudius. However, the difference between Claudius and the rest of them is that he is cunning, lack morals and manipulative with his language, and unlike Hamlet, he is quick to take action. Without Claudius, there wouldn’t of been such a tragic story. Throughout the play, Claudius’ manipulative speech has been referred to as being like poison being poured into the ear, which also relates to how Claudius killed King Hamlet. Claudius uses his manipulative speech to influence the other characters to do the dirty work for him. He manipulates them to become corrupt and deceiving. For example when Laertes found out about his father’s death, Claudius confronts him and tells him it was Hamlet who killed Polonius. Claudius knows Laertes is a rash man and plans to use that to finally kill Hamlet without doing it himself. He quickly told Laertes of his plans in the hope that Laertes’ feelings were still fresh and raw, and further manipulated him by saying that if he did not avenge his father and kill Hamlet, then that was proof enough that he didn’t love his father. In doing so Claudius easily convinces Laertes to duel Hamlet. “Not that I think you did not love your father, but that I know love is begun by time, and that I see in passages of proof”(Act 4 Scene 7 lines