Hamlet's Deciet

Hamlet's Deceit

In the play hamlet we see hamlet, a man stuck in a deceitful world. The spies, everybody but Hamlet, need deceit and treachery to live, and without it they would perish. Polonius, perhaps the most underhanded member of the play lives and dies while spying, literally. Other characters spy also to better themselves to certain individual to advance their social status. We see Hamlet, the one honest man left in the bunch, spying his one time to save his very own life. The perceptiveness of Hamlet is short-lived as are all actions in this play save the killing. "That one may smile, and smile, and be a villain"(I, v, l.108) This is to be my theme, something that Hamlet discovered and lived by for many a year and scene.

"Neither a borrower nor a lender be, far loan oft loses both itself a friend"(I, iii, l.75-76). Experience Polonius has in both fields, for he represents the loathing, scheming men of the world in Hamlet. Polonius is an underhanded man in the play. We see this fat Lord chamberlain play goofy and somewhat stupid during his talks with Hamlet. We know that when his son Laertes is sent to France, Polonius send a spy to follow him and to make sure he is not doing any wrong. Polonius also likes to keep tabs on everyone including his daughter Ophelia, who is expected to report her relations with the lord Hamlet to her father. Later in the play, Ophelia lets Polonius and Claudius spy on Hamlet and herself conversing. "Her father and myself..., seeing unseen, we may from encounter frankly judge... if't be th'affliction of his love or no that thus he suffers for" (III, i, l.32-37). Polonius, known for his deceit is the only real symbol of it, and it is symbolic when hamlet kills him, almost like killing the evil which plagued the land in his natural form, for Polonius was unceremoniously spying on Hamlet and his mother from behind a curtain.

Other characters in Hamlet are also deceitful. Laertes, has poison, from where did he get it? Ophelia as said earlier, serves as a medium for Claudius and Polonius to tap into hamlet's thoughts. The queen is even a part of it one time. Even without the spying however, she is intertwined in guilt, marrying the brother and killer of her husband on the day of his funeral; what shame (unfortunately only experienced by Hamlet!). "But with a crafty madness keeps aloof when we would bring him on to some confession of his true state"(III, I, l.7-9) This shows the regular reports our friends give the king and queen on Hamlet's doings. Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are not exactly princes themselves; after attempting to please the king in anyway, they are the messengers who are given the task to convey the message to the king of England to kill Hamlet! (What deceit!)

Hamlet, is the protagonist in the story. He eventually gets caught up in the deceit, as he does his antic disposition, and spies on Rosencrantz and Guildenstern. Do his surprise, he finds a letter from his uncle asking for Hamlet's death! He forges the note and changes his name to Rosencrantz and Guildentstern, and all in all they are beheaded and not our hero. Does this taint our knight in shining armour? I do not think so. It was life, which was at stake, unfortunately he would hold it for too many more acts though!). "How all occasions do inform against me and spur my dull revenge"(IV, iv, l.32-33)

Hamlet is an example of how the human complex of selfishness eventually overwhelms even the strongest of men. Hamlet, our hero, finds himself, in a graveyard after falling into the deceit. Throughout the play, we feel and are blinded by a relentless cloud of corruption for society and for one another. It was an unfortunate occurrence that all characters were too die, but I think it was what was necessary to cleanse the play, and the world for that matter of the evil. We start over with a new beginning as young Fortinbras claims the land for his own.

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Hamlet and the Dichotomy, or, Deceit in Hamlet

Megan J. Stoner

I have oft wondered why many scholars consider the advice Polonius gives to his son Laertes so contradictory. It seems to be sensible, at first. "Neither a borrower nor a lender be, for borrowing dulls the edge of husbandry." That has proven true often. So where is the contradiction?

The reason Polonius' advice to Laertes is considered paradoxical is not found in the advice itself, but rather in the larger picture. His advice appears to be sound on the surface: "Costly thy habit as thy purse can buy; be thou familiar but by no means vulgar;" etc. The paradox comes into play when the last (and most famous) bit of advice is given: "This above all, to thine own self be true; thou canst not then be false to any man."

All throughout Polonius' chidings, one theme is found: how to deceive those around you. The presentation of a false appearance is Polonius' main goal all throughout his life. It is quite apparent in this, his famous rambling. He advises Laertes of many ways to fool one's contemporaries. Then, he makes an apparent one hundred eighty degree turn by giving his last tidbit - he tells Laertes not to "be false to any man"!

I believe that this goes to show Shakespeare's point: that deception is foolish. Polonius, ever the crafty, scheming fellow, is shown as the ultimate fool - and that foolish deception is ultimately his undoing.

However, deception is the cause behind the death of more than just Polonius. At the end of the play, every major character is dead but two - the Soldier (Fortinbras) and the Scholar (Horatio). They are alive, because they make no attempt to hide their intent.

Horatio, as a scholar, would certainly have no qualms in presenting "what he was about" - probably more than some people wanted him to! He goes along with Hamlet's scheme more out of loyalty to a friend than belief in the good sense of Hamlet's plan. Horatio is a self-proclaimed skeptic, doubting all things that cannot be proved. This would make it even easier for him to doubt a person's false pretences, for he has trained his eye to look beyond the surface and see the "baser matter".

Fortinbras, the soldier, cannot afford nor needs to hide his purposes - his intent is to conquer and rule, and he shows it. He is shown in the play as a perhaps