Hamlet

Truth and Reality

The play Hamlet, written by William Shakespeare is a very unique and deep in meaning. There are so many conflicts that are going on for young Hamlet that it is amazing that he deciphers what is shown to him, and what is actually behind the curtain. Although he pretends to be disillusioned, it is a surprise that as mothers would say his face did not freeze like that. There are so many internal and external battles going on, with nobody to trust but the reasoning of a ghost. There is a fine line between what is shown to Hamlet and what is eventually uncovered, but it is all lying on the surface for him to uncover. Without the help of the ghost, Hamlet might have never of known about the big conspiracy that encompasses his mother, and his step father concerning his father's death. This is scary idea considering that most of us don't receive messages from ghosts to convey the truth. +William Shakespeare's Hamlet is a play that shows appearance and reality can be very different, and can easily be missed which would result in a lifetime of hidden truths. *After reading Hamlet it is very clear that in the beginning there is a false sense of reality while dealing with Claudius and Gertrude, and an uneasy trust in the appearance of the ghost proclaiming to be his father.

Claudius is Hamlet's uncle and now his step father after the king's death. While Hamlet is still mourning the death of his father, Claudius is marrying his mother and has taken heir to the throne. A midst of all the celebration of the wedding and new king, Hamlet is left confused and disheartened by how quick his father's brother, his mother, and the people of Denmark had forgotten the old king. "She married. O, most wicked speed, to post, With such dexterity to incestuous sheets! It is not nor it cannot come to good: But break, my heart; for I must hold my tongue." (I, II,). Here shows his frustration of his mother getting over his father so quickly, and would leave anyone with a slightly bitter taste in their mouth for the man coming in. Claudius appears to be well like by the people and a good diplomat for the kingdom of Denmark. After Hamlet's encounter with the ghost which told him to pretend to be mad, Claudius shows genuine concern by sending his friends to see where this might stem from. "This unprevailing woe, and think of us As of a father: for let the world take note, You are the most immediate to our throne; And with no less nobility of love Than that which dearest father bears his son, Do I impart toward you. For your intent In going back to school in Wittenberg,

It is most retrograde to our desire: And we beseech you, bend you to remain Here, in the cheer and comfort of our eye, Our chiefest courtier, cousin, and our son." ( I, II,) Here Claudius is trying to be gracious in his new role to Hamlet. He welcomes Hamlet as a father would and is reassuring that the stability and quality of his life, his family's life, and all of Denmark is in good hands. "But the "internal reality" revealed in the prayer scene, complete with "religious vocabulary," suggests a repressed secondary self, "a dismally divided state of being," "the agony of a decentred soul, and a tormented self caught in a secular trap."(Lal 49) All of this is a pretty impressive ploy considering that he murdered his father. Hamlet knows the truth but has to grin and bear every word. The reality to Hamlet is that Claudius is a manipulative murderer in which he has to avenge upon. The other bit of reality and appearance confusion here is that although Claudius did kill his father, his loving words do seem genuine of a good man who might have made a mistake.

In Hamlet, Gertrude is a woman who means no harm but whose poor judgment contributes greatly to the terrible events that occur. There are only two female characters in the play, and neither one Gertrude or Ophelia is assertive. But the decisions Gertrude does make eventually lead to her death and the downfall of others as well. She pretends to be sympathetic to Hamlet's feelings but does a very poor job. "Good Hamlet, cast thy nighted colour off, And let thine eye look like a friend on Denmark. Do not for ever with thy vailed lids Seek for thy noble father in the dust: Thou know'st 'tis common; all that lives must die, Passing through nature to eternity." (Act I Scene II) Here she tries to console Hamlet of his father's death but does a very poor job. She is actually is more concerned about her personal well being, and external pleasures rather than her son's emotional state. Hamlet "rewrites the story of Cain and Abel as the story of Adam and Eve, relocating masculine identity in the presence of the adulterating female". Gertrude "plays out the role of the missing Eve: her body is the garden in which her husband dies, her sexuality the poisonous weeds that kill him, and poison the world--and the self--for her son". (Adelman