Deception in Acts 2 and 3

      One of the key themes in Hamlet is deception, when looking at acts two and three of Hamlet we can see that deception is a reoccurring theme. Many of the characters in the play deceive other characters in the play. Polonius is a character in Hamlet that begins to use deception early on in the play.  In act two Polonius makes a plan to deceive Hamlet so that he him will admit that he is crazy because Ophelia has denied him her love. Polonius’s last act of deception occurs in act three when he hides behind the arras while Gertrude is speaking to Hamlet. In this scene Polonius’s deception ultimately leads to his death because when Hamlet finds out that someone is room the room he kills the person not knowing that it is Claudius

      Claudius seems to be one of the masters of deception in Hamlet, Claudius is successful at deceiving everyone when convinces them that he is not responsible for his brother’s death and that he is grieving over the death of his brother. Claudius also deceives Hamlet when he and Gertrude ask Rosencrantz and Guildenstern to deceive Hamlet by pretending that they have just come to visit when they are actually trying to find out why Hamlet is mad.

     Many of the characters in Hamlet plan to deceive Hamlet but Hamlet is also in involved in some plans of deception. Hamlet plans to deceive Claudius by making him watch a play that is re-enactment of his father’s death to see if Claudius is guilty. Hamlet also deceives his mother when he goes to see her, he says:

“Soft! now to my mother.

 O heart, lose not thy nature; let not ever

 The soul of Nero enter this firm bosom: 385

 Let me be cruel, not unnatural:

 I will speak daggers to her, but use none;

 My tongue and soul in this be hypocrites;

 How in my words soever she be shent,

 To give them seals never, my soul, consent!”(III. II. 383-390)

In this part of play Hamlet is saying the he wants to scare his mother and make her think that he is going to hurt her but he also says that he would never actually hurt her. Hamlet also deceives everyone by making them believe that he is mad but he actually is only pretending to be mad. In the play Hamlet says that he is only pretending to be mad but in act three he says:

  To be, or not to be: that is the question:

 Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer

 The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,

 Or to take arms against a sea of troubles,

 And by opposing end them? To die: to sleep; (III.I.56-60)

      In this part of the play Hamlet is questioning his existence and considering suicide. This is an example of self-deception because Hamlet claims to be pretending to be mad but his rant makes it seems like he might actually be crazy. Therefore Hamlet is deceiving himself into believing that he is sane.

      Deception is a key theme in Hamlet; it causes a lot of drama in the play because all of the characters deceive each other. Hamlet is mad at Claudius because he killed his father and deceived everyone but Hamlet could be considered a hypocrite because deception plays a large role in his plan to get revenge on Claudius.

Works Cited

Shakespeare, William. "Hamlet ." Shakespeare Online. N.p., 2010. Web. 19 Apr 2012. <http://www.shakespeare-online.com/plays/hamlet_1_3.html>.

Act 1 Reflection

     When reading Hamlet written by William Shakespeare it becomes clear in the first act of the play that women and men are portrayed in two very different ways. There are two women in Hamlet, Ophelia and Gertrude. Ophelia is the daughter of Polonius and the love interest of Hamlet. Gertrude is the queen of Denmark and Hamlet’s mother; she is also married to Claudius who is the brother of Hamlet’s father.

    At the beginning of Hamlet it becomes clear that women are dependent on men, a good example of this is Hamlet’s mother Gertrude. After the death of Gertrude’s husband she quickly marries her husband’s brother so that she can keep her title of queen. Gertrude’s actions show us that she her status as queen is very important to her but in order to keep that status she has to married to the king.

 In Hamlet the men have all of the power and they do appreciate women. In the play Hamlet says:

“Let me not think on't--Frailty, thy name is woman!”(I. I I.146)

When Hamlet says this he is speaking about his mother Gertrude but when he says this he is saying that frailty is a trait that all women have. This line in the play demonstrates that Hamlet’s attitude is very sexist. The men in the play have control over the women, in the play when Polonius and his daughter Ophelia discuss Hamlet, Polonius says:

“ Ay, springes to catch woodcocks. I do know,

When the blood burns, how prodigal the soul

 Lends the tongue vows: these blazes, daughter,

Giving more light than heat, extinct in both,

 Even in their promise, as it is a-making,

 You must not take for fire. From this time

 Be somewhat scanter of your maiden presence;

 Set your entreatments at a higher rate

Than a command to parley. For Lord Hamlet,

Believe so much in him, that he is young

 And with a larger tether may he walk

Than may be given you: in few, Ophelia,

 Do not believe his vows; for they are brokers,

 Not of that dye which their investments show,

 But mere implorators of unholy suits,

 Breathing like sanctified and pious bawds,

 The better to beguile. This is for all:

I would not, in plain terms, from this time forth,

 Have you so slander any moment leisure,

 As to give words or talk with the Lord Hamlet.

Look to't, I charge you: come your ways.” (I.III.114-135)

     In Polonius’s speech he is telling Ophelia that Hamlet’s love for her is not real and that she can no longer see him. Ophelia does not question Polonius and she says that she will obey him. This part of the play shows the readers that the women have to obey the men because the men have more power.

    When looking at the examples in Hamlet of how women and men are portrayed we can see that they are opposites. The men have all of the power and the women have none which causes the women to obey and depend on the men

Works Cited

Shakespeare, William. "Hamlet ." Shakespeare Online. N.p., 2010. Web. 19 Apr 2012.       <http://www.shakespeare-online.com/plays/hamlet_1_3.html>.