"Hamlet": Appearance vs. Reality Analytical Essay by scribbler
Looks at examples of appearance versus reality---premonitions and ghosts---as apparent in Shakespeare's "Hamlet".
# 152099
| 1,360 words
| 0 sources
| 2012
| 
Published
on Dec 27, 2012
in
Drama and Theater
(English)
, English
(Analysis)
, Shakespeare
(Hamlet)
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Description:
This paper analyzes the plot and speech of Rosenkranz, Guildenstern, Polonius and Claudius, to demonstrate how reality and appearance is important to the overall theme of suspicion in Shakespeare's play "Hamlet". Relating various scenes involving Polonius, Claudius and the two friends, the author demonstrates how these characters have different reactions to the question of appearance versus reality. The paper concludes that the use of suspicion of appearances and misunderstanding of reality creates a situation ripe for tragedy, which turns out horribly for all of them in the end.
From the Paper:
"Claudius, the new king, wants Hamlet to cheer up and stop grieving over his father, which prolonged is "a course of impious stubbornness, 'tis unmanly grief". He asks Rosencrantz and Guildenstern to entertain Hamlet, not just to cheer him up but to find out "whether aught to us unknown afflicts him thus that, opened, lies within our remedy." Again, the plot turns on what lies behind appearances. When Hamlet meets them, he knows the king has sent them, although he is acting like a lunatic. Hamlet at the time is questioning the honesty of everything in the world. He hates his physical body, which is only "quintessence of dust". He asks the two friends to be honest with him, but they seem evasive. From this, Hamlet develops a mistrust of them that will lead to their downfall. They return to the king, who asks, "And can you by no drift of circumstance get from him why he puts on this confusion, grating so harshly all his days of quiet with turbulent and dangerous lunatic?" Claudius knows the horrible murder he's committed, but he doesn't know if Hamlet knows. He is trying to find out because he is paranoid."Cite this Analytical Essay:
APA Format
"Hamlet": Appearance vs. Reality (2012, December 27)
Retrieved June 03, 2023, from https://www.academon.com/analytical-essay/hamlet-appearance-vs-reality-152099/
MLA Format
""Hamlet": Appearance vs. Reality" 27 December 2012.
Web. 03 June. 2023. <https://www.academon.com/analytical-essay/hamlet-appearance-vs-reality-152099/>