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The use of deception in Hamlet
Like all the other tragedies of William Shakespeare, the exact timing of Hamlet remains a
question for the objective learner to contemplate. His main purpose in writing the essay vary
from one scholar to the other and while their reasoning are justified one thing is true about
Hamlet; that the play is centred on deception in order to drive its point home. The art of
deception is used by almost every character in the play and it seems like Shakespeare’s
dependence on deception helped him to create an engaging dialogue for his readers. At some
point, the reader may think that the exciting moments of romance as painted by Shakespeare
would be free from deception, yet they seem to carry the heaviest burden (Lavender, 57).
Hamlet for once is cunning and he thinks that he is always right and as such, he thinks that he
can know when someone is lying or telling the truth. Yet many scholars see this as a limitation
that hamlet must overcome in order to reach his development and to fully become the hero
Shakespeare meant him to be. This essay therefore seeks to explore the various instance of
deception as used by characters of Hamlet. Then use this information to argue how hamlets
recognition and understanding of his deception will be vital for his development.
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The most explicit instance of Hamlets deception appears when he lies everyone that he is
mad. After the death of his, Hamlet is in deep thoughts and need to find the killers. Yet he
cannot find the exact way of doing so. However, one day the ghost of his father appears to him
and tells him of the killer. Hamlet hates his father yet he feels that it is only right for him to
revenge his unfair and unnatural death. In fact, he says that his hate for his father marrying his
mother Amanda is immeasurable. In order to keep people aloof and turn attention for suspicious
behaviour away from him, he decided to fake madness and within this period , he focuses on
investigate the death of his father. Indeed, in reality although not always, anyone who has the
role of revenging the death of their loved ones could have experienced the same insanity as
hamlet (Tenbrunsel and David, 230). His choice to fake insanity would give him a good
opportunity to do random actions without having anyone question him. And while he was
considering going mad, his father’s ghost had warned him of the effects it would have on him
and his mother. Although Hamlet deceiving behaviour is not initially known, he reveals it to his
friend Horatio but begs him not to tell anyone. In Act 1 scene 5 after talking to the ghost of his
father, Horatio enters and Hamlets tells him the bad news. As their dialogue proceeds, Hamlet
says, “How strange or odd soe’er I bear myself, As I perchance hereafter shall think meet, to put
an antic disposition on.” (Shakespeare) With his actions Hamlet can make everyone including
the kin; Claudius, think otherwise. In fact, through the play, Hamlet does so much to honor his
plans. One instance that is funny yet informative is when the court party begins and he says,” I
must be Idle (Shakespeare, III; ii, 85)”
The other instance of Hamlet deception is when he presents; the Murder of Gonzago. In
an effort to decide the innocence of his father, Hamlet decided that the best way is to design a
play called the Murder of Gonzago or rather, the Mouse Trap (Sherman,13). His main purpose
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while acting the play is to watch Claudius’ reactions and determine whether he killed his father
or not. No one including the audience knows that this is an act of deception; rather they believe
that it is just a play like any other. The act begins with Hamlet conversing with other characters
when Rosencrantz, Polonius and Guildenstern joins the scene something Claudius and Hamlet’s
aunt Gertrude are so eager to see (“Hamlet and the Murder of Gonzago: Two Perspectives.”, 78).
The play proceeds with Hamlet praising his friend Horatio urges him to look at the king for signs
of guilt. The acting starts too slow for Hamlet to contain his patience, but after reaching the
murder scene, Hamlet decided to inform the audience of its theme. He therefore publicly declares
that he is showing is murder, a tragic murder I that case and after saying that, Claudius guilt is
shown when he orders him out of the stage (“Hamlet and the Murder of Gonzago: Two
Perspectives.”). Hamlets repainting of his father’s murder really help Horatio and him to know
that the king is guilty. Research suggests that Shakespeare’s inclusion of play within a play was
not only interesting, but that it was also fascinating; a type of literature that would stand the test
of time. It is filled with mazes and corridor that remain until now a riddle to many readers.
While this play may have been used to indirectly point at Claudius as the murderer, scholars
argue that it came at a time when people were being killed by the then government of Italy and
as such Shakespeare saw it wise to represent this corrupt regime by making a play around it. The
politics of Italy as of the 16th century were awful and undesirable. Shakespeare had to find a way
to shame responsible people and to do so, he choose the way of indirect literature.
Apart from Hamlet characters such as Ophelia, participate in bringing forth the theme of
deception as was the purpose of Shakespeare. Ophelia’s character is one that is filled with
mystery and deception. Ophelia; who is in love with Hamlet, faces a lot of opposition from his
father who believes that Hamlet is using her. And although Ophelia loves hamlet, she is initially
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given that position in order to see whether Hamlet is really mad. She is acting as a spy for her
father. However, her father’s plan backfires and the play paints hamlet as a smart character who
knows how to play with people’s mind. Shakespeare does so much to paint Ophelia as a
character who does not know much about life, but just as an object of sexuality (Funk, 56).
However, as it may not always seems as it is in many Shakespeare’s tragedy, the audience is
surprised when they get to know that Ophelia is indeed a master of her own craft who believes in
maintaining a stable relationship with Hamlet despite his metal problem. Nonetheless, she is
does not tell Hamlet that she is in fact investigating him of his sanity. She does this by
eavesdropping on hamlet’s behavior. As if that is not enough, Ophelia further reinforces
deception when she says in act III scene I,” at home my lord.” (Shakespeare, III; IV, 98) This is
the repose Ophelia gives to her lover; Hamlet, during their dialogue about honesty. She is
particularly angry after hearing that Hamlet lied he loved her. Out of the response of Ophelia,
Hamlet decides to talk ill of her father and he proceeds to says, “let the doors be shut upon him,
that he may play the fool nowhere bit in own house.” (Shakespeare, III; IV, 98) Literally,
Ophelia does not lie as much as Hamlet, yet she manages to do so. Shakespeare did such a great
job in fixing characters into specific themes as he meant to drive his point home.
In the same play, instances of deception reinforce through Gertrude Hamlet’s auntie.
Deception is the ultimate character of Gertrude; and in fact, scholars call her the queen of
deception. She deceives not only the characters, but she also deceives herself. She believes that
Claudius is innocent of what Hamlet is accusing him of, yet she does not really know the truth
(Updike & Claudius, 167). She possesses different characters and viewpoint in the play.
Throughout the play, major characters such as Claudius and Hamlet seem to be so much devoted
to her. And without regarding Gertrude as hamlet’s aunt and Claudius wife, her deception keeps
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her at the top of her game. In Act III scene iv, Hamlet is conversing with her mother when she
says, “ O hamlet, speak not one word again..O speak not to me one more word. These words like
dagger enter my ear. No sweeter hamlet.” (Shakespeare) In this quote, Gertrude is trying to
convince Hamlet that she is indeed a good person worthy of love. From the reader’s points of
view, it is only reasonable to say that Gertrude lies to hamlet in order to make him happy.
In this same way, Rosencrantz deception in the play cannot be underestimated. From the
beginning, Rosencrantz is deployed by the king to monitor the character of Hamlet. However, to
Hamlet, they seem genuine and helpful, yet behind them are a mask of deception and lies.
Although he was Hamlet’s childhood friend, Rosencrantz comes to Hamlet pretending to be his
old friend, yet his main purpose is to spy on him. At one point, the king asks Rosencrantz
whether they have found a reason for Hamlet’s weird behavior and they reply that he has
admitted to be distracted, yet he cannot give an explanation. This outright was a lie which
Rosencrantz uses to show the king that they were actually doing what was meant of them. In
fact, Hamlet does not know that Rosencrantz with his friend Guildenstern are spying on him
(Cameron & Lloyd et al, 94). One last instance of deception happens when Hamlet asks them
about their visit they lie to him saying that they had come as friends. And Like Rosencrantz,
Guildenstern is another deceptive character. His character unfold the same was as does that of
Rosencrantz and as such nothing much can be said without having to refer to Rosencrantz
(Cameron & Lloyd et al, 94).
After analyzing the various instances of Hamlet’s deception it is therefore important to
note that while deception made Hamlet’s character funny and interesting, it did very little in his
development. For instance, we can clearly see that in his journey to unveil the killer of his father,
he does so successfully after talking about his motivation of the play the Murder Gonzago.
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Immediately after doing so, the king displays his guilty as expected (Crapanzano, 89).
Furthermore, when Hamlet’s purposes are not known, it gets hard for him to achieve what he
intends. And while Hamlet believes so much in his ability, he lacks the ability to perceive the
truth. Hamlet finds himself in troubled when he deceives about his insanity. In fact, everyone
including Claudius is concerned about his character and thus they focus on understanding why he
is acting that way. Hamlet believes that by just looking at the way things are, he can really know
the truth. He does so by looking at what Gertrude had done; marrying Claudius, and despises. He
in fact calls her murky and an object of sexuality (Charney, 134). If hamlet had taken the tie to
understand the true nature of deception, he would have worked or lied to her aunt so that it is
easier for him to know whether Claudius killed his father. However, Hamlet makes it a secret for
everyone making his journey longer than it could have been. Furthermore, despite his intellect,
Hamlet believes so much in acting dishonestly that he does not differentiate between the truth
and lies. He presumes his lover Ophelia as a prostitute who is out to use him, yet she is with him
because of love. He does not see reality and the mask of deception has overtaken him.
In conclusion, Shakespeare use of deception as a theme in the play hamlet cannot be
underestimated. Without deception the play would not have come into being. Every character is
deceptive in one way or another. Perhaps to show that it is hard to live with honesty in a world
filled with so many issues. However, while deceiving others, Hamlet must humble himself so as
to understand the nature of human perception and not succumb to his fate.
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Work cited
Cameron, Lloyd, Rebecca Barnes, William Shakespeare, and Tom Stoppard. Hamlet by William
Shakespeare and Rosencratz and Gildenstern Are Dead by Tom Stoppard. Glebe, N.S.W:
Pascal Press, 2001. Print.
Charney, Maurice. "Analogy and Infinite Regress in Hamlet." Psychoanalytic Approaches to Lit
and Film (1987): 156-67.
Crapanzano, Vincent. Hermes' dilemma and Hamlet's desire: On the epistemology of
interpretation. Harvard University Press, 1992
Funk, James. "The Return of Logos: Language and Meaning in Hamlet." The Oswald Review:
An International Journal of Undergraduate Research and Criticism in the Discipline of
English 12.1 (2010): 3.
Hamlet and the Murder of Gonzago: Two Perspectives. PERSEE, 1983. Internet resource
Lavender, Andy. Hamlet in Pieces: Shakespeare Revisited by Peter Brook, Robert Lepage and
Robert Wilson. A&C Black, 2003.
Shakespeare, William, Laurence Olivier, and Jean Simmons. Hamlet. University Press, 1948
Shakespeare, William. The tragedy of Hamlet. University Press, 1904.
Shakespeare, William, and Mary E. Snodgrass. Shakespeare on the Double!tm Hamlet.
Hoboken: John Wiley & Sons, 2006. Internet resource.
Tenbrunsel, Ann E., and David M. Messick. "Ethical fading: The role of self-deception in
unethical behavior." Social Justice Research 17.2 (2004): 223-236.
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Updike, John. Gertrude and Claudius. New York, NY: Knopf, 2000. Print.
Sherman, Paul. The Murder of Gonzago: A Play in One Act. Norwood, S. Aust: Australian
Association for the Teaching of English, 1988. Print
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