Appearance vs. Reality

Appearance vs. Reality

1. When the characters appearance of things does not always match reality

   • You cannot tell who truly someone is based on their looks
   • "Don't judge a book by its cover"

2. is

3. Polonius

   • “Give thy thoughts no tongue, / Nor any unproportioned thought his act. / Be thou familiar but by no means vulgar, / Those friends thou hast, and their adoption tried, / Grapple them unto thy soul with hoops of steel, / But do not dull thy palm with entertainment…” (1.3.59-80)
     • Polonius advises Laertes to make new friends who are trustworthy
       • to add
         • Polonius wants his son to appear trustworthy and a good friend to others without letting anyone know what his true intentions are
     • this shows
   • states
   • Polonius lies about why Hamlet has gone crazy
     • “And he, repelled – a short tale to make --- / Fell into a sadness, then into a fast / , Thence to a watch, thence into a weakness…Into the madness wherein now he raves” (2.2.137-141)
       • which shows
       • Polonius will do whatever it takes to be trusted by the royals. He gives up his daughters happiness.

4. Claudius

   • The murderer of Hamlet's father is Claudius
     • Claudius fooling the kingdom thinking he married Gertrude for the kingdom, but in reality he killed King Hamlet for the status and power
     • leads to
   • He uses people to cover up his actions
     • example is
     • “To draw him on to pleasures and to gather, / So much as from occasion you may glean, / Whether aught, to us unknown, afflicts him thus / That, opened, lies within our remedy.” (2.2.15-23)
       • It may seem that Claudius is worried about Hamlet, when in reality he is using his friends as pawns to figure out if Hamlet is aware of what he had done to his father.
       • showing
   • Claudius admits out loud to killing King Hamlet
     • proof is
     • “What if this cursed hand / Were thicker than itself with brother’s blood?” (3.3.45-46)
       • leads to
       • Claudius is not feeling remorse/sorry for the murder he has committed. While in the beginning of the play , he was mourning for the 'loss' of his brother, putting an act on.
   • Claudius is selfish as he cares only about himself
     • he says
     • “His liberty is full of threats to all -- / To you yourself, to us, to everyone.” (4.1.15-16)
       • suggesting
       • He needs to do something about Hamlet because of his madness. The real reason is because Hamlet knows that Claudius killed his father and Claudius is unaware what Hamlet is capable of doing.

5. Hamlet

   • Everyone says they are worried about Hamlet, yet they all spy on him
   • He changes his view on others and is more careful with his words as he does not want his plan to get out (fake to others)