Reality VS Appearance

Reality VS Appearance

1. Beginning of the play

   • Shakespeare examines the theme of appearance and reality in Hamlet. The dilemma of what is "real" is established at the very beginning of the play. Hamlet doesn't know what to believe and devises a plan to find out.
   • The Ghost appears as an apparition from the depths of hell, when actually he is the medium of reality, revealing the facts to Hamlet.
     • The ghost tells Hamlet that his father was murdered "Revenge his foul and most unnatural murder (1.5.25)
       • Since Hamlet doubts the sincerity of the Ghost's revelation, he decides to put on the appearance of being mad to see if this is true,
         • "I'll wipe away all trivial records ... and they commandment all alone shall live" (1.5. 99-102)
         • In this world of Hamlet, Maynard Mack has discussed the ideas of seeming, assuming, and putting on; the images of world clothing, painting, mirroring; the episode of the dumb show and the play within the play, together with the characters of Polonius, Laertes, Ophelia, Claudius, Gertrude, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, and Hamlet himself.
           • And his conclusion is "all these at one time or another, and usually more than once, are drawn into the range of implications flung round the play by show"
             • The idea of "show" brings us to the Freudian concept of the conscious and un-conscious levels of mental activity.
               • In this concept, the human mind is structured like the iceberg : what is shown above or appears to be seen is the level of consciousness, while what lies hidden beneath the surface or what counts as its great real weight is the level of unconsciousness. -Maynard on Hamlet in conflict with the unconscious Hamlet.

2. Claudius

   • Claudius appears to be a good king. In his opening speech to which he addresses the court he uses the sadness of the notion over the death of King Hamlet to bring the state together by saying:
     • "It befitted/To bear our hearts in grief and our whole kingdom/To be contracted in one brow of woe."
     • He then moves on to discuss the current issue, Fortinbras, who Claudius says is "thinking by our late dear brother's death/Our state to be disjoin, and out of frame".
       • This displays his ability to act quickly on problems to the court which would make him more favourable
     • He also comes across as kind towards Hamlet in his grievance
       • "Tis sweet and commendable in your nature, Hamlet"
   • Claudius is secretly the root of all corruption throughout the play.
     • Old Hamlet describes him as "that incestuous, that adulterous beast/With witchcraft of his wit" -Poisoned him and offset the entire tragedy.
     • He tells Rosencrantz and Guildenstern "gather/so much as from occasion you may glean/whether aught to us unknown afflicts him thus/That open'd lies within our remedy"
       • He orders them to spy upon their childhood friend
     • Manipulates many people throughout the play

3. Hamlet

   • Outward displays of emotion are untrustworthy
     • Hamlet reasons, because a person could "play" or mimic them. Indeed, even his own sincere demonstrations of sadness are compromised because it would be easy to feign them. So while Hamlet's mourning clothes, sighs and tears "seem" to express his grief, Hamlet insists they are not significant: his inner feelings are his true meaning. This relationship between "show" and "authenticity", "performance" and "reality", preoccupies Hamlet throughout the play.
       • When he discovers that his uncle has murdered his father, Hamlet interprets the news as a lesson in deceitful appearances: "meet it is I set it down / That one may smile, and smile, and be a villain!"
   • Hamlet's "antic disposition" and decision to simulate madness as a means of enacting his revenge is important. The news that Hamlet received about his father and his mother could drive anyone insane. As a result, the line between appearance and reality becomes notably distorted as the play progresses.
     • Guildenstern says in Act 3 lines 7-9, "But with a crafty madness keeps aloof when we would bring him onto some confession of this true state."
     • At times it also seems that Hamlet's appearance of madness has become a reality, (3.1. 201-203) "You should not have believed me, for virtue cannot so inoculate our old stock but we shall relish of it. I loved you not."
       • Hamlet loved Ophelia so this is definitely not true, but during the course of the play, his madness seems so genuine.
     • "Alas, he's mad" -Gertrude
       • Managed to convince every "poisoned" court member that he had become mad following the death of his father.

4. Polonius

   • "This above all -to thine own self be true; And it must follow, as the night the day Thou canst then be false to any man"
     • As a character he may come across as a caring, albeit bumbling, father. Gives a long list of virtues to his son before he departs for France
   • On the other hand -he orders Reynaldo to commit espionage upon Laertes -manipulating and deceiving.
     • "You shall do mavalous wisely, good Reynaldo/Before you visit him, To make inquire/ Of his behaviour".
       • He also helps Claudius to spy in Hamlet and use Gertrude. "My Lord, he's going to his mothers's closet / behind the arras I'll convey myself."

5. Rosencrantz and Guildenstern

   • "My honoured lord! My most dear lord"
     • Shows concern for him over his recent state of "madness"
     • Appear to be loyal friends to Hamlet"
   • My two schoolfellows, whom I will trust as I will adders fanged"
     • Hamlet Uses natural imagery to compare the two to a poisonous snake -further elaborates on the theme of corruption. Proves that Hamlet is aware of their agreement with Claudius

6. Context

   • Before analysing the motifs of illusion and reality in Hamlet, it is important to understand the Elizabethan belief in the hierarchal order -the cosmological, the political and social
     • Theodore Spencer explains it as follows: "The governing of the state could be seen as an image of the order of the starts and the order of the stars were reflected in the order of the faculties of man. "The Ptolomaic heavens revolved around the earth; and the sun was the largest and most resplendent of the planets, so the king was the centre of the state" Civilians had been taught to revere and respect royalty -there was an illusion/public façade to them
     • Yet doubts were beginning to erupt, early in the century. Copernicus had questioned the cosmological order; Machiavelli had questioned the political order; and Montaigne had questioned the natural order. The Copernican theory was not absorbed by the most Elizabethans, and it was not until Galileo perfected the telescope that the Copernican theory was considered to be "a true description of reality." Elizabethan citizen's were beginning to question old established beliefs including the divine right and just illusion of royalty. This explains Shakespeare's demonstration of reality in Hamlet

7. Critical Analysis

   • "Given the treachery and deception that pervades Elsinore at the beginning of Hamlet, the disparity between appearance and reality emerges as one of the central problems of the play." James Funk Winthrop University Rock Hill, South Carolina
   • "Under Claudius, life is reduced to mere appearance: words add layers of deceptive signification to discourse rather than providing an avenue to objective reality." -James Funk Winthrop University Rock Hill, South Carolina