Spying is an one of the many themes in William Shakespeare's “Hamlet” because so many of the characters are involved in it. By far the worst criminal is Polonius. He is the king's right-hand man, so we presume he has had some practice at it. But, he spies even on his own children, by sending Reynaldo, his servant, to spy on his son, Laertes.
Another point is where Polonius and Claudius both spy on Hamlet and Ophelia: “At such a time I'll loose my daughter to him:
Be you and I behind an arras then;
Mark the encounter: if he love her not
And be not from his reason fall'n thereon,
Let me be no assistant for a state,
But keep a farm and carters.”
He rather risks his own life by spying, in one incident. Polonius dies while he is hiding behind the curtains in Gertrude's bedroom, spying again on Hamlet.
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He acts as Hamlet's spy when he watches for Claudius to react on the existence of the ghost. Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are both spies for Claudius and Gertrude, though they are mostly bad at it. Their spying also gets them killed. There is also another part of spying with Fortinbras, as he prepares to fight Denmark and lies to his uncle about it. Even the Ghost appears in Gertrude's bedroom, presumably spying on how things are going between his wife and son. Claudius is the king, and it should be under him to do his spying himself, but he does. Either way Polonius and him both spy on Hamlet and Ophelia. Claudius also asks Hamlet's friends Rosencrantz and Guildenstern to spy on Hamlet, and, by the way, Gertrude consents to both of these spying episodes on her own
In the Elizabethan life, this act by Hamlet who is supposed to become the new king as he is next in line since his father had been murdered, would pass over and no one would believe that he did it without any physical proof of him doing it. It could just be sign of jealousy from king Claudius and would backfire on him if he were to try and presume legal action for the death of Polonius. The motivation of King Claudius is to try and get Hamlet sent away so he can cover up the fact that he had murdered his own brother so he could marry his wife. The motivation of Hamlet is to get revenge on King Claudius for his father, but if he was sent away then thee would be no one to get revenge on him for his sins. I think Shakespeare portrayed King
In order to make sense of his behavior, the royal family spies on Hamlet. Polonius, the king’s chief counselor, believes that he is lovesick for his daughter Ophelia. However, in reality, Hamlet plans to kill the king. Hamlet’s deception can be seen when he is questioned by Polonius as he says, “These tedious old fools!”(Shakespeare, II.II. 218). After Polonius leaves Hamlet, Hamlet drops his act and refers to Polonius and King Claudius as fools.
In Shakespeare 's Hamlet, King Hamlet is unexpectedly killed. When King Hamlet 's ghost visits his son, the ghost tells Prince Hamlet, that his death was intentional. Spurred on by his father, he resumes to immediately plan for revenge. Prior to his seek for revenge, King Claudius had wed Hamlet 's mother, Gertrude, causing an already forming animosity between the uncle and nephew, to thicken. Polonius, Claudius ' court advisor, had a daughter, Ophelia, who was to become Hamlet 's love interest.
Polonius betrays his own son, Laertes, by sending a servant to go spy on him. At this point, Polonius betrays Laertes’ belief in his trust when he is in France. Hamlet also betrays Laertes by killing Polonius, and after he does this Laertes also betrays Hamlet by remaining loyal to Claudius. Through all of this betrayal, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are ones to betray their best friend Hamlet. Gertrude and Claudius put them in charge of spying on Hamlet, but Rosencrantz and Guildenstern decide betray Hamlet.
Hamlet immediately realizes they spying on him. Where you not sent for. of Hamlet’s ability is during the play that he directs .Hamlet decides to add 16 extra line that
Hamlet Character deception is a common characteristic that has and will be a reflecting characteristic in literature for centuries. In many of William Shakespeare’s tragedies, deception, whether positive or negative, is being used to mislead, to protect characters, or to hide a crime or future crime. Analyzing why the characters are using deception against each other is very important to the reader’s understanding of the work as a whole. In William Shakespeare’s Hamlet, He uses Hamlet’s deception of character and also the character’s use of deception towards Hamlet to carry out the overall theme of the tragedy. The theme that is represented, is that in able to get malicious revenge, you must be able to act as if you are someone different than your true self while in turn, being able to deal with others deceiving you.
Hamlet is very secretive about the ghost, until he tries to convince Gertrude he is there, and fails in the process, which only causes her to believe he is more crazy. King Claudius is a character full of corrupt power, lies and mystery. Claudius’ entire life as king spirals from the secret that he killed his brother, married his wife and essentially stole the crown. Carrying around that disastrous secret
Deception is an action driven with the motive to employ one purpose which can be to mislead another individual in order to gain knowledge, to get revenge, or to reveal a plan unknown to the public eye and keeping it that way for the dutiful well-being of the Kingdom of Denmark. In the tragedy Hamlet by William Shakespeare, deception develops into the character trait that initiates the actions, heartbreak, and revenge driving this play. This attribute held by Hamlet is the leading cause of this same flaw development in Ophelia, King Claudius, and many others in an attempt to reinforce the theme. This theme is one of heroism, but the deceptive notion each action reveals challenges the perception the reader has on each of the main characters. In order to be able to fully analyze the part Hamlet’s deception plays in driving the plot and storyline of this tragedy, one must understand that a foil character juxtaposes each character to illuminate their shortcomings.
Stemming from Scene two, Polonius reveals his method of extracting information when he sends Reynaldo to spy on Laertes in Paris and orders him to find information through roundabout ways of asking, “Inquire me first what Danskers are in Paris/...that they do know my son/...put on him what forgeries you please. (Shakespeare 2.1.8-23)” Through this method of extracting information, Polonius is the cause of many of the conflicts in this play; fueling Hamlet’s paranoia. Hamlet, by scene three, has had many misfortunes and tests to his trust, and is viewed as being unpredictable and unruly by Polonius, who thrives on control and order. Polonius believes that by helping Hamlet, he is helping the king, thus gaining higher favor.
Polonius is willing to spy on pretty much anyone so that he can knows more details about those close to him. He spies on his son Laertes and is willing to slander him without giving it a second thought when he tells Reynaldo, “to make inquiry of his behaviour” (II.i.3-4). Polonius wants Reynaldo to both spy on Laertes and to hurt his image, so that he can learn about his son’s character. Claudius betrays Gertrude by not telling her about the poisoned cup soon enough. He does not want her to drink the poison but she doesn’t know about it until it is too late, “Gertrude, do not drink.
He does this to see whether Claudius is guilty of his father’s murder or not. When the prologue actor enters, Hamlet says, “We shall know by this fellow. The players cannot keep counsel. They’ll tell all. ”(3.2.130-131).
Claudius, as seen in William Shakespeare’s Hamlet, is both intelligent and clever, two traits that, put together, complement his manipulative and dangerous nature. Due to his cunning nature he portrays the role of a very complex villain. The death of King Hamlet by Claudius results in Prince Hamlet to act out of character, which thus resulted in the tragic death of Polonius and Ophelia. While Hamlet and Gertrude were having conversation, Polonius was hiding behind the huge carpet that was hanging on the wall. Unknowingly, Hamlet stabs Polonius.
As a result,Hamlet can never trust his uncle’s wicked ways to get into people’s heads. Hamlet was betrayed by his friends because they worked for Claudius and gave orders from him,which caused him to not trust them either. For example,when Claudius summons Guildenstern and Rosencrantz to spy on Hamlet,Claudius said,”see if you can make Hamlet feel better and see if you can get info on what he is up to”(Shakespeare 87). This behavior shows evil purposes and twisted words. Claudius sends Hamlet’s friends to make him happier but also use them to see if Hamlet is mad.
When he learns Claudius is responsible for the death of his father, he intends to reveal this newfound information to not only Gertrude, but the rest of the characters. He is smart enough to know that she will not believe him based solely on his encounter with the ghost, and must create a trap where Claudius will reveal his guilt on his own. When the players arrive at the castle, he alters their script to mimic the king’s murder and “catch the conscience of the king” (II.ii.567). During the performance, Claudius shows signs of guilt and worry, making Hamlet’s plan a success and proving his
However, Hamlet soon discovers that Claudius has been lying to him, and Claudius’ real motive is to kill Hamlet in order to exterminate all possible threats to his reign. Claudius’ role play affects the entire country of Denmark, and he convinces the people that he is the rightful king, when he is not, and has murdered his brother for the throne. Gertrude, too, takes on a role; throughout the play, she seems oblivious to her wrongdoings. She claims that she loves Claudius, and did not just marry him for political reasons.