Duality and Appearance vs. reality in Hamlet

Throughout history there has been a general understanding that appearances can be deceiving. A person may go through life without anyone understanding the true reality of there character. William Shakespeare, one of the greatest writers of all time, understood the relationship between appearance and reality and often gave characters two sides to their personality. In Shakespeare's tragic play, Hamlet, a young prince is left to reveal the truth of his father's death. Hamlet discovers that his father was murdered by his uncle Claudius, who recently was crowned king and married his mother. The theme that remains throughout the play is that of duality and appearance versus reality. Hamlet discovers that characters may appear to be honest and true are in reality distorted and evil. Many of the characters within the play have duality and are not the characters that they seem to be. Four of the main characters that hide behind an illusion are Rosencrantz, Guildenstern, Polonius, and Claudius. In many occasions they appear to be true and sincere but in reality they are full of lies.

Throughout the play, Hamlet is left wondering who he can actually trust and turn to for help. Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are two of Hamlet's friends from university who give the appearance of truly caring for Hamlet:

Guildenstern: My Honored lord.

Rosencrantz: My most dear lord (Shakespeare 2.2.237-238)

In Reality, it is shown that the two are only involved because the king asked them again to find the true meaning of Hamlet's madness.

King: To draw him on to pleasures to gather,

So much as from occasion you may glean,

Whether aught to us unknown afflicts him thus

That, opened, lies within our remedy. (2.2.15-18)

As the play continues, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are asked again by the king to go to Hamlet and try to find the real reason for Hamlet's madness. Hamlet comes to understand the real purpose of their visit and insults them for lying in Act three Scene two:

Hamlet: 'Tis as easy as lying, Govern these Vantages with

your fingers and thumb, give it breath with your

mouth, and it will discourse most eloquent music. (3.2.350-353)

The true purpose of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern is extremely visible when Rosencrantz and Guildenstern set out to find Hamlet after the murder of Polonius. The two men find Hamlet in a castle where Hamlet comments on the true nature of their characters "Besides, to be demanded of by a sponge!" (4.2.12) Hamlet comes to realize that Rosencrantz and Guildenstern's appearance of being his friend is nothing but an illusion. In reality they serve no purpose but to be as a sponge soak up information for the king.

Along with Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, Polonius is shown throughout the play to give the appearance of someone is not. The lord high chamberlain of the Danish royal court and father to Ophelia and Leartes, Polonius is a man who always wants to keep the appearance of an intellectual, loving, and caring person. In Act One Scene Three Polonius gives Laertes advice which is meant to appear to be that of a loving caring father:

Polonius: This above all: to thine own self be true,

And it must follow, as the night the day

Thou canst not then be false to any man.

Farewell. My blessing season this in thee. (1.3.82-85)

Polonius gives Laertes what seems to be his loving words of advice and care, but in reality he is speaking only to look good rather than be good. Polonius tries to give the appearance of being a confident father who trusts his son to go off on his own. In reality, Polonius is untrue about his trust for his son, which is shown when he sends a spy to watch him. Polonius tries to give the illusion that he is a caring parent but it is just all an act to look good.

Polonius' unsuccessful attempt to appear as a caring person and can be blamed on his lousy methods of helping people. His habit of spying and eavesdropping gives him the appearance of a fool and a snake rather than his goal of being seen as a intellectual and a caring person. This goal ultimately kills him in the end when he is stabbed as he is hiding behind a curtain in Gertrude's bedroom.

Although Rosencrantz, Guildenstern, and Polonius all exhibit the theme of Duality, Claudius, the new king of Denmark, is the most visible example of a character who appears to be true and sincere, but in reality is full of lies and immoral acts. Claudius is an intelligent man who is skilled with the use of his words. This makes it easy for him to trick and persuade character through the play. In Act One, Scene Two Claudius gives the council the appearance that he really cared for his brother and that he is grieving his death. This is visible through Claudius' first speech, when he addressed to his court:

King: and that it us befitted

To bear out hearts in grief and our whole kingdom

To be contacted in one brow of woe (1.2.2-4)

Claudius gives the appearance of mourning his brother's death, but in reality, he is the one who murdered Old King Hamlet. Claudius confesses his sin I his first soliloquy:

King: O, my offence is rank, it smells of heaven.

It hath the primal eldest curse upon it,

A brother's murder (3.3.39-41)

Another illusion that Claudius shows throughout the play is his love for his nephew and stepson Hamlet. This illusion is also visible in Claudius' first soliloquy when Claudius tells Hamlet to stay with him and not to return to school in Wittenberg:

King: For your intent

In going back to school in Wittenberg,

It is most retrograde to our desire,

And we beseech you bend you to remain

Here in the cheer and conform of our eye,

Our chiefest courtier, cousin, and our son. (1.2.114-119)

However it is evident that Claudius' love for Hamlet is nothing but an illusion. Further on in the play Claudius develops a plan to send Hamlet away from Denmark. Claudius also refers to himself as "Thy loving father, Hamlet" (4.3.56) but when Hamlet is out of the room just a few moments later Claudius has a complete change of face in which he reveals his plan to have Hamlet executed.

King: Our sovereign process, which imports all full,

By letters congruent to that effect,

The present death of Hamlet. Do it, England,

For like the hectic in my blood he rages,

An thou must cure me. Till I know 'tis done (4.3.68-72)

It is quite evident that, though his fine use of words, Claudius is quite skilled at covering up reality. This makes it difficult for Hamlet to uncover the true character of Claudius.

Shakespeare's Hamlet clearly shows the constant theme of duality and appearance versus reality. The main characters of Rosencrantz, Guildenstern, Polonius, and Claudius are shown to hide behind illusion to hide their true characters. It can be learned that even though a character may come across as being true and sincere, this may not be reality. The characters may have ulterior motives, even ones they are not even conscious of. It is this prominent relationship between duality and appearance versus reality that makes Hamlet one of the best plays ever written.