In the world of Hamlet nothing is what it seems. There is so much going on in his life that he is possibly going insane. With all of the emotions Hamlet has from the events that happened he needs a way to express that, and he does so with his words. Most of everything Hamlet says has multiple meanings. Hamlet’s life is very unclear, and at times so are his words. Out of defense, he uses puns, metaphors, and double-entendres for his primary weapon against the people who have deceived him.
Hamlet endures a lot. His uncle-- now King Claudius--murdered King Hamlet, his father. Now Hamlet realizes that he cannot trust anyone-- not even his best friends. In Act 3 Scene 2 Hamlet is talking with Rosencrantz and …show more content…
Hamlet is using the recorder as a metaphor for Guildenstern and Rosencrantz playing him for a fool. The only reasons that Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are seeing Hamlet is because Claudius asked them too and are most likely getting paid. Hamlet asks, “Will you play / upon this pipe” (3.2 358-59), a question he really intends to mean, “Go ahead and try to find out what is really on my mind.” When Guildenstern refuses to play the recorder Hamlet says, “It is as easy as lying” (3.2 365). Not only have Rosencrantz and Guildenstern been constantly lying to Hamlet about their true motives for being there, but they also have been lying about their friendship. When Guildenstern repeatedly denies playing the recorder he breaks their friendship again and again. Hamlet then tells them that he is the recorder, revealing to …show more content…
Hamlet also knows that Polonius is too oblivious to understand what is truly being said. In Act 3 Scene 2, after Hamlet reveals Rosencrantz and Guildenstern true motives, he talks to Polonius. He points out clouds that look like a camel, then a weasel, and then a whale (3.2 384-90). With this Hamlet is slyly letting on the plan he has to kill Claudius. A camel is pack animal that is used to carry heavy things on their back. Hamlet is referring to himself because he has all the anger to avenge his father. He has also just found out that Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are not his true friends, that Ophelia will not see him anymore, and that his mother has married his uncle. Hamlet is carrying all of the emotions that have overcome him after all that has happened to him. The clouds then transition into a weasel--implying that Polonius is the weasel. As we were able to see before, Polonius only cares about him and becoming powerful, and is trying to weasel information out of Hamlet because the King asked him to. This is also what Rosencrantz and Guildenstern do to Hamlet. The weasel then becomes a whale. The whale is one of the biggest animals in the world, and Hamlet is eluding to the big task he has at hand-- the task to oust Claudius as the murderer of his father. People often tend to hunt whales, so he could also be