William Shakespeares Hamlet :: Shakespeare Hamlet Essays

William Shakespeares HamletDisillusionment. Depression. Despair. These are the burning emotions churning in young Hamlets soul as he attempts to come to cost with his fathers death and his mothers incestuous, illicit marriage. While Hamlet tries to pick up the pieces of his shattered idealism, he consciously embarks on a quest to seek the truth secret in Elsi noe this, in stark contrast to Claudius fervent attempts to obscure the truth of murder. Deception versus truth illusion versus reality. In the play, Prince Hamlet is constantly having to differentiate amongst them. However, in that location is always an exception to the rule, and in this case, the exception lies in Act 2, Scene 2, where an honest conversation (sans the gilded trappings of deception) takes place between Hamlet and Rosenkrantz and Guildenstern. Via the expenditure of prose and figurative language, Shakespeare utilizes the passage to illustrate Hamlets view of the cosmos and mankind. Throughout the play, the themes of illusion and mendaciousness have been carefully developed. The entire royal Danish court is ensnared in a web of espionage, betrayal, and lies. Not a single man speaks his mind, nor addresses his purpose clearly. As Polonius puts it so perfectly And thus do we of wisdom and of reach By indirections convey directions out Act 2, Scene 2, Lines 71-3 The many falsehoods and deceptions uttered in Hamlet are expressed through eloquent, formal, poetic language (iambic pentameter), tantamount to an art form. If deceit is a painted, ornate subject then, its foil of truth is simple and unvarnished. Accordingly, when the pretenses of illusion are discarded in Act 2, Scene 2, the language is written in direct prose. Addressing Rosenkrantz and Guildenstern, Hamlet pleads with them to deliver up honest speech about the intent of their arrival offer up Anything but to th purpose. Act 2, Scene 2, Line 300 In a gesture of extreme significance, in a quote complementary to Polonius aforemen tioned one, Hamlet demands Be even and direct with me whether you were sent for or no. Act 2, Scene 2, Lines 310-11 Being the bumbling fools they are, Rosenkrantz and Guildenstern disclose their intentions and purposes to Hamlet, revealing the King and Queens instructions. Thus does truth prevail in this passage. For this reason, the whole passage is devoid of the perverted poetic devices that are used in the better portion of the play. The recurring motif of corruption also appears in the passage.