The Depravity of Humanity as Imagined in William Shakespeares Hamlet

Taylor Edwards

English B30, Period 1 Bethlehem Catholic Highschool Mr. C. Swales Monday, December, 19th, 2011

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The classic tragic drama Hamlet is a play written by the famous playwright William Shakespeare. The play begins with the beloved Prince of Denmark, Hamlet, uncovering a plot that usurped his fathers throne. The specter of his father reveals that Hamlets uncle, Claudius, murdered him with poison, stole his wife, Gertrude, and his throne. Hamlet tells his good friend Horatio in secrecy that he will play the part of a madman to see if there is any truth in the words of the shade. During his quest for what really happened, the Prince discovers the true nature of those around him and the events surrounding his fathers death. Towards the end, Hamlet finally begins to overcome the procrastination that has plagued him from the beginning. As a result, he sets off a violent confrontation in which many of the main characters, including the plays Tragic Hero, meet their end. Hamlet is a play that demonstrates the human condition by examining madness, deception and control. Madness is a prevalent aspect of the play Hamlet that manifests itself in many ways. While some of the madness is supposedly faked, some of it is indeed very real. Hamlets love interest, Ophelia, begins to lose her grip on sanity when things begin to go awry for her. Appalled by the increasingly erratic behavior of Hamlet (which stems from his madness), she is finally pushed over the edge by the sudden and accidental murder of her father, Polonius, by Hamlet. In her grief she commits suicide, proving that her sanity was truly lost. While Ophelias insanity was real, Hamlets was not, at least not at first. He tries to act increasingly distraught and consumed with grief over the recent death of his father in order to learn the circumstances of his death, but the more he wears the mask, the more it becomes him. Not where he [Polonius] eats, but where he is eaten Your fat king and your lean beggar is but variable

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service two dishes, but to one table.(IV.iii.19-24). Hamlets witty wordplay illustrates well his madness, as a normal person would probably be horrified by their own actions, rather than resorting to morbid jokes. More so then madness, the idea of deception surfaces frequently, and is the very foundation upon which the play is built. Almost every single character in Hamlet uses deception at one point or another. More often than not, it is used for personal gain or to force one character to do anothers bidding. Claudius utilizes deception the most, and his lies are the main driving force behind the play, as he murdered his brother the king, and used deception to cover it up. Furthermore, throughout the play, his schemes almost always involved lies being told to one character or another in order to further his own agenda and preserve his delicate sense of security. Being almost akin to Claudius lapdog, its not surprising to learn that Polonius as well uses deception, in order to please the new king Claudius and find the truth about Hamlets recent strange actions. He creates schemes to spy upon Hamlet, and to break the relationship between his daughter Ophelia and the Prince. Where Claudius and Polonius deception is for personal gain, some is used unknowingly, or to find out a truth. Ophelia, walk you here... We will bestow ourselves. - Read on this book, that show of such an exercise may colour your loneliness.(III.i.43-46). This shows that personal gain is not the case with Ophelia, where she is influenced by her father to break ties with the Prince and lie to him, and in cause further her fathers own goals rather than her own. The arguably most important aspect of Hamlet would be Control. This tool is used frequently throughout the play, almost hand in hand with deception, and is one the main

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driving forces. Similarly to deception, Claudius utilizes control more than any other character in the play. He uses control in order to stop anyone from discovering the truth of his brothers murder, and to maintain his sense of security. However, as Claudius begins to lose control, the truth of the old kings death is confirmed to Hamlet, and the kings sense of security begins to shatter. Claudius attempts to gain back control as it slips away from him, but ironically just causes himself to lose more of it and makes things worse for everyone. A chalice for the nonce, whereon but sipping, if he [Hamlet] by chance escape your [Laertes] venomd stuck, our purpose may hold there. But stay, what noise?(IV.vii.160-162). This best shows how Claudius attempt at gaining control fails him, as he persuades Laertes to dual Hamlet with an envenomed weapon and then give him a poisoned cup of wine as a backup measure in order to kill Hamlet. Rather than causing Hamlet alone to die and restore his own control, Claudius helps cause the very opposite scenario, in which many of the main characters die, including Claudius himself. Not only does Claudius utilize control, but Polonius does as well. He attempts to control his children in order to satisfy his own selfish ends. For instance, during the first act, he gives advice to his son Laertes and his daughter Ophelia. Then, he sends a spy to follow Laertes to make sure he follows his fathers advice. The play Hamlet speaks a certain truth about the Human Condition by exploring the concepts of madness, deception and control. Madness is a central aspect that is most often faked by Hamlet to discover the truth behind his fathers death, but is seen for real in Ophelia when she loses her grip on things, and also when Hamlet actually begins to descend into madness himself. Deception is another key aspect in the play, which is used by close to every

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character in Hamlet. Claudius uses it the most, in order to further his own goals and cover up his sinister actions. Hamlet also uses deception, like madness, to find out the truth of his fathers death. Furthermore Ophelia and Polonius also use deception, although the former acts merely as a puppet rather than using deception to their own end and the latter utilizes deception to achieve their personal goals. The final and most important key idea is control. Control acts indirectly as a main driving force, and is utilized by a few characters, in particular Claudius. His struggle for control causes further strife rather than settling his shaken sense of security, and in part brings about the end of many characters in the play finale. We as humans may say many things about ourselves or what is around us, but its really our actions that dictate who we are and what legacy we leave behind.