Real Eyes Realize Real Lies Essay Example

Real Eyes Realize Real Lies Essay Example Real Eyes Realize Real Lies Essay Real Eyes Realize Real Lies Essay Everything is not always what it seems. Such a cliche holds especially true in Shakespeare’s play, Hamlet, where a young prince sets out to uncover the truth behind his father’s death. Along the way, Hamlet discovers the deceiving facades characters put up to hide their true opinions and actions. The Denmark kingdom, which appears to be in good health, is, in reality, decaying from the inside out from all the fabrications composed within its walls. While Hamlet is on his search for the truth he not only gets caught up in the lies which impede him from taking action, but he also must himself turn to trickery and act mad to fool everyone else, as well as realize that the more sense one tries to find in people the less is actually distinguishable. Prior to the play’s opening, King Hamlet was found to be dead in his garden. The kingdom writes it off as a natural cause, but when the King’s ghost pays a visit to Hamlet he reveals the unnatural, twisted ploy which was his murder, saying, â€Å"Upon my secure hour thy uncle stole, with juice of cursed hebona in a vial, and in the porches of my ears did pour the leprous distilment† (Act 1 Scene 5). With this revelation of treachery Hamlet is obligated to expose the true events which took place and avenge his beloved father’s death. However, while Hamlet is ready to rid the kingdom of its weeds, he still isn’t completely convinced of his uncle’s guilt and must devise a plan to know the truth within the web of lies he now sees in the kingdom, claiming that â€Å"the play’s the thing wherein I’ll catch the conscience of the king† (Act 2 Scene 2). Because of his skepticism of the ghost’s claims, Hamlet is barred from taking any quick action, which is ultimately his biggest downfall. He doesn’t trust the ghost, criticizing that â€Å"the spirit that [he has] seen may be a devil† (Act 2 Scene 2). His doubt draws out his resolute and allows the new king, his uncle, to counterattack, proving a fatal end to the whole kingdom. Hamlet knows not â€Å"seems†, he behaves with his feelings exposed for the world to see, telling his mother that â€Å"Nay, it IS† (Act 1 Scene 2), but when he discovers the filth festering itself within his own family he too must resort to taking on a different appearance than what reality holds. To catch the king in his guilt Hamlet must himself cloak his intentions with a cover of madness as to not let anyone suspect the knowledge he now possesses of his uncle. He tells his friends that â€Å"how strange or odd some’er [he] bears [himself] that [they] at such times seeing [him], never shall†¦note that [they] know aught of [him]† (Act 1 Scene 5). He himself then adds to the falsehood spreading within the kingdom, he appears to have gone crazy over his father’s death, but in all reality this mask he puts on is to suppress the truth he holds. Others are suspicious of Hamlet’s actions, deeming that â€Å"though this be madness, yet there is method in’t† (Act 2 Scene 2) and from their suspicion arises a fear that backfires onto Hamlet’s plan; he acts crazy but through his madness the king delves into the reasoning behind it, claiming â€Å"there’s something in his soul o’er which his melancholy sits on brood, and I do doubt the hatch and the disclose will be some danger† (Act 3 Scene 1). His facade of what is actually going on, as well as King Claudius’, muddies the water and doesn’t enable anyone to see the aims of others, hindering the accuracy of the actions they take against one another. Moreover, Hamlet does not appear to go mad only after his father, but also over the loss of affection from his love, Ophelia. To his family, as well as hers, his admiration for the fair Ophelia shows that his intent is to woo her and seduce her, which he very well may have already. But when he learns of her death the appearance that everyone saw of his manners towards her were actually genuine and he had loved her truly, exclaiming that â€Å"forty thousand brothers could not with all their quantity of love make up [his] sum† (Act 5 Scene 1). It is because of the prior appearance of immoral ends which Ophelia’s father and brother witnessed and took to be reality, where they instructed her to ignore Hamlet. This rejection of him, which led to her own rejection in turn, coupled with her father’s death, carves the path to her suicide and Hamlet’s motivation to finish the King once and for all at the fencing match. Yet another deceit in Hamlet’s course to justice is the obstacles that block his way to killing Claudius when he finally sees the truth with his own eyes. Hamlet steals into Claudius’ room and plans to slay him, but discovers the King allegedly repenting for his sins. He backs out of his plan of action as to not let the King go to heaven, but when he leaves it is revealed to the audience that the King’s appearance of asking God for forgiveness was all fake, saying â€Å"my words fly up, my thoughts remain below. Words without thoughts never to heaven go† (Act 3 Scene 4), he did not go through with it and could very well have been killed by Hamlet if Hamlet had known the truth. Instead Hamlet chooses to further delay his action because killing the king in rayer would be â€Å"hire and salary, not revenge† (Act 3 Scene 3). Hamlet has lost his chance to do away with the King because of the concealments that stood in the way; and it is not until his dual with Laertes that Hamlet can end the nightmare he lives in, although it is now too late. He has lost everything he has loved; his father, Ophelia, his mother, e ven himself. As his life fades he finally attains the courage to put aside what appears to be and what really is and focus solely on committing the endeavor he was duty-driven to carry out. Deceit and waiting for the truth to appear and be deciphered is the greatest downfall of the Denmark kingdom. Hamlet keeps waiting for all the pieces to fall into place so that he may execute his plan to avenge his father, but as time drags on it becomes apparent that, with so many lies circulating, the truth is fogged and will never be untangled in time. While Hamlet is trying to get to the bottom of things he misses out on the fact that others are taking action with the facts they have, not the absolute truth. His unwillingness to act quickly without the truth in place, instead waiting for the cloudiness to settle, is the demise of himself and his father’s kingdom, which was what he was trying to protect and bring back to health all along. He fails this single task, taking the lives of all of his family and surrendering the throne to Norway, all because he kept searching in vain for the realities. But realities are constantly changing and keep on taking deceiving appearances all around him, so his story remains as a tragic tale of how fraudulences can tear not only a kingdom but also a family apart.