Hamlet Response Question
Raspet 1st period
October 19, 2012
Reality and Illusion: Can being too close to a situation cloud the difference between reality and illusion? In the play Hamlet written by Shakespeare, he presents the “air of uncertainty” starting from the beginning. The central force of the entire play is based on Hamlet’s mind. He determines the direction of the conflict by his decisions regarding revenge and defining the initial outcome. In the play, Hamlet strived to seek revenge so badly. His father, King Hamlet had just been murdered and by assumption from the ghost Hamlet believes it was his uncle Claudius. Anger built up inside Prince Hamlet that is soon began to take over. His need for revenge started to cloud his views on becoming King and also affected his relationship with Ophelia. Hamlet knew revenge wasn’t right but he wanted justice to be served. Ophelia was simply falling in love with Hamlet but she was too close to the relationship to realize the truth. Hamlet seemed to be unsure of his feelings for Ophelia in the beginning of the book but once Gertrude got upset with Hamlet he began to rethink his views on their previous relationship. He let his illusions of revenge get in his head that he pushed Ophelia away. Hamlet wanted to become King for all the wrong reasons. Shortly after his father got murdered his mother married his uncle and that got his anger going. Hamlet wanted to become King so he would have an easier time killing his uncle in revenge for killing his father. Throughout the book we realize that this plot for revenge clouded the real duties of being a King. He was no longer seeking the good in things and finding ways to help his people but instead got taken over by his plan to get revenge on Claudius. Not only in Hamlet do we see illusion overtake reality. This happens all the time in the real world. Take war for example; several people have different opinions about war and they express them in many different ways. But at the end of the day they are clouding the real reasoning in which we are having a war. Another example may be a divorce or break-up. If a significant other was having an affair they other person can get very upset and believe things they want to believe and cloud the fact that things just weren’t meant to be. They may also try to lash out at the person who was having the affair with their partner and not accept the fact that it was their partners faulting to begin with. As we can see, the mind tricks that Hamlet plays on himself throughout the book are very relatable to our lives. Unfortunately for Hamlet, his illusions clouded his perception of reality tremendously in the book. Without even realizing it, Hamlet pushed the most important people out of his life all to seek revenge to someone who didn’t deserve his time. So to answer the question asked, yes I believe being too close to a situation can very easily cloud the difference between reality and illusion.
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