One of the most popular forms if orny used in literature, dramatic irony, involves the audience knowing events or facts before the actual characters knowing it. This can be created through suspense, third person omniscient narration, or through other characters deceiving each other. In the form of deception, characters often deceive others in order to benefit themselves, or sometimes “protect” someone else. In Shakespeare’s play, Hamlet, Hamlet attempts to live past one lie at a time. The multitude of lies staggered onto him, including the cause of his father’s death, as well as how much he is truly being carefully surveyed, forces him to create his own deception. In his attempt to survive through the use of clever lies towards his opposition, Hamlet himself is lost in his own set of lies. As a result, Shakespeare attempts to prove that ultimately, no matter the intention, lies only end up being harmful to both the one creating the lies, and the one falling victim to this web of lies.
Shakespeare clearly begins building the motif of deception and Hamlet’s negative views towards the act. Hamlet is clearly upset with his mother throughout the novel, even in her death, as he berates her for marrying another man so quickly after their father’s death. Furthermore, he believes that she has no emotions or feelings towards her husband’s death, as she shows no remorse or sorrow. In fact, most of the kingdom does not bother mourning his death. Hamlet himself is the only one with an “inky cloak” yet even he believes his mourning outward appearance cannot “denote [him], truly” (1. 2. 80). Despite the fact that Queen Gertrude and King Claudius can clearly discern that Hamlet is visibly upset, Shakespeare uses the specific diction of the word denote, to denote that Hamlet has never been more lost. Denote means indicate, not explicitly say. By Hamlet saying that his sadness does not even indicate how close to true sorrow he is, Hamlet is portrayed as close to his father and extremely emotional. This is a unique form of deception that Shakespeare uses, as Hamlet berates even himself for not being able to shed tears over his father. In this situation, Hamlet deceives not only those around him by attempting to convince other people that he is truly depressed over the death of his father, but as he attempts to convince himself that he cared about his father. In actuality, Hamlet is similar to more of a brooding teenager, as he finds any reason to attempt to be depressed. Through this self deception, Hamlet attempts to convince himself that he has a true motive to avenge his father, yet he clearly struggles over whether or not he should murder King Claudius the whole time, as he is truly unsure as to how much he cared for his father’s revenge. If anything, the one thing pushing him near the end is not the thought of avenging his father’s murder, but the ideal that he would be able to become king and no longer have to live under Claudius’s reign.
Shakespeare later emphasizes this idea that Hamlet is lying to himself, when he has a father figure towards children Hamlet’s age in Polonius, who believes that one must “to thine own self be true,” and that “Thou canst not then be false to any man,” (1.3.84-86). Again, there is irony in Polonius’s words. The man who says one should not deceive any man, attempts to deceive all men, including his very own son in changing people’s opinions of him. Although he knows the consequences that are involved with lying through your teeth, Polonius is too tempted by the false sense of security and swiftness with which deception can bring to one. Instead of attempting to solve his problems by guiding his children, he deceives others to give himself and them a better name. In the end, his attempt to figure out what Hamlet wants with Ophelia ends up with death, as Shakespeare proves for the first time his ideals on deception.
Shakespeare ending Hamlet with a tragedy is caused by many things, but it starts with the deception of King Claudius and ends with deceit on the part of nearly every single character in the cast. By having the Laertes end his life with the line “I am justly killed with mine own treachery,” it is impossible to misinterpret Shakespeare’s overall tone and message regarding treachery (5.2.337). Describing any kill as “just” proves that Shakespeare believes that death itself is a consequence of any form of deceit. Although Laertes could blame it on Claudius for lying to Hamlet, Hamlet for pretending to be insane while actually being sane and planning Claudius’s death, Claudius for killing Hamlet Senior, his father for unnecessarily spreading false rumors about him, or Claudius again for attempting to use Laertes to kill another man, Shakespeare purposefully has Laertes blame himself and only himself to further extend his ideal that self deception is the most powerful form of deception in that it is the most self blinding. Every character who is killed has lied another, but more importantly themself, in one way or another. Even Ophelia, who deluded herself into thinking that love with Hamlet could be possible with her parents and brother looming over her every decision, ultimately pays the price with her life. As such a negative character trait and action in every sense, Shakespeare rightfully portrays deception as damaging to all people’s.
His point culminates in the end of the play, in which he finally reveals that self deception can cause nothing but death. While in Hamlet, this death is clearly a physical death, it could also represent a spiritual, social, or mental death, as one attempts to lie their way out of every situation. In Hamlet’s case, while he does eventually die a physical death, his mental death arrived long before his physical, as in attempting to appear deranged, Hamlet actually went mad. In the end, each character has no one to blame but themselves.