Date sent:        Mon, 29 Apr 1996 13:29:21 -0400

          The Role of Sight and Appearance in Developing the Major Themes of Hamlet
                                                                                            
                                                                                            
                                                                                            
                                                                                            
                                                                                                             
 One of the most integral themes in William Shakespeare's play Hamlet is the dichotomy of
 outward appearance in inward reality, which is to say that people often hide their true
 intentions and emotions behind a completely different facade.  Thus, in the text there are
 many allusions to the eyes and sight, because the appearance of things, according to the
 play, are inherently deceiving.  We find words like: mirror, painting, picture, costume,
 mask and makeup prevalent throughout because they represent a feigning of reality.  Hamlet
 recognizes outward appearance as the "mask" that people hide behind, and subsequently he
 spends much of his time trying to remove the "masks" of the characters in this play,
 particularly those of Gertrude and Claudius.  The phrase to "put on" is also repeated many
 times in this play, because it carries the double meaning, to dress oneself and to pretend.
  Hamlet, in an attempt to divert attention from himself with the hope of concealing his
 plans to revenge the murder of his father, decides "To put an antic disposition on,"(Act I,
 Scene 5, Line 172) which subsequently leads Claudius to contemplate why his nephew "puts on
 this confusion."(Act III, Scene 1, Line 2)  Both of these quotations seem to support the
 notion that behavior is a costume that one wears as a means of hiding their true identity.
 There are many references to paintings and artwork in this play because they represent an
 artificially sweetened view of reality.  Art, in this play, seems to serve as an imitator
 of reality, it doesn't necessarily perfect or idealize it, it merely puts a good face on
 it.  Hamlet, in spurning Ophelia for being deceptive and lacking virtue, says, "I have
 heard of your paintings well enough.  God/ hath given you one face, and you make yourselves
 another."(Act III, Scene 1, Lines 141-2)  Hamlet also uses artwork in an attempt to provoke
 an outward expression of guilt by Gertrude by holding up pictures of Claudius and his
 father and saying, "Look here upon this picture, and on this,/ The counterfeit presentment
 of two brothers.,"(Act III, Scene 4, Lines 53-5)  The word counterfeit also seems to carry
 a double meaning here, one is obviously meant to indicate that it is an artistic
 representation which differs from reality, and the other seems to allude to Claudius'
 complete betrayal of his own brother.  Hamlet also requires Gertrude to see her own
 reflection in a mirror because it is commonly believed that someone who is overwhelmed with
 guilt and grief cannot bear to see their own reflection.  All of Hamlets attempts to
 "unmask" Gertrude's guilty conscious seem to work when she says, "O Hamlet speak no more!/
 Thou turn'st my [eyes into my very] soul,./ And there I see such black and grained spots/
 And will [not] leave their tinct."( Act III, Scene 4, Lines 88-91) I have already sited an
 example of the word mirror used in the play, but there are many more, because it has an
 ambiguous meaning.  To mirror can be thought of as a way of reflecting of thinking, because
 as Hamlet says "there is nothing either/ good or bad, but thinking makes it so."(Act II,
 Scene 2, Lines 245-6)  Hamlet making Gertrude look into the mirror is a symbolic way of 
 requiring her to reflect on her shameful actions.  Hamlet is imprisoned by his own thought
 which inhibits his ability to act on his vow to revenge the murder of his father, because
 upon reflection he realizes that he is "miscast" in the role of revenger. Hamlet uses the
 play "Murther of Gonzago," to mirror the murder of the King, in an attempt to "unmask"
 Claudius by provoking him to outwardly express a profession of guilt.  Hamlet explains that
 the "purpose of playing...was and is, to hold as 'twere the mirror up to nature,"(Act III,
 Scene 2, Lines 16-20) and the role of an actor is merely to be a dissembler.  This  is
 ironic, because that assertion supports the theory that art is truer than life, because on
 the stage outward appearance is the only reality, so the audience knows exactly what the
 players are thinking and what motivates them to action.  Hamlet is successful in uncovering
 Claudius' facade of innocence with the "play within the play," but in so doing Hamlet has
 also inadvertently revealed his knowledge of Claudius' wrong-doing.  In making Lucianus
 "nephew to the king," in the play, he not only reveals Claudius' guilty secret but also his
 own plans of revenge.  Hamlet sees himself and Claudius as polar opposites, but the play
 seems to reveal a disturbing similarity between the two.(1)  Lucianus is meant to serve as
 an image of Claudius, but ironically the player seems to be more accurately an image of
 Hamlet, and his plans of revenge. In holding the mirror up to the court with the "play
 within the play," Hamlet is forced to realize that retribution for his father's death will
 make him a murderer just like his lecherous uncle.  This realization makes action
 problematic because to revenge is to punish a crime by mirroring it, which is nothing more
 than a pathetic form of imitation.(2)  Hamlet, who is described by Ophelia as "The glass of
 fashion and the mould of form,' Th' observ'd of all observers,"(Act III, Scene 1, Lines
 152-3) which quite simply means the object of other's imitation, would become an imitator
 rather than the imitated if he was to revenge.  In Act V, Hamlet is not only parodies
 Orsic's fawning and overwhelming praise of Laertes by saying: "his/ sembable is his mirror,
 and who else would trace him, his/ umbrage, nothing more.,"(Act V, Scene 2, Lines 114-15)
 but he is also revealing his realization that imitation is a desperate "cue" for action.(3)
  That's perhaps why in the end Hamlet murders Claudius as a result of his mother's death
 and his own immanent death, and not only as an act of revenge for the murder of his
 father.(4) Another important theme with respect to sight is the ability of outward
 appearance to change inward reality and the inability of inward reality to change outward
 appearance.  Nietzsche, profoundly and quite simply, states that what something is called
 is different from what it is.(5)  Hamlet explains his understanding of this seemingly
 paradoxical idea when he says to Ophelia: "Ay, truly, for the power of beauty will sooner
 transform/ honesty from what it is to a baud than the force of/ honesty can translate
 beauty into his likeness,"(Act III, Scene 1, Lines 110-12_ which is meant to show the
 ability of beauty to corrupt truth.  Thus, for example, a virtuous and faithful married man
 can easily fall victim to the overwhelming power of beauty, and subsequently succumb to
 infidelity.  One's own outward appearance also has the ability to change their inward
 reality, because if a person plays a "role" for a long enough time, their feigning will
 inherently become their truth.  Perhaps that is why Hamlet tells Gertrude to "Assume a
 virtue, if you have it not,"(Act III, Scene 4, Line 160) in the hope that if she acts
 virtuous she will eventually evolve into actually being virtuous.  I think that a good
 example to support this point is OJ Simpson, whom I wholeheartedly believe is guilty of
 murdering his wife, but since he has professed his innocence for such a long time, I think
 he has honestly coaxed himself into truly believing that he didn't do it.  Therefore, in
 Act V Hamlet ceases his quest to "unmask" inner truths of others, and accepts appearance as
 the only reality. Hamlet's search and subsequent inability to comprehend the inner workings
 of others causes him to become completely pessimistic and narcissistic, because he is the
 only person that he can truly understand.  He is forced to believe that the nature of the
 world is and enigma, never to be solved, and that life is merely a series of painful
 experiences which one is forced to endure.  The only aspect of nature that Hamlet knows for
 certain in the end, is that all things that live must die.  The portrait I paint of Hamlet
 is by no means intended to idealize him as am innocent paragon of virtue whose death can
 only be attributed to the disillusionment of a perfect man in an imperfect world, because
 such is obviously not the case.  After all, Hamlet is a cynical solipsist throughout the
 play, who is directly guilty of murdering Polonius and indirectly responsible for the death
 of Ophelia.  The main problem Hamlet is forced to face is his inability to play the "role"
 of a revenger, which requires one to act brashly and passionately, thus, the temperate and
 pensive Hamlet has obviously been "miscast."  At first he believes that he can obtain a
 "cue" for action as long as he is able to provoke an outward expression of guilt by
 Claudius, but the "play within the play" only makes him realize that he would be lowering
 himself to Claudius' level by imitating his crime.  Hamlet wants desperately to act purely
 on an instinctual level, feeding purely upon emotion, but as he knows it would be
 completely out of his character to do so.  Finally, when he has enough animosity and
 vindictive emotion to abandon reflection and temperance for thoughtless action, he ends up
 killing Polonius, mistaking him for Claudius when he hears a voice behind the "arras" in
 Gertrude's chambers, which ironically seems to support Hamlet's need for visual
 affirmation.  In the end Hamlet has inadvertently condemned himself to death, but at this
 point of the play he is prepared to die, because he had tried too hard and for too long to
 understand the mysteries the world, while neglecting the responsibilities of his own
 actions, and he would rather have Horatio tell his story as a lesson to others.            

















                                                             Bibliography                   
                                                                                            
                                                                                1)  Bradley,
                                                             A.C., Shakepearean Tragedy
                                                             1904.  Reprint.  New York:
                                                             Fawcett, 1965.
2)  Cohen, Michael.  Hamlet In My Mind's Eye. 1943.  Reprint. Athens: The University of
Georgia Press, 1989.                                                                        
                                                           3) Russell, John.  Hamlet and
Narcissus.  1949.  Reprint.  Toronto:  Associated University Press, 1995. 4)  Scott, David
Kastan.  Critical Essays On Shakespeare's Hamlet. 1984.  University of Miami Press.
















                                                                    Endnotes
1)  Scott, David Kastan.  Critical Essays On Shakespeare's Hamlet.  Page 199
2)  Ibid Page 199
3)  Ibid Page 200
4)  Ibid Page 201
5)  Russel, John.  Hamlet and Narcissus. Page 115
