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Anthony Donaldson
Mr. Kane
AP English 4, 6
10 December 2013
The Role of Logic in Hamlet
Mothers all over the world do not approve of lying. Disney concurs, adding the mandate
to be true to yourself. William Shakespeare agrees with Disney in his play Hamlet. First of all,
deception is naturally the basis for the tragedy, moving the plot along. It is not strange that
characters lie to one another in Hamlet. However, it is when characters deceive themselves that
tragedy occurs. An act of self-deception has the sole purpose of circumventing logic as a flaw.
For instance, Hamlet believes he only acts insane while he is truly insane, allowing him to be
insane without having the ability to have restraint. Meanwhile, Claudius believes he is repentant
despite his thirst for power, letting him live with himself. Laertes believes he wants revenge
despite contradictory words, and Gertrude believes her marriage is normal despite the
controversy, letting her continue with her life. In William Shakespeares Hamlet, the characters
Hamlet, Claudius, Laertes, and Gertrude inadvertently kill themselves through self-deception.
The foremost lie in Hamlet is Hamlets insanity. Hamlet reveals to Horatio that he will
act insane so his plot against Claudius would not be apparent. How strange or odd soe'er I bear
myself, / As I, perchance, hereafter shall think meet/ To put an antic disposition on (1.5.170-
172). He begins with a lie to everyone except for Horatio for the purpose of revenge, perhaps a
justifiable cause. However, the lines between sanity and insanity are blurred for Hamlet
throughout most of the play. For instance, he sees the ghost in the closet scene while Gertrude
cannot see it, implying he is hallucinating. In addition, Hamlet kills Polonius in a "fit of
madness" (5.2.236-250), and does not disclose where he hides the body for no reason. Despite
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this evidence for Hamlets insanity, it could be argued that Hamlet is sane throughout the play if
he is sane to begin with. However, that is not certain. Hamlet begins as a moody teenager, an
anguished soul who cries out His canon 'gainst self-slaughter! O God! God (1.2.132)! If it is
impossible to know if Hamlet is sane, it is not far-removed to say Hamlet does not know either.
Instead of acting insane, Hamlet is insane which makes his remark to Horatio an act of self-
deception. Because Hamlet does not know he is insane, he has difficulty correcting his behavior
which leads to his death. For instance, Hamlet refrains from killing Claudius at an opportune
time in order to delay the inevitable. In waiting, Hamlet kills his mother as well as himself for no
logical reason. He gives the following reason, though it seems more like an excuse. "The spirit I
have seen/May be a devil, and the devil hath power to assume a pleasing shape" (2.2.600).
Instead of killing Claudius in the chapel, he makes excuses that allow him to procrastinate. In
some regards, Hamlet is not too dissimilar from a college student. College student procrastinate
on reddit, telling themselves there is enough time to study when that is a blatant lie. Likewise,
Hamlet spends time pondering his existence and disturbing his friends/family, telling himself
that he will get around to satisfying his desire for vengeance someday.
Claudius appears to have a problem opposite to Hamlets: Claudius takes action too
quickly. Claudius deceives himself into thinking he cannot repent for King Hamlets murder. He
exclaims in his soliloquy, Try what repentance can: what can it not?/ Yet what can it when one
can not repent?/ O wretched state! O bosom black as death! (3.3.65-67). There cannot be a more
delusional statement than this. Claudius believes he is repentant despite his excuse of enjoying
being king and his wife too much to lose. Surely there is a way for a king to step down and give
the throne to an heir to the throne. However, Claudius abandons his attempt repentance at the
first stumbling block for a false peace of mind. Instead, he asks for help from angels, outsourcing
even his repentance. However, Claudius does not deserve peace of mind. That is made apparent
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when Hamlet murders Claudius despite the precautions Claudius takes, or when Claudius is
shown to be guilty of his brothers murder. Claudius false sense of repentance and kingliness
may make him feel as if he is pure and lead him to use others to do his dirty work, consisting
primarily of killing Hamlet. However, Claudius cannot trust anyone except for himself. Laertes
reveals Claudius plot and the pirates lose Hamlet, indicating he ought not to trust others to do
his dirty work. Even when Claudius tries to poison Hamlet, that plot fails due to defiance from
his wife. Rather, Claudius is better off when he does his own dirty work. People like Laertes are
horrible at being pawns.
Laertes volunteers to be a pawn for Claudius due to his fathers death. Specifically,
Laertes deceives himself into thinking he cares about his fathers death. Laertes, a college
student in France, is convinced he must return to the castle Elsinore to protect his familys honor.
That drop of blood that's calm proclaims me bastard,/ Cries cuckold to my father, brands the
harlot/ Even here (4.5.118-120) Instead of becoming calm as Claudius suggests, Laertes is
concerned more with the appearances he would give off rather than real affection for his father.
The entire concept of revenge is based on retaliation for a past injury. However, Laertes is never
wronged because his fathers death does not impact him emotionally. Instead, Laertes
approaches his fathers death as something that must be retaliated for, simply for appearances.
Therefore, Laertes does not truly seek out revenge. And since his quest for revenge brings him
to death, Laertes self-deception brings him death. The same is true for Gertrude.
Gertrude dies as a result of self-deception on Claudius. It is safe to assume Gertrude
knows Claudius is responsible for her late husbands death. First of all, Gertrude has an affair
with Claudius while King Hamlet is alive. If Gertrudes remarrying a month after his death is not
enough, the ghost also lends to the idea Gertrude cheats on King Hamlet because it references
Claudius as that incestuous, that adulterate beast (1.5.42). Though it is unlikely Gertrude is
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involved with King Hamlets murder, she knows how wrong it is to marry the brother of her
dead husband. Gertrude responds to Hamlets criticism by saying, O Hamlet, speak no more:/
Thou turn'st mine eyes into my very soul;/ And there I see such black and grained spots/ As will
not leave their tinct (3.4.88-91). Gertrude chooses to ignore the Claudius wrongdoings, directly
leading to her death by Claudius poison. She disregards Claudius murderous side, leading her
to trust Claudius enough not to plot to kill her son. However, that assumption is false and the
poisoned wine is what brings her to her death. Her self-deception brings her to her toxic death in
other words.
Though Gertrude, Laertes, Claudius, and Hamlet all die of each others various poisons,
it is important to see what chain of events have to occur for their deaths to make sense. In each
characters life, there is at the very least one act of self-deception. Though lies are not deadly
more often than not, lying to oneself is a serious issue from which it is difficult to recover. Self-
deception is designed and used to bypass reason. Students and employees from all over the world
have been using it to justify wasting time. Nothing good can come from that as it made apparent
in Hamlet. For instance, Hamlet becomes insane sometime during his act, demonstrating strange
behavior by the end of the play. However, Claudius thinks he is repentant despite the fact he is
not willing to give his power up. Laertes says he wants revenge despite his stated intention of
proving he is not a bastard child, and Gertrude believes her marriage to the kings brother a
month after the kings death is normal. Clearly, there are issues in logic for each character, and
that is what sends to their deaths. Each character applies self-deception to different facets of their
lives, compensating for some past fault. So when the Disney channel says Be true to yourself,
listen.