I.

Introduction
A. Lord Acton once said: “Power tends to corrupt; absolute power corrupts absolutely.”
B. The guise of love is a powerful tool for manipulating others. It isn’t love that runs the
world however; it is power.

C. I will discuss the appearances of family and romantic love on the part of the characters
and compare this behaviour to the power struggle between the central hero and villain.

D. Deception in Hamlet is conceived by characters’ appearance of being loving, when their

truer motives are to wield power.

II. Body
A. The appearance of Familial Love:
 Claudius as deceiver: Father and Brother (1.2)
o Underway in only two months since Old Hamlet’s death "With mirth in
funeral, and with dirge in marriage" (1.2.12). Hamlet’s father is "..freely
gone / With this affair along”. Claudius, Old Hamlet’s brother, has
married Gertrude, with no consideration for his nephew/son’s emotions.
It also appears that Gertrude had been unfaithful to her vows taken to
Old Hamlet. (1.2.15-16). The members of the court accept this union
without question. Claudius asks Hamlet to stay, but his motives are not
clear.
 Gertrude as immoral mother
o Gertrude misidentifies the source of Hamlet’s grief “Seek for thy noble
father in the dust./ Thou know'st 'tis common; all that lives must die”
(1.2.73-75) while she ignores the context of her situation, described as
“incestuous” (1.2.57) and “stewed in corruption” (3.4.84–85)
o She is able to identify the grief she has caused her son “it is not other but
the main —His father’s death and our o’erhasty marriage.” (2.2.56–57)
but never acts to correct her actions

B. The appearance of Romantic Love

 Gertrude / Claudius – Claudius, the dashing new King to Queen Gertrude, uses
manipulation techniques to control his subjects, usually as the form of a devout
and righteous man, after already having committed murder to ascend to the
throne.
o Claudius will not relinquish his crown, admitting “My fault is past. But O,
what form of prayer/ Can serve my turn? Forgive me my foul murder?”
(3.4.52-53) proving he is unwilling to be truly virtuous
  Hamlet / Ophelia – Hamlet is pivotal in Ophelia’s descent into mania, and
eventual suicide
o “God has given you one face and you make yourselves another.”
(3.1.143); a notion he later regrets, as it was in his pursuit of capturing
Claudius, his prime motive in the story. “forty thousand brothers / Could
not, with all their quantity of love, / make up my sum” (5.1.254–256)

C. The Realities of Power, Claudius vs. Hamlet

 The Mousetrap Plot – The reality of Hamlet and Claudius’s struggle must be
proven to Hamlet before he can remove the King from his throne. Hamlet
cleverly devises the Mousetrap plot. He does not act from love, but power, in
the form of revenge.
o “The play's the thing/ Wherein I'll catch the conscience of the King.”
(2.2.601) so that
 In response to Hamlet’s erratic behaviour, Claudius approves Laertes’s desire to
have Hamlet killed, and once again Claudius utilizes his manipulative abilities to
engage Hamlet in a swordfight, so he may be struck and poisoned.
o “Now must your conscience my acquaintance seal/ And you must put me
in your heart for friend/ Sith you have heard, and with a knowing ear
/That he which hath your noble father slain /Pursued my life.” (4.7.1-5)

III. Conclusion
A. The façade put forth by the characters ultimately ends in their mutual destruction; all
while under the influence of their wish to control others.
B. This was shown by the illusion of family and romantic love, as well as the reality of the
two main characters, whose stakes were much higher as they fought for power over
one another.
C. Because Claudius premeditated and acted upon his desire for power of Denmark,
Hamlet was spurred by the ghost of his father, to take back power, using revenge.
Ultimately, everyone around them suffered horribly. To act with true intentions is a
much more virtuous way of life, that is free of suffering.