Selective Perception in Shakespeares Hamlet Essay -- Shakespeare Haml

Selective Perception in Shakespeares crossroads From the end of Act I, the point at which Hamlet judges it may be prudent to feign hallucination - to put an antic trend on (I.v.181) - much of the first half of the play concerns characters trying to make up ones mind why the princes melancholy has evolved into seeming insanity. Each of the major players in Elsinore has a subjective impression of the reason for Hamlets madness indeed, in each of these misconceptions on that point is an element of the truth. At the same time, however, the nature of these selective perceptions provides insight into the characters who smorgasbord them. And finally, these varied perspectives are nonable in their effect upon the dynamic of the involution between Hamlet and Claudius, and upon the kings increasing paranoia. Long before the encounter with the spot turns Hamlets vague suspicions into something approaching certainty (I.v.1-113), Claudius views Hamlet not as a madman, bu t as a threat to the security of his rule and perhaps his life. This is evident from their first scene, in which Claudius publicly denounces Hamlets unmanly grief (I.ii.94) as a fault to heaven (l.101) Claudius seems to be undermining Hamlets popular support by painting him as unworthy to rule. Even in the face of his courts attempts to dismantle the very cause of Hamlets lunacy (II.ii.49), Claudius initial convictions are never shaken. homogeneous the new(prenominal) characters, Claudius has his own motives for believing as he does like the other characters, his beliefs are subject to manipulative reinforcement by the plays events. Moreover, the speculation regarding Hamlets madness serves only to convince the king that Hamlet is not mad, and th... ...nnate guilt and paranoia leave alone not let him view Hamlet any other way. This view of Claudius character is integral to the resolution of the tragic sequence while, in the end, Claudius paranoia is not enough to save his life, it is certainly sufficient to ensure that no one else escapes the conflict unscathed. Works Cited Bevington, David, ed. The Complete Works of Shakespeare. 4th ed. New York Longman-Addison Wesley Longman, 1997. Bradley, A.C. Shakespearean Tragedy Lectures on Hamlet, Othello, King Lear, Macbeth. London Macmillan, 1967. Hamlet. Prod. Dyson Lovell. Dir. Franco Zeffirelli. Warner Brothers, 1990. Hamlet, Prince of Denmark. British Broadcasting Corp. Prod. Cedric Messina. Dir. Rodney Bennett. Time-Life Films, 1978. Shakespeare, William. Hamlet, Prince of Denmark. Bevington 1060-1116.