Abuse Of Power In Hamlet

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In Shakespeare’s Hamlet, the lead character is consumed with the world of acting and theater, utilizing it as a means of escaping his own reality and influencing those around him. Hamlet uses a play-within-the-play to manipulate and deceive the inner emotions of his uncle Claudius, a means of emotionally triggering him into feeling guilt for the murder of his father. Hamlet believes that the theatre is the most powerful source of control over human emotions, using the drama conveyed within his plays to push his own moral subtexts. Theatre is a source of indirect power for him, presenting the audience with an unfinished puzzle for them to work through and interpret, all the while slowly guiding them along the way. Hamlet does not act himself …show more content…
To compensate for this he utilizes the full power and influence of his actors and plays, manipulating them like malleable clay to show the world his inner thoughts. Hamlet’s obsession with acting and its power as a means of deception is born from his interaction with Claudius and his attempt to deceive the kingdom after murdering Hamlet’s father. At the beginning of the play, Claudius, the new ruler of the kingdom of Elsinore, …show more content…
Hamlet directs the players, manipulating their personalities to fit the role of the play, to evoke emotions from the audience in plant seeds in their minds. The power of their acting will again be used as a tool for deception, however this deception will be used to provoke Claudius into a confession. Hamlet uses acting here to unearth the truth while Claudius was using acting before to mask the truth. Despite his own inability to act because he is unable to hide and control his raw emotions, Hamlet has feels that acting is significant as seen when he directs. Hamlet portrays his strong faith in the players whom he trusts will sway Claudius’s conscience, making him feel guilt for his murder. After the play ends, concluding with the death of the main character by poison in the ear, Claudius leaves saying, “give me some light, away!” By retelling the same story of how Claudius killed King Hamlet, Hamlet is evoking
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