Appearance Vs. Reality

The struggle of distinguishing appearance from reality is one that has always been prevalent among us, and will continue to be such in the future. Thus, this struggle can be related to by all. In Hamlet, Shakespeare makes this quite a strong theme. Appearances are often deceiving, no matter what the situation may be, and should never be accepted as being real. Though something appears to be a certain way, it is not necessarily that …

…is is shown in the betrayal by certain characters that other characters are oblivious to. The final highly contributing factor to the development of this theme is that of relationship misinterpretations. Several times throughout the play, the relationships between various people are quite misunderstood. Many of the relationships appear to be a certain way, when in actuality they are not like that at all. Thus, Shakespeare's Hamlet truly demonstrates that appearances can definitely be deceiving.