Hamid 1

Kalia Hamid

AP L1T

November 5th, 2018

Big wave Dave

Tricks and Traps Never Triumph

When the Greeks gifted the Trojans the Trojan Horse during the Battle of Troy, they

managed to advance soldiers past the gates and win the war. This trap is remembered and talked

about to this day. Although this trap was successful, traps often prove to be ineffective.

Throughout Hamlet, many characters devise elaborate traps intending to discover a truth or get

revenge. These traps are successful to a certain extent, but their overall outcomes prove to be

counterproductive, outweighing their practicality.

After Hamlet’s first encounter with his father's ghost, the ghost reveals that he was killed

by Claudius. Hamlet is skeptical of the ghost’s honesty, and even though Hamlet despises

Claudius, Hamlet is unsure whether the ghost was a “spirit of health or goblin damned" (I.iv.44).

The Mousetrap is Hamlet's way of determining whether or not the ghost was truthful. First, from

the Royals’ perspective, the play seems to be pure entertainment, but in reality, its’ purpose is to

discover the truth about Hamlet’s father’s ghost and death. Likewise, Claudius seems to be

innocent to Queen Gertrude and the people of Denmark; however, his innocent appearance is a

facade. The Mousetrap gives Hamlet a means of exposing the truth, even if only to himself,

“May be a devil, and the devil hath power

T’ assume a pleasing shape; yea, and perhaps,

Out of my weakness and my melancholy,

As he is very potent with such spirits,

 Hamid 2

Abuses me to damn me. I’ll have grounds

More relative than this. The play’s the thing

Wherein I’ll catch the conscience of the King" (II. ii. 561-567).

The play and Claudius's guilty reaction gives Hamlet corroboration for the ghost's story. Free of

his moral concerns, Hamlet finally feels ready to consummate his father’s avention. Claudius,

panicking descends into emotional prayer, during which he tries to repent for his sin. Hamlet,

afraid that prayer will send Claudius to Heaven and his feeling the Claudius deserves to go to

Hell, doesn't act on his newfound knowledge, internally justifying himself for procrastinating.

This play may give Hamlet the information he needs to feel secure in the fact that his uncle is his

father’s killer and to follow the ghost’s instructions, but it builds upon Hamlet's procrastinative

manners.

Following The Mousetrap, Claudius’ increasing suspicion of Hamlet leads to his

manipulation of many people, while seeking the explanation behind Hamlet’s insanity. Claudius,

Gertrude, and Polonius use Ophelia to ascertain where the origin of Hamlet’s madness lies,

believing that her rebuff of Hamlet's love is the root. Gertrude solely wants her son to return to

his normal state of being, so she wants to trust that Ophelia is his perpetrator.

“And for your part, Ophelia, I do wish

That your good beauties be the happy cause

Of Hamlet’s wildness. So shall I hope your virtues

Will bring him to his wonted way again,

To both your honors” (III.i.41-46).

Hamlet’s interaction with Ophelia is a chaotic whirl of degrading words, therefore

denying the King’s, Queen’s, and Polonius’ suspicion that she is the cause of his lunacy.
 Hamid 3

Furthermore, it reveals that Claudius believes that Hamlet is sane. “When he spake, though it

lack’d form a little. Was not like madness” (III.i.63-64). Though Hamlet was slightly out of

sorts, even the King notices that Hamlet is not as insane as he was letting on to be. Although

Claudius, Gertrude, and Polonius were wrong in their prediction, their scheme gives them an

answer. Unfortunately, Ophelia's feelings are hurt, and their confusion grows instead of abates.

One of the most important and poignant scenes in the entire play is caused by Laertes’

and Claudius’ plan to murder Hamlet. They intend to kill Hamlet aiming to make it look like an

accident.

“To an exploit, now ripe in my device,

Under the which he shall not choose but fall;

And for his death no wind of blame shall breathe,

But even his mother shall uncharge the practice.

And call it an accident.” (IV, VII, 72-75).

Their intention to make it look like an accident is to save the feelings of Hamlet’s mother and the

kingdom, falls into catastrophe instead, ironically destroying the kingdom. Throughout this

scene, Gertrude, Claudius, Laertes, and Hamlet all die in tragically unnecessary ways. Although

Claudius’ trap results in Hamlet's death, it ultimately causes his own, his wife's, and Laertes,

deaths as well.

The traps present in Hamlet, such as The Mousetrap, Polonius and Claudius’ trap for

Hamlet, and Laertes and Claudius plan to murder Hamlet, overall fail. There are traps in Hamlet

that indubitably do succeed, such as Hamlet’s plot for ordering Rosencrantz and Guildenstern to

be killed, is carried out flawlessly. Even if all the traps worked to some extent, in the end, they

are ineffective and create more problems than solutions. Hamlet ultimately gets his revenge, but
 Hamid 4

at a mortal price, costing him his own life and the lives of many of his loved, and unloved, ones.

Through Hamlet, Shakespeare conveys the overall reality of revenge, which is that although they

can succeed, the repercussions of the traps exceed any their benefits.