Family dynamics in Hamlet and the Glass Menagrie
...rs covering up their true intentions with a whole other person, who is different. One character, who used deception to cover up their true intention, was Claudius. Claudius is a very deceptive and cruel person. Claudius killed his brother and then married is wife in order to become the new king of Denmark. Claudius put on this act as the perfect king and husband to transform himself from the cold murder he is. Claudius is deceiving himself and others by putting on this mask of gentleness and kindness to cover up his murder he committed. Yet Claudius recognizes his cover up and deceit and tries to repent for it. In Act 3 Scene 3 line 53 Claudius says That cannot be, since I’m still possesss’d….Try what repentance can. What can it not? Claudius is trying to seek forgiveness for his horrible crime but yet he needs to find forgiveness within himself. Deception is seen early in the play of The Glass Menagerie. Laura who I think is a genuine person has a shy nature about her and is terrified of being around strangers has been deceiving her mother. Amanda finds out that Laura has not been attending the business school when she stops by to talk to one of Laura’s teachers. Laura pretended to go to school to only please her mother but she was really out in the city going to different places. Once again we see the element of deception. Laura is just doing what her mother is telling her to do and not doing what she wants. This is why she didn’t tell her she dropped out of business school. Laura like Claudius was wearing a mask so her mother wouldn’t know she was deceiving her by not going to school. The character that best exemplifies the element of deception is Hamlet. Hamlet acts as if he was a mad man. He acts very strangely which in return creates the element of deception to others. He pretends to be mad to conceal his true feelings and intentions. The truth behind Hamlet’s father death is told to him form the ghost of his father. As a promise to his father Hamlet promises to avenge his father’s death by seeking revenge on Claudius. Hamlet’s intentions are to kill Claudius but this is masked by his madness he is pretending to create. Hamlet doesn’t let anything get in the way of this. He kills three innocent people, Rosencrate, Guildenstern and Polonius. He kills them without feeling any remorse. I think his deception through madness starts to overtake him. Hamlet begins to live in this own world of madness, he is living in this world that no one else can understand not even him. He has a world of self-deception that was created only by his own madness. Hamlet contributes Polonius death to his madness. “If Hamlet from himself be ta’en away, and when he’s not himself does wrong Laertes, then hamlet does it not, Hamlet denies it. Who does it then? His madness….His madness is poor Hamlet’s enemy.” (Act 5, Sc 1 line 270). Hamlet also uses this madness toward Ophelia, he treats her very badly even though he is in love with her. This hatred toward Ophelia is stemmed from his hatred toward his mother. Hamlet treats his mother with little respect. Hamlet says “In the rank sweat of an enseamed bed, Stew’d in corruption, honeying and making love over the nasty sty……A murderer and a villain. (Act 3, Sc 4 line 95) His hatred in truly shown in this sce...