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In the play Hamlet written by William Shakespeare in 1599

In the play Hamlet written by William Shakespeare in 1599 the theme deception is extremely prevalent throughout the whole story Characters who fear deception ironically end up using deception as well to conquer their fear even though their actions may result in death Deception is a key tool which builds up the main plot of the play and is the reasoning to why many characters behave the way they do Deception also shows death and insanity so without it the play would have no story line In the very beginning of the play King Hamlet s ghost appears and tells his son Hamlet the truth about his death and what he must do in order to get revenge on the murderer Revenge his foul and most unnatural murder The serpent that did sting thy father s life Now wears his crown 1 5 23 24 A snake did not bite the old king instead his very own brother murdered him so he could rule Denmark Now it is Hamlet s duty to get revenge on his uncle However Horatio fears that the ghost is trying to deceive Hamlet into committing murder Be thou a spirit of health or goblin damned Bring with these airs from heaven or blasts from hell This fear then causes Hamlet to use deception himself to find out if the ghost was being truthful so he can kill Claudius Hamlet deceives Claudius into thinking that there is going to be a play about The Murder of Gonzago which there is but what he doesn t know is that Hamlet has added scenes in that portray the murder that his father s ghost has described so he can catch the conscience of the king 2 2 50 If the king reacts to the changed scenes then Hamlet will know that he is guilty and that he must kill him 



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