Can You Really Trick a Master Trickster?

Is he being watched or isn’t he? That’s the real question here. During the most famous Shakespearean soliloquy, we ask ourselves does Hamlet know he’s being watched or does he believe he’s truly alone. Hamlet, as we know, is a trickster who knows how to put on an act and how to manipulate people. He’s a clever man and uses that to his advantage so I believe that Hamlet does in fact know that he is being watched.

As we have seen before, Hamlet is able to pick up on when he is being closely watched. When Rosencrantz and Guildenstern were sent by Claudius and Gertrude, Hamlet automatically knew they were sent to spy on him. Even with Rosencrantz and Guildenstern trying to hide the fact they were sent for by saying “To visit you, my lord, no other occasion” (II.ii.271), Hamlet knows they’re lying and gets the truth out of them. Also with Ophelia when he asks “Where’s your father?” (III.i.130-131), it seems like Hamlet is hinting to Ophelia that he is aware of this set up. He’s not actually concerned about the whereabouts of Polonius because he knows he’s right there with them. There was evidence beforehand to seeing how the king calls for him and Ophelia is the one there. Hamlet is clever enough to put these pieces together. So if Hamlet was able to pick on these situations so easily why would this have changed all of a sudden?

Comparing this soliloquy to his previous ones, there is really no emotion in it. Hamlet seems to be calm, cool and collected while in his others there's strong emotions behind them. In his first soliloquy (I.ii.129-155), he's really saddened by the passing of his father. The second soliloquy (II.ii.543-601), he's angry at everything that is happening. But in the to be or not to be soliloquy, there's absolutely no sense of any emotion. In his previous soliloquy, Hamlet was in fact alone so he was able to express his thoughts and emotions the way he wanted. We know Hamlet is not the most social person and he's not very comfortable around other people. He doesn't ever express his emotions fully in front of other people while in his alone soliloquies we got into the thoughts and emotions of Hamlet as they were.  

With the topic of life or death revolving around this speech don’t you think Hamlet would have put more emotion into it if he was talking about taking his own life? If Hamlet was seriously thinking about ending his life, he would have been more conflicted with the idea. He would have expressed his wanting to end his life by referring to himself more often which he didn’t at any point, instead he says for example “When he himself might his quietus make/ With a bare bodkin?” (III.i.75-76). I believe at this point, Hamlet was making an indication to Claudius that maybe he should be the one to take his own life.

In the end, can you really trick a master trickster? Hamlet is not stupid and knows that people are watching him more and more so why would he let his guard down now?

RE: Becky

I agree with you 100%. I think it’s interesting how you looked at Hamlet being cruel to Ophelia as part of his plan. I only looked at it has a way of him just getting back at Ophelia and acting on impulse. I enjoyed reading it in a different point of view. Also I also liked how you looked at Hamlet being cruel to Ophelia as a whole and not just one aspect of it. I believe it helped further prove your point!