h as he can about Laertes. He tells him to pose as a friend of Laertes to find out if he is behaving as a gentleman (i.e. not visiting bars, gambling, drinking wildly, etc.) This example exposes Polonius' darker side, as one who would spy on his own son. However, this is not the only instance of his darker nature. When asked by Claudius and Gertrude why Hamlet is acting so strangely, he tells them that Hamlet is in love with Ophelia, but since she will not have him, he is in a state of love-sickness: "And he, repulsed, a short tale to make, Fell into a sadness, then into a fast, Thence to a watch, thence into a weakness, Thence to a lightness, and, by this declension, Into the madness wherein now he raves," (II:2, ll 156-160) He continues his conversation with the King and Queen, in which he proposes a plan to prove whether or not his theory is true. He proposes that Claudius and he hide behind a tapestry in the main hall the next time Hamlet and Ophelia meet to determine whether his madness is out of unrequited loved or not (II:2, ll 175-183). This example again exemplifies Polonius' darker, deceitful nature, because he is willing to spy on his own daughter during a meeting with the man that she loves. Another character who plans and executes many acts of deception throughout the play is Hamlet. His "antic disposition" is an act that he puts on to allow him to get into a situation whereby he might learn the truth about his father's death and the ghost's claims (I:1, ll 195-200). Also, Hamlet engineers the play-within-a-play to "catch the conscience of the king," (II:2, ll 613). Ironically, plays are fiction, yet by means of this fiction Hamlet is able to determine Claudius' guilt, and thus divide the fiction from the fact. The acts of deception by Polonius and Hamlet are in contrast to their fear of being deceived and help to advance the plot. There are three main results of the many deceptions in the play. First of all, Gertrude learn...
