The motif of playacting is prevalent throughout Hamlet. Hamlet himself, on multiple occasions, makes puns with the words “play” and “act.” He is also putting on a show for the King, Queen, and most everyone else. Hamlet pretends he has gone mad to manipulate those around him. He believes that if people (especially his uncle Claudius) think he’s mad, they’ll try and get closer to him or drop their guard. Hamlet’s ultimate goal is to discover the truth about his father’s death (or murder) and avenge him, as per tradition. Hamlet wishes to trick Claudius into revealing that he murdered the late king at none other than a play they are both attending! Another theme Shakespeare loves to play with (haha, get it, play) is appearance versus reality. In my opinion, as Hamlet gets deeper and deeper into acting like a madman, he slowly begins to lose his sanity for real. I believe Shakespeare is trying to convey that if you live your life like you’re in a play (if it’s all just an act), you can lose sight of reality.
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That's a very good point, Lainey! I think it is beneficial for us to watch the movie as we are following along in the play because during the actual play scene, with the Player King and Player Queen, that looked like the peak of Hamlet's madness. So, specifically, the last sentence of your blog post really relates to that due to the fact he is finding direct parallels of his life to the play i.e. living as if he were in a play like you said.
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