Daniel Webster, a shrewd nineteenth century American politician, once said that "the world is governed more by appearances than realities, so that it is fully as necessary to seem to know something as to know it." Years earlier, William Shakespeare probably believed the same way since many of his plays discuss the conflict of appearance vs. reality and his tragedy, Hamlet, is no exception. The central theme of Hamlet is the struggle to uncover the truth from a myriad of false impressions. Several characters including Claudius, Polonius, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, and Hamlet are hiding their true intentions underneath a false exterior. The dilemma of what is "real" is presented throughout the play and Shakespeare craftily contrasts the appearances of events and people, and the actual truth.

The conflict is evaluated from the very beginning of the play when the Ghost reveals to Hamlet that his father, the King...