A reoccurring theme in William Shakespeare’s Hamlet appears to have an unsympathetic link towards the moral ineptitude of the people involved in the play. To understand the type of spying that is exemplified, one has to look at the unethical King Claudius and his tireless facade. Hamlet finds himself knowingly in a conspiracy devised by someone who murdered his father, and as a result is constantly paranoid about who he can trust. Some situations presented were, including, but not limited to: Rosencrantz and Guildenstern’s general situation, Reynaldo, and the death of Polonius.
In what is probably not Polonius’ first effort to be immoral, he sends Reynaldo to discover what Laertes is doing at the present time. He is overcome by his emotion of being all-knowing, and the hope that his son will become “everything” that he is and was. He offers advice that he himself maybe wishes he had taken. A parent of a child sometimes wants his or her child to not make the same mistakes that they did: at any cost. This brings the question— is spying unethical at all if it is for the common good? The way Polonius puts his plan into action is telling Reynaldo to badmouth his own son. Ordering someone to try and destroy your son’s reputation is uncommon under any circumstance.
Traitor- One who betrays one’s country, a cause, or a trust, especially one who commits treason. Yes, yes, yes, and yes… all these seem to fit the spectrum of King Claudius himself. Considering, and only considering this, he killed the king for no particular reason except for wife or power. Speaking of traitors: R and G’s motives are less than stellar. In the long run, they might believe that are efficiently helping Hamlet come to his senses. They are ignorant traitors, and this becomes an unfortunate disposition when the consequences come to pass.
Also spying on Hamlet, Polonius reads King Claudius a letter from Hamlet to Ophelia. Polonius insists that love-sickness is the cause of Hamlet’s madness. Claudius and Polonius set up an encounter between Hamlet and Ophelia. They view the confrontation from behind a curtain. They are doing this to discover what is wrong with him without actually asking him the cause of his sorrow. The cause of Hamlet’s madness might refer to his the enigmatic fact that he knows finally that he must act carefully since his every move is being observed.
Hamlet does some spying of his own. He plans watching King Claudius’ face during “The Mousetrap” play to detect signs of guilt. When he does, the consequences that are offered because of his spying benefit the entire situation as a whole. In this case the antihero (depending on your viewpoint) wins the match. Communication through his father has to be done through spying, since his father’s death is an unacceptable dinner conversation.
Hamlet turns the tables when he discovers Polonius behind the arras and stabs him dead. A spy is needed because Queen Gertrude loves her son unconditionally and may not report events truthfully. Currently, we do not have capital punishment for spying. The effects of spying hit the world today hard, and information that should never be beyond the privacy of one’s home can ruin lives, hopes, and sometimes actually save them. If one destroys the delicate balance between spying for a nation’s defense and governmental totalitarianism, then every aspect of one’s life is open to criticism and defamation.
