Who’s There? Ben Bonoma In Shakespeare’s tragedy, Hamlet, the protean characters mask their true identity with misrepresentations, appearing to be one person on the outside, but on the inside we see an entirely different person. It is as almost the characters walk around with masks on to hide who they really are. Claudius appears to be a somewhat kind and caring person who is well liked throughout the kingdom. The audience knows his …showed first 75 words of 1790 total…

…showed last 75 words of 1790 total…so he creates a mad Hamlet to cover up. Inside, we know Hamlet as a murderous coward, hurting those who care for him and killing those who are trivial. In one way or another, the true identity of each character is revealed to the audience. The theme of masks is the quintessential theme of the play, controlling each character’s actions in ways that prove to be contradictory to the true identity of the character.