Hamlet, Prince of Denmark begins with the changing of the guard and a single question: "Who's there?" (52) Literally, Bernardo asks the question to discern the second figure that he is approaching on the battlement. However, because the main theme in the play is truth versus illusion, the opening line holds more significance than just an enquiry between two castle guards. At various times throughout the play, characters question the truthfulness of other characters. Hamlet wonders if his uncle Claudius is the murderer of the former king Hamlet. Horatio and Marcellus ask whether or not the ghost that appears in the castle is leading Hamlet away for good or evil purposes. The Danish court even wonders if Hamlet is truly crazy. Through a seemingly simple question, the stage is set for a not so simple story. Shakespeare, through Bernardo, establishes the grand theme of truth versus illusion in Hamlet through the initial dialogue of the play: "Who's there?"

When Bernardo and Marcellus are talking with Horatio about the ghost that appears on the battlement of the castle after midnight in act one scene one, Marcellus says, "Horatio says 'tis but our fantasy, and will not let belief take hold of him..." (53) Horatio is skeptical about the ghost, which he at first thinks is not real. Thus, the question arises: is the ghost real or false? Because he has not seen the ghost, Horatio assures Bernardo and Marcellus that the ghost is a figment of their imagination. When Bernardo asks if Horatio is with Marcellus, Horatio replies, "A piece of him." (53) Horatio only accompanies Marcellus to the battlement to humor the two guards because he is sure that a ghost will not appear. But, even after the ghost first emerges that night, Horatio is still uncertain because he addresses the ghost as illusion (something that deceives with a false appearance) in line 140: "Stay, illusion." (56) Horatio is freaked out not only by the ghost but because the ghost is, as Bernardo points out, "In the same figure, like the King that's dead," or a ghost that looks like the dead previous King (54). After the ghost leaves, Bernardo asks Horatio if he still thinks the ghost is a fantasy. Horatio replies, "I might not this believe without the sensible and true avouch of mine own eyes." (54) He can no longer deny the existence of the ghost because he too witnessed the strange incident and finally concedes to Bernardo and Marcellus that the ghost exists. Thus, the illusion is that the ghost is a fantasy and the truth that the ghost is real.

After confirming the existence of the ghost, a second question arises, particularly for Hamlet: is the ghost really the ghost of the dead king or merely another ghost taking the form of the dead king? When the ghost asks Hamlet to seek revenge for his unnatural death, Hamlet must be sure the ghost is actually of his father so as to not wrongly commit murder. Although the ghost looks exactly like the dead elder Hamlet from head to toe as Horatio tells the younger Hamlet in act one scene two — "A figure like your father, armed at point exactly, cap-a-pe," (62) — Hamlet is unsure about the veracity of the ghost. To determine whether the ghost is actually his father or another ghost dressed like his father, Hamlet asks Horatio, Marcellus, and Bernardo, "Then you saw not his face?" (63) Hamlet wants know whether the ghost has the same facial appearance as his dead father. Horatio tells Hamlet that they saw the face of the ghost, which was of the dead king, because the ghost "wore his beaver up," meaning the ghost wore the visor of his helmet up so Horatio and Marcellus saw his face (63). Horatio confirms that the ghost's face was the face of the dead king. When Hamlet first sees the ghost for himself in act one scene four, he also thinks that the ghost looks like his deceased father and decides to address the ghost as "Hamlet, King, father, royal Dane." (69) The ghost then beckons to Hamlet, which reassures Hamlet that he is talking to his dead father's ghost. Finally, the ghost confirms his identity in act one scene five when he forthrightly says to Hamlet, "I am thy father's spirit." (70) Therefore, the illusion is that the ghost is pretending to be the ghost of the dead king, and the truth is that the ghost actually is the ghost of the deceased elder Hamlet.

Not only must Hamlet determine if the ghost is real and actually the ghost of his dead father, but he must also figure out if the ghost appears for good purposes or evil purposes. When the ghost first appears to Hamlet in act on scene four, Hamlet quickly asks, "Be thou a spirit of health or goblin damn'd, bring with thee airs from heaven or blasts from hell, be thy intents wicked or charitable..." (69) Hamlet wants to learn the truth of the situation. He wants to know if the ghost is good or evil. After Hamlet first addresses the ghost, the ghost then beckons for Hamlet to follow. Horatio and Marcellus, fearing the ghost has evil intentions such as to lead Hamlet to his death, warn Hamlet not to go after the ghost: "But do not go with it. No, by no means." (69) Hamlet already believes the ghost is virtuous, but Horatio and Marcellus are not so assured and decide to follow their friend. They believe the ghost appears for evil purposes. In truth, however, the former king's ghost wants Hamlet to know that Claudius murdered him while he slept in the garden: "A serpent stung me; so the whole ear of Denmark is by a forged process of my death rankly abus'd; but know, thou noble youth, The serpent that did sting thy father's life now wears his crown." (71) The ghost also tells his son that Gertrude was already committing adultery with Claudius before her husband the king died but also warns Hamlet to leave her to Heaven for her punishment. Hence, the ghost seems to beckon to Hamlet for evil purposes such as leading the prince to his death but actually appears for the good intention of revealing the truth about the dead king.

After the ghost of the former king tells Hamlet that Claudius killed him, Hamlet decides that he needs definite proof that his uncle is a murderer before Hamlet exacts revenge. But, at the beginning of act one scene two, Claudius does not appear to be a murderer but as a king who cares about his country. First, he consults with the nobles before he marries Gertrude as narrated in lines fourteen through sixteen: "nor have we herein barr'd your better wisdoms, which have freely gone with this affair along." (58) He also sends messengers to Norway to find a better solution than battle to the impending war: "we here have writ to Norway, uncle of young Fortinbras — who, impotent and bed-rid, scarcely hears of this his nephew's purpose — to suppress his further gait herein…" (58) He adds that he wants to prevent war so that people do not die: "in that the levies, the lists and full proportions, are all made out of his subject..." (58) However, Claudius is only creating a grand image of himself as a noble king to draw attention away from his true motives and actions. In order to legitimize his overhasty marriage to the queen, Claudius puts on a show of consulting with the noblemen of Denmark. He wants the Danish people to think he is taking the throne for the good of the country. He also attempts to stop the imminent war with Norway so that the Danes perceive him as a compassionate king. Claudius appears to be a king who cares about his country and citizens but is actually creating a show to keep people from questioning why Prince Hamlet did not succeed the throne after the former king died. Thus, Claudius establishes himself as a shady character that could quite possibly be capable of murder.

Although Hamlet initially believes the ghost, he again questions whether or not the ghost is actually the ghost of his dead father two months after their first conversation: "The spirit that I have seen may be a devil; and the devil hath power t'assume a pleasing shape..." (91) Hamlet wonders if an evil spirit took the form of his dead father to persuade him during a period of mourning to kill Claudius. When the travelling players show up at the castle in act two scene two, Hamlet seizes an opportunity to oust the truth about his father's death from his uncle: did or did not Claudius murder the elder Hamlet? He uses the players to create a play called The Mouse-trap in which the death of the former king as described by the ghost is mirrored. Hamlet hopes to scare the truth out of Claudius: "The play's the thing wherein I'll catch the conscience of the King." (92) When the player Lucianus poisons the player king during the performance, Claudius jumps out of his seat and runs from of the room out of guilt. Hamlet finally knows for certain that the ghost is not deceiving him about Claudius murdering the former king: "I'll take the ghost's word for a thousand pound." (103) After Claudius leaves the play, he confirms the story the dead king's ghost told Hamlet: "O, my offence is rank, it smells to heaven; it hath the primal eldest curse upon't — a brother's murder!" (106) Claudius confesses to killing his own brother. Therefore, although Claudius appears to be a noble and compassionate king, he is in reality a murderer just as the ghost warned Hamlet.

Once Hamlet confirms that Claudius killed the former king, he decides he must seek revenge just as the ghost requested. Thus, another question arises: is or is not Hamlet a murderer? While talking with his mother in act three scene three, Hamlet hears a noise behind the arras. Believing his traitorous uncle is spying on him, Hamlet stabs his sword through the curtain, which kills Polonius. When his mother shrieks about the "rash and bloody deed," Hamlet replies with "A bloody deed! — almost as bad, good mother, as kill a king and marry with his brother," meaning the murder of his father and her hasty marriage to his uncle is almost as horrible as his slaying Polonius (109). Although Hamlet accidentally killed Polonius, he still intended to murder who he thought was his uncle hiding behind the arras. But, seeking revenge is not easy for Hamlet. In fact, during the two months after Hamlet initially spoke with the ghost, he agonizes over his plan to kill Claudius. Immediately after his father's ghost asks his son to avenge his unnatural death in act one scene five, Hamlet exclaims, "O cursed spite, that ever I was born to set it right!" (75) Like with the ghost, Hamlet is haunted by the knowledge that he must seek revenge on Claudius for his father's dead and wishes that he had not been born so he would not have to fulfil the task. In his most well known soliloquy — "To be or not to be..." (93) — Hamlet explores the tough decision he eventually must make. He must either go against his father's wishes and live with the knowledge that Claudius murdered his father or become a murderer himself to avenge his father's death. When he kills Polonius, Hamlet strikes the curtain out of sheer emotion without stopping to think as a result of the conversation with his mother. Because he has such a difficult time even thinking about killing Claudius for his father, Hamlet is not a murdered but a son trying to do right by his father and to make the right decision.

In order to bide his time before seeking revenge, Hamlet decides to "put an antic disposition on," meaning that he is going to feign an appearance of madness (75). In act three scene three, Hamlet responds to his mother after she declares that the ghost he claims appears is nothing but a figment of his imagination, "It is not madness that I have utt'red." (112) He tells her that he is not crazy because the ghost is real. Nonetheless, Gertrude still questions whether or not Hamlet is mad. She believes he is still mourning over the death of his father and her hasty marriage to his uncle as she states in act two scene two: "I doubt it is no other but the main, His father's death and our o'erhasty marriage." (80) Polonius, on the other hand, thinks that Hamlet has gone mad because Ophelia has rejected his affections for her. When Ophelia comments to her father "I did repel his letters, and denied his access to me" in act two scene one, Polonius replies, "That hath made him mad." (78) However, regardless of what Gertrude and Polonius believe is the cause of Hamlet's strange behavior, Hamlet is not actually crazy. After his initial contact with the ghost, Hamlet tells Horatio that he is going to put on an appearance of madness. He also asks Horatio not to tell anyone that he is only pretending to be crazy: "That you, at such times, seeing me, never shall, with arms encumb'red thus, or this head-shake, or by pronouncing of some doubtful phrase, As 'Well, well, we know' or 'We could, an if we would' or, 'If we list to speak' or 'There be, an if they might' or such ambiguous giving out, to note that you know aught of me..." (75) As he later tells Rosencrantz and Guildenstern in act two scene two, Hamlet is "but mad north-north-west" and that "when the wind is southerly [he] knows a hawk from a handsaw," meaning he is perfectly aware of reality because he chooses to act strangely (86). Thus, the illusion is that Hamlet is mad and the truth that he is merely pretending to act mad.

When Marcellus comments that "[s]omething is rotten in the state of Denmark" in act one scene four, he is more discerning than he realizes (70). Hamlet believes that Claudius is the cause of all his current problems because Claudius murdered the king and married the queen. However, Hamlet does not understand that his taking the matter of revenge into his own hands has added to and created more problems. When Hamlet over hastily stabs the arras in Gertrude's chamber and unintentionally kills Polonius, he not only leads to Ophelia's death but also to his own. Ophelia is unable to reconcile with the fact that her lover slew her father. She goes completely mad and ends up falling off a branch into a stream where she drowns: "When down her weedy trophies and herself feel into the weeping brook...till that he garments, heaving with their drink, pull'd the poor wretch from her melodious lay to muddy death." (130) When Laertes returns to Denmark after learning Hamlet murdered his father in act four scene seven, Claudius asks Laertes how he is going to seek revenge: "what would you undertake to show yourself in dead your father's son more than in words?" (129) Laertes replies that he wants Hamlet dead and challenges him to a duel. In order to ensure that Hamlet dies so he cannot expose the truth about the former king's untimely death, Claudius conspires to create a murderous plot against Hamlet with Laertes. By the end of the play Gertrude, Claudius, Laertes, and Hamlet are all dead. If Hamlet had not thought that he could solve the problem by killing Claudius to seek revenge for his father, then everyone who died by the end would still be alive. Instead of taking matters into his own hands, Hamlet should have listened to what the ghost of his father said concerning his mother and left Claudius to heaven (72). In the end, Hamlet became the something that was rotten in the state of Denmark. Therefore, the illusion is that Hamlet is solving the problem by seeking revenge, and the truth is that Hamlet actually became part of the problem.

When Bernardo speaks the initial dialogue of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, he establishes the central theme of being versus seeming. While Bernardo literally asks who's there one the battlement of the castle, the rest of the characters wonder whether other characters are truthful or hiding behind masks throughout the play. Hamlet questions the sudden death of his father. Horatio and Marcellus fear the intentions of the ghost that resembles the former king. Hamlet's family and friends ask if Hamlet is or is not crazy. Shakespeare establishes the grand theme of truth versus illusion in Hamlet at the beginning of the play when Bernardo asks the seemingly simple question, "Who's there?" (52) Thus, the opening line is more significant than merely a question between two castle guards but sets the stage for the entire story.

Shakespeare, William. Hamlet, Prince of Denmark. c.1600. Ed. Ocsar G. Brockett and Robert J. Ball. Plays for the Theatre: A Drama Anthology. Australia: Wadsworth, 2004. 52-147.