LANGUAGE AS A TOOL OF DECEPTION AND SELF-REVELATION IN MACBETH, OTHELLO, AND HAMLET

Abstract

In the works of William Shakespeare, Macbeth, Othello, and Hamlet are considered decisive tragedies; language serves as both a deceptive tool and a means of self-disclosure. Shakespeare creates a dramatic universe of words that fosters moral comprehension, plays with perception, and reveals the depth of the psychological background of tragic heroes. This paper will examine how language works in soliloquies, dramatic irony, and rhetorical persuasion to build and escalate tragic conflict. Soliloquies are examined through close textual analysis as moments of privileged self-revelation, allowing characters like Macbeth and Hamlet to express inner conflict, moral indecision, and existential anxiety. Such personal utterances are opposed to the utterances of a public, which is often marked by a cynical hiding and control. Iago's use of rhetoric in Othello shows how dangerous it can be and how effective, when spoken in the most convincing tone, it can twist the truth and corrupt moral sense. The analysis also explores dramatic irony as a figure of speech that heightens the sense of deception by creating a gap between the characters' beliefs and the audience's knowledge of them. Shakespeare's use of rhetoric emphasises the power of language as an instrument that shapes action and forms identity. The paper argues that Shakespearean tragedies are essentially linguistic plays in which language becomes a dynamic force of tragedy, focusing on its moral ambivalence and long-lasting relevance to literary criticism.