By all the rules of art

On July 13, 2010, in Leadership that lasts, by Neculai Fantanaru

In order to be able to control people, you must remove them out of the context and give them another direction.

After the unexpected death of king Hamlet, Gertrude, the queen of Denmark, married Claudius, the brother of her deceased husband. This strange fact aroused certain suspicions of young prince Hamlet – that Claudius had secretly murdered his father.

Finding one day that a ghost - resembling exactly like the dead king, his father - made its appearance on one of the terraces from the front of the palace, Hamlet decided to be himself on guard in that night, along with the soldiers, in order to have the opportunity to see it.

When it got dark, his father's ghost revealed itself to Hamlet, who testified the cowardly way in which he was killed by his own brother, Claudius (Hamlet's uncle), whom he had also been suspecting for a while. The young prince promised to the poor apparition that he will never find his peace until he revenges this crime. The thought of revenge began to continuously obsess Hamlet, who did not know in what way to fulfill his promise.

The mask of suffering

No feeling could move any longer Hamlet's firm belief that his father was killed. He has linked then to the ghost to respect the promise – so, with justice or without, he will get his revenge. But how? So that to blame someone of a crime, you must have very clear and solid evidence.

For nobody to know his deepest secret inside his soul, to remove any sort of suspicions, the prince took the strange decision to pretend stark fool. Being endowed with a great acting talent, he played with such mastery his role of a crazy person, that the king and the queen and the other courtiers were deceived. Furthermore, leaving to believe that the real reason for his madness was the love for his girlfriend, Ofelia, Hamlet slowly opened a secret door to sneak through the brush of “spines” of Claudius, who began to suspect him of finding the truth.

You're not an artist if you don't have an illusion left

During this time, a band of actors arrived at the court, with which Hamlet formerly spent pleasant times. In order to avoid any doubt that Claudius, his uncle, was really responsible for the death of his father, the young prince immediately decided that the band of actors to perform a play in front of his uncle, something similar to his father's killing. The king didn't know the trap he was being set.

The play was performed even after the scenario conceived by Hamlet regarding his father's murder. King Claudius turned pale when took place the scene of poisoning, his conscience was shaken so hard that he was no longer able to attend the rest of the play. Pretending to feel bad, or really feeling bad, he suddenly left the room, heading towards his rooms. Only at that moment, Hamlet was fully convinced that the words of his father's ghost were true. Claudius was the murderer.

The extension of influence

Price Hamlet proved the superiority of his instinctual psychology not only by the theatrical game he made, both boldly and skillfully, but also by his trick, prompting his uncle Claudius to give himself away. The skillful interpretation of the actors stirred the souls of those of the royal court, in the minds of which cornered the idea that the presentation of facts might be true, namely that King Claudius was guilty of that crime.

When a man begins to act, he always has a reason and a purpose. Price Hamlet's reason was to revenge his father's death, and his purpose was to expose the killer. For this, he was forced to enter a game with a high stake, and to act with the utmost caution. His forces, stirred by his strong desire for revenge, focused on preparing a sophisticated trap that the killer could not resist. And the more he faked, the better he played his role of a crazy man, through his unusual behavior, the easier and faster he determined the fall into the trap of the criminal.

Hamlet played the fool according to all the rules of art. His act proved to be very well done. And by creating a current of opinion favorable to his father, he opened a new perspective on the events that took place, counteracting the effect of those issued officially.

To be able to control people and lead them in the direction you choose, you must manage to master their minds, keep them under your own spell, you must succeed in conveying them your beliefs with maximum efficiency and influence their thinking. You must remove them from the context and give them another direction, causing them to look at things from a comprehensive perspective.

The art of knowing the truth

It is said that you can find the truth only by acting. Truth is sometimes hard to find, but you can get close to it by following roundabout ways. However, when you feel that impedes are put in your way, you should use tricks and ingenious methods in order to discover both your real enemies and allies.