APPEARANCE VS REALITY in Hamlet

"Tremble and look pale"
"Sensible and true avouch" - Barnardo, Act 1 Scene 1

"Gross and scope"
"Strict and most observant"
"Hot and full"
"Post-haste and romage"- Horatio, Act 1 Scene 1

Hendiadys/doubling (use of the word "and" between two adjectives).
Reinforces the theme of Appearance vs Reality throughout the play and shows the difficulty of pinning down truth and meaning in the world of Hamlet.

"A mote it is to trouble the mind's eye." - Horatio, Act 1 Scene 1

(Mote = a speck of dust)

Used to describe the ghost of Hamlet's father.

The "mote" can confuse the vision and therefore also the perception of someone, meaning things are not seen as they truly are.

"Seems madam? nay it is, I know not seems." - Hamlet, Act 1 Scene 2

The grief following his father's death is not an act, it is his reality.

"No, nor the fruitful river in the eye,
Nor the dejected haviour of the visage," - Hamlet, Act 1 Scene 2

Both "eye" and "visage" have connotations of sight/appearance, linking to the semantic field of appearance vs reality.

"For they are actions that a man might play," - Hamlet, Act 1 Scene 2

Although the conventional means of mourning a person (through clothing/behaviour), may appear to look like genuine grief it does not mean the grief is real, like his is.

Also links to the theme of a play within a play.