Behind The Mask Of Madness In Hamlet And Ophelia

Great authors can develop the same idea in different ways. Shakespeare introduces the characters of Hamlet and Ophelia to mental illness throughout “Hamlet”. Hamlet a, Depressed and Monomaniacal Psychopath, runs off of the vengeance of his father to kill his uncle, King Claudius. Ophelia A victim of, hysteria and depression, cannot function without the support of her father and lover without this support she can loses the will to live. Shakespeare uses metaphors, gender, tone, and word choice to develop the progression of mental illness in his characters throughout “Hamlet”.

Everything Hamlet does is a plot to make everyone around him think he is insane so he can still get revenge on Claudius and everyone who was part of the murder of King Hamlet. Everything that hinted towards him being insane, like thinking about suicide, was just a ploy to trick everyone into thinking he was crazy. He even stated to his best friend that he was going to fake his inanity to distract people. Hamlet tells Horatio “How strange or odd soe'er I bear myself, (As I perchance hereafter shall think meet, To put an antic disposition on), That you, at such times seeing me, never shall— With arms encumbered thus, or this headshake, Or by pronouncing of some doubtful phrase,” he is telling him that no matter what he cannot let anyone know that he is acting crazy. When Ophelia calls him crazy, he insures her that he is actually not crazy at all but smart.

     In William Shakespeare's famous tragedy Hamlet, the main character of the story is one majestically elaborated, aside from being quite complex. There are infinite volumes written about this character because Shakespeare leaves no firm proof of many of his character traits. Yet on Hamlet's antic disposition, meaning his obviously absurd temperament or madness, Shakespeare leaves plenty of reason to believe that it is feigned, meaning that it is simply a ploy to help Hamlet carry out his plans for revenge. It is feigned, meaning that it is faked, merely put on as a façade. This is denoted in various aspects of his antic disposition. Hamlet's antic disposition is self imposed, meaning that he himself

In William Shakespeare’s tragedy, Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, we, as readers, increasingly question the sanity of the protagonist, Hamlet, as the play continues. His seemingly psychotic banter with the other characters of the play begins to convince us that Hamlet is, indeed, insane. Hamlet, however, states, “How strange or odd soe’er I bear myself, as I perchance hereafter shall think meet to put an antic disposition on” (1.5.171). He specifically tells Horatio and Marcellus that he will be acting mad, as a front. Hamlet has an exceptional grasp on mental philosophy and the uses and effects of logic, more so than the other characters of the play. Because of this, Hamlet appears insane to others, but in fact remains true to his

Hamlet’s sanity has made many people question him. “Hamlet certainly displays a high degree of mania and instability throughout much of the play, but his “madness” is perhaps too purposeful and pointed

      When one refers to madness in Hamlet, most would think of Hamlet's madness, or at least that that he was pretending to possess. Although Ophelia does go insane and ultimately commits suicide, the central lunacy of the play revolves around Hamlet himself. Hamlet's plan to act mad is completely unexplained. It is safe to

is saying. It acts as an alibi if something is taken in the wrong way,

Throughout the Shakespearian play, Hamlet, the main character is given the overwhelming responsibility of avenging his father’s "foul and most unnatural murder" (I.iv.36). Such a burden can slowly drive a man off the deep end psychologically. Because of this, Hamlet’s disposition is extremely inconsistent and erratic throughout the play. At times he shows signs of uncontrollable insanity. Whenever he interacts with the characters he is wild, crazy, and plays a fool. At other times, he exemplifies intelligence and method in his madness. In instances when he is alone or with Horatio, he is civilized and sane. Hamlet goes through different stages of insanity throughout the story, but his neurotic and skeptical personality amplifies his

     Hamlet is in a situation where his sanity is turning into insanity. He is like one of those people who tell so many lies that they start believing their own lies. Hamlet’s acting is so vivid to him that, unconsciously,

Hamlet’s insanity can be thought of as a tragedy or misconception of reality. The death of his father had shaped the first few impressions of his own persona as well as a new experience with his new aunt. As  a result of his genius insanity prince Hamlet has devised a plan to make things more clear to the audience. “Hamlet’s behavior strikes the audience as abnormal on  several occasions. For example, Hamlet seems to be really mad when he is in front of Ophelia in disordered clothes. He behaves as if he had been loosed out of hell to speak of the horror”.  As the progress of the play foreshadows a significant end to his insanity that he acts upon.  As the play progresses throughout, Hamlet finds ways in order to give others the impression that he has lost his sanity from his “love” of Polonius’s daughter Ophelia. “(Ophelia)He grabbed me by the wrist and held me hard, then backed away an arm’s length and just looked at me, staring at me like an artist about to paint my

When someone refers to madness in Hamlet, most would think of just Hamlet’s madness, not everyone in the story. “O, that this too too sullied flesh would melt, thaw and resolve itself into a dew, or that the Everlasting had not fixed. His canon 'gainst self-slaughter! O God, God, how weary, stale, flat, and unprofitable. Seem to me all the uses of this world!” (I.II. 133-138). Hamlet is complaining about how depressed he is over his father's death and his mom remarrying, and wishing that his "flesh would melt,” wishing that he’d die. Hamlet sees betrayal from Gertrude, and he has no idea how to handle it correctly, without his madness kicking in. Ophelia also sees Hamlet twisting around. “My lord, as I was sewing in my closet, Lord Hamlet, with his doublet all unbraced; no hat upon his head, his stockings fouled, ungartered, and down-gyvèd to his ankle, pale as his shirt, his knees knocking each other, and with a look so piteous in purport, as if he had been loosèd out of hell to speak of horrors—he comes before me… He took me by the wrist and held me hard. Then goes he to the length of all his arm, and, with his other hand thus o'er his brow, he falls to such perusal of my face as he would draw it. Long stay'd he so. At last, a little shaking of mine arm, and thrice his head thus waving up and down, he raised a

There were various ‘treatments’ used in the span of history to treat those who were affected by anything regarding mental health. Psychology, despite being one of the youngest sectors of science has a very undeveloped, horrific history when it comes to participants. “Madness is a generic term that includes behaviors considered deviant. Deviance is always culturally defined, and varies markedly from society to society.” ("Madness and Culture."). In the play, both Hamlet and Ophelia are affected mental health disorders deriving from the deaths of loved ones yet they both dealt with it differently. Arguments regarding Hamlet’s mental state are made based off his encounter with his father's ghost as well as his general behaviour. Hamlet’s friends often worry that when Hamlet and his father meet “there [King Hamlet] assume some other horrible form, Which might deprive your sovereignty of reason And draw you into madness?” (1.4.71-73). Nonetheless, this worry was often disproved throughout the play. Being described as having a ‘crafty madness’ by Rosencrantz disproves his madness theory. Moreover, there are various instances where Hamlet confesses to faking his apparent decent. With statements such as “I am but mad north-northwest” (Shakespeare 2.2.386) or “...am not in madness, / but mad in craft” (Shakespeare 3.4.188-189) show that Hamlet is fully aware of himself and how others think of him, showing that his acts are done on purpose and he is, in

158-161). Claudius believes that whatever the reason for Hamlet’s madness, the end result or outcome will be dangerous. Polonius, however, believes that the reason Hamlet is acting so strangely is because he is madly in love with Ophelia. Because of Claudius’ fear of what Hamlet could do he decides that “Madness in great ones must not unwatched go” (3.1. 182-183) and sends Hamlet to England. Hamlet admits to others that he is mad, which would seem like something that someone who was actually mad would be unlikely to do because they wouldn’t want to bring attention to it. Hamlet wants to bring attention to the idea that he is mad because he wants it to be spread around so that it becomes a known fact. Hamlet says “How strange or odd some'er I bear myself / as I perchance hereafter shall think meet / to put an antic disposition on.” (1.5. 170-172) to show the reader that his madness isn’t real.

Ophelia was such an innocent character. She was young and naïve. Ophelia was faced with many dilemmas. She was in a relationship with Prince Hamlet, who was very distracted and eventually went mad himself. Ophelia’s madness started with an overbearing, over protective father. He controlled Ophelia and used her with out thinking of her feelings, “I must tell you, you do not understand yourself so clearly…What is

In Hamlet, Shakespeare writes about another character who had really gone mad. After her father’s death Ophelia was robbed of her sanity. When comparing Hamlet to Ophelia one can see that Ophelia acts as an insane person would. All she is able to do is dance around and sing about death whilst Hamlet speaks eloquently even if others don’t understand what he is trying to say. Other characters pick up on each of their state of minds. After speaking to Hamlet in Act 2 Scene 2, Polonius says to himself “Though this be madness, yet there is method in’t.” (204), which means that while Hamlet may have been speaking nonsense there was a reason for it. In contrast when Ophelia speaks her brother says “Hadst thou thy wits, and didst persuade revenge, / It could not move thus.” (IV.V.169), calling her insane and proving that she had completely lost her mind.