Beginning from the creation of Hamlet there has been debates between what exactly fiction is and what is non-fiction. The line between the two can so easily be blurred that is sometimes hard to decipher which side of the line the character or individual may stand on. Throughout the play Hamlet many question whether or not Hamlet is indeed sane or insane. Sanity plays a significant role throughout the entire piece, demonstrated through the snappy retorts that characters make-especially Hamlet- and the development of the piece overall. Nearly every character in the tragedy can be seen as insane but yet sane because majority of the time the reader can decipher a logical reason for the statements being made. This idea causes individuals to believe that there might be a method to the madness portrayed by individuals. Which leads us to question, if the statements made by the individual are logical and obtain reasoning are they truly insane? Hamlets response to Polonius “For in the sun breed maggots in a dead dog, being a good kissing carrion-Have you a daughter” (II, ii, 153). Polonius automatically assumes that Hamlet is crazy, the first reason being that he doesn’t comprehend Hamlets statement and two being that hamlet asks if he has a daughter of whom Hamlet already knows. It can be seen through investigation that Hamlets comment in fact does hold truth. The sun will bread maggots in anything that is touches plays on the idea that a man will have his way with any women that
Weight, height, awkwardness or other, societal pressures and standards have people struggling with insecurities and suppressed actions. Humans always have a flaw in themselves that they will repress. With this, they believe it is gone forever until something traumatizing will bring it out. Stress and shock from the event will be so intense that there is no time to consider the societal expectations. The one common thing all humans can agree on is the need for love and recognition.
Many people have seen Hamlet as a play about uncertainty and about Hamlet's failure to act appropriately. It is very interesting to consider that the play shows many uncertainties that lives are built upon, or how many unknown quantities are taken for granted when people act or when they evaluate one another's actions. Hamlet is an especially intriguing production, both on the set and on the screen because of its uniqueness to be different from what most people expect to be in a revenge themed play. Hamlet's cynicism and insane like behavior cause him to seem indecisive, but in reality he is always judging and contemplating his actions in the back of his mind in order to seek revenge for the murder of
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
even try to make it better. He escapes like a coward from the present which
In Shakespeare's play Hamlet the main character Hamlet experiences many different and puzzling emotions. He toys with the idea of killing himself and then plays with the idea of murdering others. Many people ask themselves who or what is this man and what is going on inside his head. The most common question asked about him is whether or not he is sane or insane. Although the door seems to swing both ways many see him as a sane person with one thought on his mind, and that is revenge. The first point of his sanity is while speaking with Horatio in the beginning of the play, secondly is the fact of his wittiness with the other characters and finally, his soliloquy.
One of William Shakespeare's most well- known characters is Hamlet. This story has a great plot and entices the reader throughout the entire play. A controversial part of the play is whether the main character Hamlet is sane or insane. Readers may argue that Hamlet is insane, but, due to his cunning remarks and decisive plans, Hamlet is not mad, but instead completely sane.
Insanity can be defined as a mental illness that causes a person to have difficulty distinguishing fantasy from reality. Whether Shakespeare’s Hamlet was insane or feigning insanity is a controversial topic. Gregory Shafer argues that Hamlet is not insane and that he uses insanity or madness for his own political purposes (42). In William Shakespeare’s play, Hamlet, Prince Hamlet’s circumstances force him to seek revenge for the murder of his father King Hamlet. He creates a plan that he believes will give him an opportunity to kill Claudius, and the main part of this plan involves him faking insanity. Further and further into the book, his actions of a madman become more believable. However through his thoughts and actions it is clear that he is not truly insane, and his is only acting in this way in order to reach is ultimate goal of revenge.
Many people, while reading and studying Hamlet, often question the sanity of various characters throughout the play. There are many signs throughout Shakespeare’s writing that indicate a lost sense of sanity in the main characters Hamlet, his uncle/father Claudius, his mother/aunt Gertrude, and Ophelia. Each of these character’s sanity plays a large role in the plot of the play.
One of the recurring themes in Shakespeare’s Hamlet is Hamlet’s unwillingness or rather inability to act and make decisions when necessary. Time and time again, he is given the chance to exact his revenge for his slain father and murder his uncle. Yet every time he comes up with an excuse as to not have to act. Granted he takes some action to prove that it was in fact his uncle that killed his father, however, he goes no farther than that. Hamlet’s inability to fulfill his destiny and take out his revenge that he wants shows insanity. Hamlet is a man who’s father passed away, his mother married his uncle, and he later finds out that it was his uncle, his mother’s new husband, who killed his father, this would cause serious mental issues in any man. Even though Hamlet may have feigned insanity, Hamlet is insane because he is clinically depressed, he shows signs of being bipolar and he has hallucinations. Eventually even in his insanity he is left no other choice but to kill Claudius, his uncle, however until then his depression, bipolar disorder, hallucinations, and overall insanity keep him from exacting his revenge.
As stated by Ms. Turk, “If a person in a rational state of mind decides to act crazy, to abuse the people around him regardless of whether he loves those people or hates them, and to give free expression to all his antisocial thoughts, when he starts to carry out those actions, its it possible to say at what point the stops pretending and starts actually being crazy?”. In Hamlet by William Shakespeare, the way others interpret Hamlet’s behavior is different from the way Hamlet views himself.
The insanity of a person can be contributed through the trauma that is caused by a few events in a person’s life, but in the play Hamlet, William Shakespeare wrote the main character prince Hamlet experiences a few dramatic events from the play which his attitude changes throughout. In order to figure out whether hamlet is insane is by figuring out what the characteristics of his insanity. Characters see Hamlet in different shades of gray, each side more or less sane than others. His sanity can be his truth or his lie.
Additional proof that Hamlet must be sane is that even in his ?madness? he is clever in his retorts and speech, and has a full understanding of the situations around him. He plays his madman character almost too well, and each phrase he utters appears to be an attempt towards conveying his
Mental health is considered, by many scholars and researchers, as one of the most difficult subjects to study. This is mainly because there’s only one infallible method of evaluate someone’s mental health — observing their actions. Since there are multiple ways to interpret a person’s actions, it’s only natural that there’s abundance of arguments based on whether or not certain significant characters in history were sane. For instance, scholars have evaluated and debated the sanity of characters in Shakespeare’s plays, specifically the play Hamlet, for years without end. It is apparent that the character Hamlet, in Shakespeare’s Hamlet, maintains his sanity.
Hamlet is a play about a man who has had a father killed by his uncle,
Hamlet, a play by William Shakespeare, is as much a mystery as a tale about depression, madness and sanity. Shakespeare reveals how the scourge of corruption and decay rapidly spread; and the emotional consequences that follow. Insanity, madness and depression are as intolerable as corruption and deceit; and just as intertwined. The play makes one ponder if it is possible to be sane in an insane world full of treachery, revenge, incest, and moral corruption? By examining the themes of melancholy, madness and sanity in Hamlet, Shakespeare details his character’s descent from depression to madness. Additionally, Hamlet’s psychological state can be