Conflict Of Insanity In Hamlet And Ophelia's Madness

The story of Hamlet is a morbid tale of tragedy, commitment, and manipulation; this is especially evident within the character of Ophelia. Throughout the play, Ophelia is torn between obeying and following the different commitments that she has to men in her life. She is constantly torn between the choice of obeying the decisions and wishes of her family or that of Hamlet. She is a constant subject of manipulation and brain washing from both her father and brother. Ophelia is not only subject to the torture of others using her for their intentions but she is also susceptible to abuse from Hamlet. Both her father and her brother believe that Hamlet is using her to achieve his own personal goals.

People have mostly seen women inferior to men because women have been thought of as simple-minded and could not take care of themselves. Shakespeare’s Hamlet shows how men treated and thought of women during the 1500s. There was an order most did not interfere with; however, some did. In the 1500s, women were supposed to conform to men’s wishes. Throughout the play, Ophelia first obeyed her father and brother’s wishes, ignored the social norms later, and then went mad, which caused her to never gain her own identity.

Hamlet also uses Ophelia as a pawn, perhaps more than her family. Hamlet uses the court’s knowledge of his relationship with Ophelia in order to draw attention away from his real purpose of killing his uncle. In Act III, Scene I, Ophelia approaches Hamlet in order to return his letters and other pledges of affection for her, according to her father’s wishes. Hamlet appears to be very distraught, and accuses Ophelia of lying to him and being prostituted by her family. This outburst, however, is used solely to camouflage his real purpose-to have revenge of Claudius, his uncle, for killing his father. Hamlet is aware that Polonius and Claudius are watching this encounter between him and Ophelia, and uses the situation to his benefit- he can pretend to be heartbroken by Ophelia’s supposed

     Hamlet, by William Shakespeare, is a complex play, filled with layers of meaning. These are often revealed through the madness of the characters and the theme of madness throughout the play. Although Hamlet and Ophelia are the only characters thought to be so afflicted, the reactions of other characters to this madness mirrors their own preoccupations.

The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark is one of Shakespeare’s most tragic plays. Most of the characters in this play suffered a heartbreaking death, although, all of the characters faced anger, regret, madness or distress. Madness was a reoccurring theme in this play, two characters portrayed this more than others. Ophelia and Hamlet faced similar fates, with similarities and differences along the way, all to do with their madness.

   Hamlet's public persona is a facade he has created to carry out his ulterior motives. The outside world's perception of him as being mad is of his own design. Hamlet is deciding what he wants others to think about him. Polonius, a close confidant of the King, is the leading person responsible for the public's knowledge of Hamlet's madness. The idea that Hamlet is mad centers around the fact that he talks to the ghost of his dead father. He communicates with his dead father's ghost twice, in the presence of his friends and again in the presence of his mother. By being in public when talking to the ghost, the rumor of his madness is given substance.

Ophelia tries to obscure the truth because she is afraid of disobeying her father. It is obvious that Hamlet is already well aware that Polonius is watching after he states “Let the doors be shut upon him, the he may play the fool nowhere but in’s own house.”(3.1.132-133) Ophelia could have easily told Hamlet the truth, but due to her undying love for her father chooses to deceive Hamlet. Ophelia’s deceit leads Hamlet to start questioning her honest nature. Hamlet begins tearing apart by Ophelia because he is so irritated with her for being insincere to him. He states to Ophelia that “you should not have believed me: for virtue cannot so inoculate our old stock but we shall relish of it: I loved you not.” (3.1.117-119) Hamlet states that he does not love Ophelia because he believes that through this scheme, Ophelia will reveal the truth that Polonius is in fact behind their “unplanned” meeting. Ophelia had betrayed Hamlet by lying to him, thus Hamlet felt the need to betray her. If Ophelia had just been honest with Hamlet he would have not become so discourteous towards her, but she was not which resulted in him denying his love for her. Just as Hamlet was deceived, Ophelia was also because it was her lies that led to the ending of their love. Ophelia’s dishonesty resulted in her becoming a mockery of Hamlets antic disposition. Hamlet uses Ophelia to uncover

In Act III scene i, Polonius and the King hide behind Ophelia's curtains and eavesdrop on the conversation between Hamlet and Ophelia. Hamlet goes on to scold Ophelia and accuse her of not being chaste "Ha, ha! Are you honest?" ... "Are you fair?" ... "Get thee to a nunnery. Why wouldst thou be / a breeder of sinners?" Hamlet goes on to say "...This was sometime a paradox, but now / the time gives it proof. I did love you once." Ophelia replies with "Indeed, my lord, you made me believe so." Her heart must have torn in two when Hamlet came back with "You should not have believed me, for virtue / cannot so inoculate our old stock but we shall relish / of it. I loved you not." Hamlet admits that he was deceiving her the whole time. This was likely a major factor in Ophelia's descent into madness and eventually, death. Again, Ophelia is the victim.

Hamlet is a young man who has become crazy from his trials and tribulations in life. He lost his father due to his uncle murdering them and then had to watch his mother marry the killer. Hamlets insanity can be demonstrated by his crude language and disregard for the well being of his mother. It can also be shown by his depression, which causes him to second guess everything including his life and finally his love, Ophelia helps to justify his absurdness by acting as a mirror. His foolish behavior worries many in the kingdom and creates a hostile and paranoid environment for those around. While some in the castle may believe that Hamlet is putting on an act, he proves that he is mad through his violet actions, his mental health 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”.

           Ophelia allowed herself to become a sort of marionette in Polonius' schemes toward understanding the seemingly mad prince. While her relationship with Hamlet was on the line, she allowed Polonius to commandeer the strings that determined her actions. Polonius was determined that Hamlet's supposed madness stemmed from lovesickness for Ophelia. He convinced Ophelia that her betrayal of Hamlet was a necessary evil and she began to relay all of Hamlet's messages and attempts at communication to him. He told the king and queen:

Psychotic behavior is prevalent in Shakespeare’s Hamlet as two of his characters, Hamlet and Ophelia, exhibit madness during the play. The play commences after Claudius killed King Hamlet, leaving him in purgatory. Hamlet, after discovering this fact, feigns madness, which he calls an “antic disposition” (1.5.192) in his plot for revenge to ultimately free his father. Ophelia, on the other hand, succumbs to madness after the death of her father Polonius and Hamlet’s rejection of her love. Both experience deaths within their families, which lead to a loss of identity because their identities are greatly shaped by their familial

Hamlet is one of Shakespeare’s most famous plays. In it, a young, Danish prince struggles with the death of his father and the betrayal of his mother. This struggle is so profound; it shakes its main character Hamlet to the core and brings him to the brink of sanity. Shakespeare uses madness to convey important information throughout the play especially through Hamlet and his love interest, Ophelia. Hamlet does not always appear to be mad, in fact throughout the play his sanity is questioned by the reader and other characters. Whether real or faked, Hamlet and Ophelia’s madness reveal to us more about their characters, opinions and secrets than their regular discourse.

Shakespeare’s tragic play, Hamlet, involves ever-developing characters to go along with its ever-developing plot. The play’s events are able to shape the character’s state of mind as they navigate themselves through each new experience. Though the characters differ greatly from each other, there is one thing they share: they each portray a different type of madness. Madness is the centerpiece of corruption to these characters and is what made the play the tragedy that it was. The most prevalent type of madness and also the type most clearly seen is Hamlet’s craving to avenge his father’s death. However, other forms of madness are displayed differently within several characters aside from Hamlet; Ophelia is driven into madness from her belief

William Shakespeare is a world renowned poet and playwright that lived during the Renaissance period, and he was an influential figure during that period of time. Shakespeare’s writing influenced a new psychological realism and depth to drama, and created hundreds of characters showing the rich diversity of humanity. Most of Shakespeare’s plays often demonstrated these principles of humanism, and Hamlet is no exception. The mental state of Hamlet has consistently been a subject of controversy when examining William Shakespeare's tragedy of Hamlet. In this literary work, the tragic hero reflects his own concepts of morality and, in the process, may be considered mad. Hamlet both feigns madness and actually has some characteristics of a madman.