Insanity In Hamlet Essay

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

The novel by William Shakespeare is a very famous piece of literature. There is a lot of controversy on whether or not Hamlet is truly insane. Everything he does throughout the whole play is well thought out in great detail. In my opinion I believe Hamlet is actually not insane but rather an intelligent person that thought everything through in great detail. Some of the things he does have good and reliable reasons to be done.

Throughout Shakespeare?s play, Hamlet, the main character, young Hamlet, is faced with the responsibility of attaining vengeance for his father?s murder. He decides to feign madness as part of his plan to gain the opportunity to kill Claudius. As the play progresses, his depiction of a madman becomes increasingly believable, and the characters around him react accordingly. However, through his inner thoughts and the apparent reasons for his actions, it is clear that he is not really mad and is simply an actor simulating insanity in order to fulfill his duty to his father.

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.

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.

Was Hamlet insane? Scholars have debated this question ever since Shakespeare presented this play to the public. Although I am not a scholar, I believe that there is enough evidence in the play to suggest Hamlet had been sane. He may have been depressed and angry however this was due to the treachery and betrayal contaminating Denmark. The insanity act had been an instrument to allow Hamlet the freedom to achieve his goal of revenge.

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.

   Shakespeare's Hamlet is a master of deception. Hamlet decides to make Claudius believe that he is insane, but the scheme backfires when everyone, except Claudius, falls for it. Ophelia is one of those who believes Hamlet lost his mind, and when he does not return her love, she is so brokenhearted that she commits suicide. Near the end of the tragedy, Hamlet plays the part so well, that he convinces himself he is insane. Clearly, Hamlet's plan to put on an antic disposition is a tragic error.

[(This soliloquy is used to display Hamlet’s raw emotion) and thoughts after he learns of his father’s murder]. Hamlet is deeply traumatized

Hamlet is a tragic plat about betrayal, madness, and revenge. Many of the characters go through the play with development. Certain characters such as Hamlet, Ophelia, and Claudius have certain traits that make them stand out from the rest of the characters in the play.

The soliloquies create an effect on the audience showing that Hamlet is depressed and confused. When he speaks, he sounds as if there is something important he is not saying, maybe something even he is unaware of, creating the sense that Hamlet's character, a philosopher, is extremely troubled at becoming a man of action.

The focus is going to be more towards the definition that discusses the state of severe mental illness. Madness can sometimes be triggered by an event or it can be caused a disease or pre-existing illness. In Hamlet, nearly every character’s madness is triggered by an event. In cases where the madness is unable to be controlled, the person going mad may interfere with others in negative ways and/or take matters into their own hands(suicide). Even though one might think that madness has no relation to death, one may be more likely to die if they become mad because madness has a direct association to death.

In the play Hamlet by William Shakespeare, Shakespeare displays the theme of madness throughout the characters during the play. Shakespeare starts the story with the death of Hamlet's father; then being a ghost, talking to his son Hamlet. Telling him that his death was no accident, that his uncle had poisoned him. He wants revenge for his death. As Hamlet enacts his father's death he see’s that his uncle is guilty and therefore Hamlet starts to overcome a madness that is inside of him to kill his uncle and revenge his father's death.

The audience did not know his true thoughts and feelings until he introduced his soliloquy. The tone is clear and upfront, suggesting anger, sorrow, and frustration. For example, to help frame Hamlet’s deplore with the marriage within the soliloquy, it states, “Fie on’t, ah fie!” The word “fie” is a type of curse word and with the word “on’t” it can only be compared to the modern curse work of “damn it”. The author’s choice to include the cursing instantly conveys Hamlet’s frustration and anger upon the subject of his mother’s relations with his uncle. Moreover, in the beginning of the soliloquy, the author chooses to implement the word “O”. This also helps frame Hamlet’s tone of desperation and sorrow because “O”, in similarity with the modern word “oh”, is used to convey a spectrum of emotions such as anger or disappointment when reacting to an event or something that has been said. For example, if something occurs where it is believed to be somber in nature, one might say “Oh my god” as a reaction to the event, note the word “oh” as it refers to Hamlet’s “O”. Therefore, the connotation of anger, frustration, or disappointment can be fixed to the author’s word choice, characterizing the type of tone that the author implemented within Hamlet’s soliloquy.

Just as word choice and diction plays a part in setting the angry tone of Hamlet’s soliloquy, so does Shakespeare’s extensive use of poetic devices. It is said that a good poem must have agreement between structure and theme. Hamlet epitomizes this trait. The vast majority of the passage, as with most of Shakespeare’s work, is in blank verse, that is, unrhymed iambic pentameter. However, at certain points, the rhythm changes to emphasize important points. For instance, in line 581, the pattern switches to trochaic as Hamlet lists a series of horrible words for his uncle, and then leads into a 2 beat line as he screams for vengeance. There are also several instances of caesuras breaking off thoughts and enjambments carrying on ideas, thus leading the reader on a trip into Hamlet’s brain. For instance, when Hamlet finally realizes what it is he must do, the thought stops mid-line. “I know my course.” Important ideas are thus emphasized and brought out by meter and rhythm.