Madness and Insanity in Shakespeare's Hamlet Essay

Hamlet’s madness is questioned by many readers. The truth is that Hamlet portrayed madness before he came up with the plan of acting madness. This madness is an important characteristic in the play with Hamlet’s actions revolving primarily around the idea he has because of his madness. There are several occasions further in the play when the audience sees Hamlet acting mad even though there is no one else in the room that he was aware of. In act three, scene four, when Hamlet is in his mother’s chamber and hears a noise behind the arras the rash decision to stab the noise behind the curtain shows exactly how erratic and unstable Hamlet is. His rash behaviour to kill without seeing what he is doing shows that his madness is real and not something he is faking to have revenge for his father. In act five scene two, Hamlet announces that he has switched the letter that ordered Hamlet to be killed in England; instead writing that Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are to be killed. This is perhaps because he thought they were the ones who ordered his death when in fact they were just following Claudius’ instructions. Rosencrantz and Guildenstern were Hamlet’s friends which show that he was perhaps paranoid in his madness. They were there to help yet his rash character after seeing the Ghost has yet again ended people’s lives. It is important to consider that in the Elizabethan era madness was defined differently than what the

While it is true that Hamlet was merely playing the role of someone who had gone mad, many people may say that Hamlet’s madness was brought upon himself simply by the fact that he was trying to fulfill the orders from his dead father yet couldn’t because of his lack of acting upon a plan. It is strongly possible that Hamlet became extremely frustrated because every chance he got to expose Claudius and capture him in this enormous secret, he failed to do so. Therefore, Hamlet’s madness could be judged as reasonable but most likely for different reasons than one may think. Rather than going mad over the concrete facts that his father died and his mother remarried his uncle less than two months afterwards, he drove himself mad over his own flaws. Hamlet’s tragic flaw absolutely led to his tragic downfall as a

      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

His madness was argued to be an act to confuse Claudius. He acted crazy to cover his plans of seeking revenge on Claudius, when talking to Polonius he acted completely mad, “For in the sun breed maggots in a dead dog, being a good kissing carrion-Have you a daughter?”(Hamlet 2.2.95) Hamlet used much blabber, such as this, when talking to anyone close to Claudius. As the play went on his madness was more and more liable. He started becoming very irrational and distracted by his plans. When Ophelia gives Hamlets letters back he goes into a rage, yelling “Get thee to a nunnery.”(Hamlet (3.1.131) The most well known action Hamlet committed was when he stabbed Polonius in a rash decision, hoping it was Claudius, “O, what a rash and bloody deed is this!“(Hamlet 3.4.171) One thing that brought him one step closer to going mad was Ophelia’s death. Hamlet may have been acting in the beginning but by the end of his devious plan to avenge his father, he lost himself and actually caused himself to go mad.

Over the course of Shakespeare’s play, Hamlet, Hamlet begins to act strange. He not only acts strange, but he begins to act like a madman. Therefore, many question his sanity after reading the play. There are many examples and hints throughout the play that leads one to believe that Hamlet has slowly gone mad after losing his father. It is noticeable that Hamlet is mad when he enters Ophelia’s room, sees the Ghost, and talks to Rosencrantz and Guildenstern.

Hamlet’s plan from the beginning is to act insane to draw attention to the royal family, and his plan eventually works. “Something have you heard of Hamlet’s transformation” ( 2.2.3-4). When people start to notice that Hamlet was going insane, more attention is focused on the king and queen than before the incident. Also, even Ophelia believes that he is mad: this leads to her being watched over by her father, and eventually leads to her suicide when she drowns herself. He is such a good actor that even his mother thinks that he is insane. “O, he is mad, Laertes” (5.1.272). Gertrude is more in love with Claudius than she is with Hamlet. This is proven when she jumps to Claudius’s side when he was accused of murder and immediately rats out Hamlet. Hamlet could be accused of being insane, but in the end his plan works out which proves that he is sane and in his right

Throughout the play, Hamlet, Shakespeare applied a myriad of motifs to enhance the meaning and complexity of his work. One of the numerous motifs utilized in the play is madness. The question of Hamlet’s actual madness is profusely raised among readers in the Elizabethan era and is still brought up numerous times today. Some may assert that Hamlet was literally mad and others may argue that Hamlet’s madness was feigned. In the beginning of the play, Hamlet spotted his father’s ghost and discerned that his father’s death was caused by his uncle, Claudius. This situation initiated a whirlwind of events that took Hamlet on a downward spiral. These events are comprised of Hamlet’s actions to try to avenge his father’s death. They support and convey the impression that Hamlet’s madness was real. Although, Hamlet specifically claimed that he was not mad in the text. Hamlet’s madness was feigned since he confessed his reasoning for his antic disposition in order to avenge his father’s death and get revenge for Claudius’ actions.

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

   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.

In Act I, Scene V, after hearing the ghost’s demand for revenge, Hamlet says in advance that he will consciously feign madness while seeking the opportune moment to kill Claudius. Therefore, it is hard to conclude that he coincidentally became insane after making such a vow. Hamlet’s supposed madness not only becomes his way of relating to the other characters during the majority of the play, but also that which develops his character as throughout the play. Still, the question remains: Is Hamlet really crazy or just pretending?

Who was truly insane in the play Hamlet? Hamlet himself, Ophelia, or was it Claudius? Hamlet is a play written by William Shakespeare and is based around a character named Hamlet, and his objective is to get revenge on his father’s death. Hamlet later finds out that Claudius killed his father and stole the throne from him and now has an incestuous relationship with Hamlet’s mother. The death of his father caused Hamlet’s madness and has been obsessed with killing Claudius from then on. Madness is when someone who is Ill-logical, irrational, and unresponsive to certain emotions, but madness can also be blood – crazed where someone is fixated on killing. Throughout the play there many examples of characters that are corrupted by madness, but who was truly mad? Hamlet and Ophelia were mad, but what about Claudius? He started all of this insanity by killing King Hamlet in the first place.

As the hesitation that Hamlet possesses affect both the plot and its characters, his madness also contributes to the death of many characters within the play, having a cause and effect system on their lives. For example, at the beginning of the play, Hamlet pretends to be insane in order to confuse the rest of the kingdom. In his state of “insanity”, Hamlet forces himself into Ophelia’s bedroom, behaving like a mad man, both insulting her and announcing that he is no longer in love with her. “I have heard of your paintings too, well enough. God has given you one face and you make yourselves another. You jig and amble, and you lisp, you nickname God’s creatures and make your wantonness your ignorance. Go to, I’ll no more on ’t. It hath made me mad. I say, we will have no more marriages. Those that are married already, all but one, shall live. The rest shall keep as they are. To a nunnery, go.” ( Act 3, Scene 1, William Shakespeare) By doing this, Hamlet is able to convince many that his madness

The idea of madness in Shakespeare’s Hamlet is just as important of a theme as the mystery of death or the impossibility of certainty. Shakespeare uses the aspect of madness to delve into the issues of knowledge, and lack thereof. There are three apt examples which help explain on a deeper level how the issues of knowledge are represented in the madness of Hamlet, and also Ophelia. Firstly, Hamlet and the vast amount of knowledge he acquires, becomes uncertain and contradictory which inevitably leads him to lose his mind. There is also the possibility that his ‘antic disposition’ aided this downfall into delusion. Secondly, Ophelia, her lack of independence, and the circumstances that follow after she discovers that it is the love of her life who kills her father. And lastly, Shakespeare’s emphasis on surveillance cannot be ignored. Particularly with Hamlet, and the way attains information through eavesdropping leads to incorrect information and devastating results. Overall I think Shakespeare is clever in the way he uses madness as a medium to portray knowledge. It is commonly assumed that madness correlates with unintelligence because of the person in question being unable to portray their thoughts in a logical manner. It is refreshing to see a different perspective on the capability of madness.

n the Shakespearean play hamlet, hamlet went mad even though he toldHoratio he was just pretending. There are many reasons as to why one can say he wentmad. One being, Hamlet went mad because he sees his father's ghost when no oneelse saw him making him question his own sanity. Another is that he acts completelyirrational when it comes to Ophelia. Also He killed Polonius and Rosencrantz andGuildenstern without those being part of his original plan of revenge, being to killClaudius for murdering his father who happens to also be claudius’ brother.First of all, Hamlet went mad because he sees the king's ghost when no one elsedid. At first Horatio and a couple watch men see the ghost walking around the castle.they call hamlet over to see the ghost and

In William Shakespeare’s tragedy Hamlet, madness is first a strategic scheme for the prince to protect himself when he discovers his father was murdered. How he found out was through the ghost of his father who also asks Hamlet to avenge his death. He then forces himself into Ophelia’s room and he behaves like a lunatic, but in doing this he accomplishes tells Ophelia of his love for her and tries to convince everyone else that his maddened state is because of his relationship with her. He knows that Ophelia will tell her father, who in turn, tells the king.