Madness is a vital plot element in William Shakespeare’s Hamlet. Both young Hamlet and his love Ophelia appear mad throughout the play’s duration, but only Ophelia has a genuine affliction of insanity. Although stricken with grief by his father’s death and the clamorous events that follow, Hamlet does not become truly mad because he is still able to distinguish right form wrong and maneuver logically in his plan to avenge his murdered father. Shakespeare surreptitiously places revelations of Hamlet’s sanity throughout the play. Though his planned maneuver to murder his uncle Claudius, the contrast between his feigned madness and Ophelia’s true madness, and his ability change behavior around different characters that possess his trust, Hamlet’s true, rational condition emerges from beneath his veil of insanity.
He then comes up with a plan to have the actors put on a play that is similar to the Murder of King Hamlet. Hamlet assumes that if Claudius has a reaction towards the play, he is guilty. This soliloquy is important because it reveals that Hamlet believes that he is dull spirited, it also points out that Hamlet is frustrated at himself for not having killed Claudius yet. All Hamlet is thinking about for the duration of this soliloquy is Claudius, and how he killed King Hamlet. Toward the end, Hamlet comes up with an idea to know if Claudius is guilty.
There is much evidence in the play that Hamlet deliberately feigned fits of madness in order to confuse and disconcert the king and his attendants. His avowed intention to act "strange or odd" and to "put an antic disposition on" 1 (I. v. 170, 172) is not the only indication. The latter phrase, which is of doubtful interpretation, should be taken in its context and in connection with his other remarks that bear on the same question. To his old friend, Guildenstem, he intimates that "his uncle-father and aunt-mother are deceived," and that he is only "mad north-north-west." (II.
Is Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, insane or deviously sane? Hamlet is indeed sane, a remarkable actor, and quite cunning and devious. Hamlet’s cause for his acted insanity is to prove that his father had been murdered by his uncle, King Claudius. Hamlet uses the guise of madness to gain the opportunity for revenge. First, Hamlet uses his madness to perform orchestrated actions to say things not normally allowed, all-the-while keeping people from taking those actions seriously.
I will not say that Hamlet is totally not crazy in this play. After the death of Hamlet’s father, there are many occurrences that shaking Hamlet’s mentality. In the play, Hamlet is pretending to be crazy because he want to revenge his uncle, King Claudius. To show that my answer to this question is right, I will explain my reasons why I am really sure that Hamlet is not crazy and I will give the evidences to support my arguments. The first, someone will be called as crazy man if he has mental instability.
Using Desdemona, an innocent with whom he has no quarrel to 'enmesh'em all,' Iago weaves a web of deception that ensnares the essentially innocent Othello, Cassio, Roderigo and Emilia, each guilty only of hurting Iago's pride. He succeeds in destroying a marriage and two noble characters as well as his wife, (Emilia), and Roderigo. Iago's true delight in his own cunning however, can be witnessed in his Act 2 Scene 1 soliloquy. Here he revels in the power he wields, that which can to turn Desdemona's 'virtue into pitch.' Also amoral is Iago's mercenary use of Roderigo to 'line his coat.'
Insanity in King Lear is most evident in the portrayal of Lear himself, his mind is haunted and unsettled by the cruel treatment he receives at the hands of his daughters. At the core of this play is a paradox, when Lear is seen as sane, his logic is foolish and ridiculous, however throughout the play as his descendant into madness progresses, he seems to have shards of awareness amongst the gibberish he speaks. At the beginning of the play, Lear would be considered as clinically sane, however his logic is complete madness. He declares his abdication and to determine what each daughter will receive, he devised a contest for them, to see who declared their love for him the greatest. “Which of you shall we say doth love us most.” The verb “say” reflects Lear’s lack of rationality as love cannot be measured with words.
When Hamlet discovers that Polonius and the King are hiding nearby he explodes in a fit of rage, violently attacking her verbally and physically almost like a mad person would. This goes to show that it is all an act. Hamlet is distressed and hysterical, but he still is able to plan and evaluate his situation while still in control of himself, a thing a madman
In society, people tend to make excuses about their behavior when something does not go their way. Madness can be defined as “someone being mentally disturbed or greatly provoked or irritated.” Whether he was actually mad or it was all just an act, in William Shakespeare’s Hamlet, Hamlet is seen using madness to detach himself from the world he would prefer not to be in. Hamlet uses his madness in many different ways throughout the play. Through isolating himself from people around him, saying whatever he wants without any consequence, and acting irrationally in every situation he is put in, Hamlet uses madness to disconnect himself from the unpleasant world he is a part of. Throughout the play, Hamlet isolates himself from the majority of people around him thinking that it will benefit him in the end, as nobody would know about his plan to murder Claudius.
The problem of madness is perhaps the most maddening problem in Hamlet. The question asked is ‘was Hamlet really mad, or did he just assume madness?’ Certain critics have certain views about this. Some think that Hamlet is sane throughout but feigns insanity. Some are of the view that his madness is less than madness and more than feigned. What really the case (of madness) is, that is going to be discussed below.