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.
Henry Mackenzie also refers to Hamlet’s antic disposition as “counterfeited madness” (1095). Hamlet may have fooled Polonius very well but even he had doubts of Hamlet’s madness. “Though this be madness, yet there is method in’t” (2. 2. 215).
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.
Felix Cole English 10 H Monica Espinasse Barbed Words Shakespeare’s tragedy Hamlet evokes a world where a nation can be seen as a diseased body and language can be used as a lethal weapon. Madness, defined in the dictionary as, “engaging in actions that are senseless or foolish”, is an issue that multiple characters deal with throughout the play. Many would say that Hamlet’s actions are very irrational, but everything he says and does eventually helps him achieve his desires. Despite how things seem Hamlet is an intelligent character who ultimately is in his right mind. The death of one’s father and a ghostly visitation thereafter are events that would challenge the sanity of anyone.
As we progress through his soliloquys in the play we see changes in Hamlet’s emotions and feelings towards what he eventually wants to do. By the third soliloquy we have found out about Hamlet’s fathers ghost and that Claudius was the one who killed him. Hamlet is angered by this and assures that he will only think of getting revenge on Claudius. Later he realizes that he should stop procrastinating and hurry up and avenge his father, but he doesn’t have the courage to do it. Hamlet also expresses the possibilities that the ghost could have been the devil.
Hamlet’s uses antic disposition as a tactic to uncover the truth behind his father’s death which leads the reader into believing that Hamlet is truly insane. However, the truth of it all is that it is an act of foolishness to distract others into believing that he is mentally ill. Through the use of character Hamlet proves himself as a strategic thinker by congregating solid evidence that is pointing towards Claudius being guilty of performing an act of violence. Hamlet begins to question the presence of the ghost as he states, “The spirit that I have seen/ May be the devil: and the devil hath power/ To assume a pleasing shape” (II, ii, 596-597). The act of logical thinking demonstrates that Hamlet did not act hastily and commit a sin after witnessing his father’s spirit.
Near the middle of each story the characters start to change their opinions slightly; Hamlet starts to believe he is actually becoming insane and O’Brien starts to believe that he may have done what’s right. Ending sanity 1. Hamlet can clearly plan the follow-through on his plan to kill the king and O’Brien has seen how if he dodges the draft order, he will pay even more dearly than he is willing to gamble on. 2. Hamlets speech became more rational.
To Hamlet, insanity is the manner in which he speaks and acts. However, I am led to believe that the insanity might or might not be real. Did Hamlet become truly insane, or was it just an act. What was Shakespeare’s purpose in making Hamlet crazy? Throughout the play, Hamlet makes a multitude of snide remarks to Polonius.
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.
RICHARD DAVIDSON The Theme of Spying in Hamlet Within Hamlet, there is an intricately interconnected subterfuge of deceit, much of which stems from the act of spying. Throughout the play the audience is left confused by the protagonist’s erratic behaviour and the conspiring of numerous other characters, mostly from Claudius’ command, against the title character. Despite the fact that it is Hamlet himself who introduces the theme of spying, intending for his “antic disposition” to serve as a method of shielding his true nature from the King, he also appears to suffer severe repercussions from the deception and uncertainty that is rife within the play. This results in Hamlet’s true mental state becoming a matter of intense debate for the audience. In one of the early ironies of the play, Hamlet’s antic disposition, though intended to alleviate suspicion of his actions, only serves to confuse the King and inspire his decision to use Rosencrantz and Guildenstern as spies against his nephew.