In Act III of Shakespeare’s play “King Lear”, madness is expressed in many of the character’s speeches. Lear, Edgar and the Fool all demonstrate a great deal of wisdom and insight when they discuss the chaos going on throughout the Act. Each character has a unique way of expressing their opinion. By Act III, Lear’s life is in turmoil; the daughters he loved so greatly have betrayed him, leaving him powerless. The rage that Lear feels is unbearable; he was so angry that he ran into a life-threatening storm.
Hamlet and Claudius contradict one another in a variety of ways making them enemies throughout the play. Prince Hamlet is perceived as the protagonist in the play for many reasons, one of them being because he displays an elegant intensity in everything he does, making him very amiable to the audience. When Hamlet is truly indecisive, brutal, revengeful, and hateful. When Hamlet speaks to others, his words are thought out to be hurtful to whomever he is speaking to. “You should not have believ'd me, for virtue cannot so inoculate our old stock but we shall relish of it.
Hamlet also knew that he could not tell anyone that Claudius has murdered his father or that he had seen the ghost of his father because no one would believe him. Throughout the play Hamlet expresses his “madness” an example would be when he meets Ophelia in the court. In the beginning of their conversation he tells her that he once loved her but then is also confused saying that he didn’t love her at all. This is due to the fact that he sees woman as deceivers because of his mother’s relationship with his uncle. 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.
Gifford Mellick Period 3 McInerney 10H During Act III Shakespeare uses the motif of Hallucinations to create the effect that Macbeth is mad. Macbeth is at his own banquet when he calls upon two murderers to kill Banquo and Fleance. While the murderers kill Banquo, Fleance manages to escape. Back at the banquet, Macbeth returns to the table to find the ghost of Banquo standing on his chair. Lady Macbeth is questioning Macbeth creating an impugning tone when she says: “why do you make such faces?
This presents the question “Does Hamlet ever truly go mad?” The leading events would certainly justify madness and his actions and conversations with other characters would indicate a true madman. This is exactly what he wants them to believe. He cunningly uses insanity as a provision in his quest to avenge his father’s death. It is during the conversation with his father’s ghost that Hamlet first admits his contrived madness when he says “How strange or odd some’er I bear myself- As perchance hereafter shall think meet To put an antic disposition on” (1.5; 179-181). He further elaborates exactly how he will convince people of his madness by saying “That you at such times seeing me, never shall, With arms encumbered thus, or this headshake, Or by pronouncing of some doubtful phrase” (1.5; 182-184).
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.
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.
In Act Four, during Macbeth’s last encounter with the witches, the reader witnesses how Macbeth demands the witches and their apparitions to “answer [him]/To what [he asks them]” (IV.i.60-61) and arrogantly only takes the apparitions’ messages literally so that their messages favor what he wants to believe. When compared to how Macbeth reacts when the witches first approach him, their prophecy leaving him speechless and analyzing whether or not/how that prophecy will come to fruition, Shakespeare clearly conveys how much Macbeth’s power has gone to his head. The immorality of Macbeth’s character is deepened in the very next act when he sends for Macduff’s defenseless wife and child to be killed only for the purpose of furthering the safety of his own power. His corrupt character even shows through while preparing for battle and on the battlefield. His wickedness is first portrayed in Act Five when he mocks a fearful servant giving him news of the enemy approach as a “lily-liver’d boy” (V.iii.15) and when he demands the doctor cure his wife of her mental illness although the doctor explains that he can do nothing for her.
Hamlet and True Insanity Shakespeare’s tragedy Hamlet presents two different types of psychotic behaviors through the characters Hamlet and Ophelia, but only one character truly goes insane. Shakespeare utilizes this theme of madness to create dimensional characters through forming the question of whose insanity is real and which character is simulating it. Hamlet’s lunacy is applied to make it seem as if he does not know Claudius killed Hamlet Sr., and this escalates as the plot prolongs and becomes a significant part of the play. The cause of Ophelia’s insanity is not because of her father’s death alone; many characters pushed her to her wits end and indirectly caused her to commit suicide. Ophelia’s exotic behavior begins in Act Four