Hamlet’s feigned madness The greatest debate about Shakespeare’s Hamlet is whether Hamlet was faking his madness or not. A person who is insane does acts of extreme foolishness or irrationality while being unaware that he or she is performing such out of the box acts. Hamlet could not have possibly been insane as there is evidence throughout the play that he can control his actions and choose the moments when his ‘madness’ appears. Hamlet uses this “antic disposition” (Hamlet I.v.172) to throw off the other character such as Polonius and Claudius and gain the upper hand in the grand scheme of things. If it weren’t for Hamlet’s supposed insanity then the King would have seen that Hamlet knew the truth about the old King’s murder and would have had him dealt with immediately.
Thomas Machi Hamlet Essay- Topic #2 Insanity In Hamlet is a key theme. Hamlet is actually insane and lost his mind, and it is represented when Claudius marries his mother, when Hamlet kills Polonius, and the death of his mother. Those are the many reasons that represent Hamlets’ insanity. When Claudius marries his mother was the first reason why Hamlet started to loss his mind. Hamlet becomes really depressed and angry when he hears about the marriage and how it happened so shortly after his father’s death.
Is Hamlet Insane? The topic of whether Hamlet is insane or not insane has become a very controversial dispute. Some say he Hamlet actually started to progressively become insane as the play went on (thoughts of suicide, etc.) and some say that he just put on an act to gain an opportunity to avenge his father’s death., who was murdered my Claudius, his brother. I believe that Hamlet was completely aware of the words he spoke and the actions he made and acted in a way that could be considered “insane” for vengeance.
Who is guilty, then? Hamlet’s mental illness is.” He is making it seem as if he does not understand what really going on and he want them to think that he is really going crazy. Another factor into him going crazy is when he tells Ophelia that she should believe that he really loved her and the way he behaved towards her. The only reason for that dispute was because he was so angry with his mother and how she did her father with marrying her dead husband’s brother. He felt as if his mother had betrayed him and his dead father.
Alexander mention in his article that the only characters in the play who regard Hamlet as mad is the king and his henchman, even those were full of doubts and we can see this through the king speech when he ordered his henchman to go and talk with Hamlet and know from him why he puts on this confusion, this implies that the king understand Hamlet's strange behavior as feign and not real madness. Even Polonius; though he is the first person to declare that Hamlet is mad and has lost his mind, and the purpose of his madness is due to his love with Ophelia, yet he declares that Hamlet is clever by saying: "Thought he is mad, but there is method in it" (II.ii.203-4). This implies that Hamlet has purpose or plan for his madness; he assures that he is pretending. He ends his article by illustrating his point of view: There need no doubt, then that Hamlet's madness was really feigned.. . .
(5.2.217) Therefore, Hamlet is essentially begging Laertes for forgiveness. He says that he feels bad about the act that he has committed but he blames it all on his madness. His madness killed Polonius, not Hamlet himself. Speaker: Hamlet Context: It has been assumed by the other characters that leading up to this part of the play Hamlet has gone mad. Each character has their own speculation of why he has gone mad but the readers of the play know that Hamlet is putting on an
Hamlet’s mental state plays a large role as he is severely depressed by the death of his father and also very disturbed by his mother marrying his uncle. At that point Hamlet has two options, to somehow fill the void his father had left, or to slip into madness. The perfect solution came when Hamlet’s father, King Hamlet, appeared to him as a ghost. His dad told him that Claudius killed him and he wanted Hamlet to avenge his death. This was perfect for Hamlet.
In the play Hamlet acts mad. He is not crazy however but is merely pretending to be. Before he begins this act he tells Horatio and Marcellus what he is about to do. Polonius notices that there is too much sense in Hamlets charade for him to be truly crazy. Hamlet makes sure his uncle is guilty of murder before enacting his revenge.
In William Shakespeare’s ‘Macbeth’, there were numerous factors that accumulated to lead up to the tragedies that occurred. The Weird Sisters were not catalysts for these tragedies, as they only acted as a mirror to reflect and reveal man’s true nature and flaws. A Shakespearean tragedy is when character flaws become so dominant that they lead up to a number of tragic events, and eventually the downfall of the characters themselves. This was demonstrated in the play when, after being foretold by the Weird Sisters that he would soon be King, Macbeth’s true nature began to surface. His desire for power eventually overpowered his morality and caused him to perform a series of violent murderous acts.
The family drama keeps Hamlet from having any true support. But, next Ophelia enters the plot. As sad as it is Hamlet is so brilliant that he will eventually use poor Ophelia for revenge. Hamlet is so capable of destroying a person. H e uses attacking with language, plays with words and cons people into thinking his way or believing what he wants them to believe.