Insanity in Hamlet

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Insanity in Hamlet In William Shakespeare’s Hamlet, insanity is the cause of the eventual tragedy. Claudius murdering the king sets up a sort of domino effect of senselessness in many other characters, resulting in death for most. Hamlet’s takes his insanity “act” to the grave with him and it seems he actually has gone crazy by the end of the story. Even after he has piled up enough evidence against Claudius for the death of his father, he still acts very mysteriously. When Hamlet accidently murders Polonius he does not seem as bothered as a sane person would normally be. Ophelia is deeply distressed that her father died at the hands of her old love, Hamlet. While Claudius killing the king sets Hamlets recklessness into full swing, Hamlets insanity greatly impacts the overall tragedy of the play. Ophelia is pushed to her own death with these events occurring around her. She is faced with a huge dilemma, not being allowed to talk to her beloved Hamlet who apparently does not even want to be with her any longer. To make things worse, Hamlet of course accidentally murders her father. The first act of insanity by Claudius spreads this infectious behavior into other characters. After all, Claudius must have been very unstable to think that murdering his brother and marrying his sister-in law would be a good idea. In addition, Gertrude is not as innocent as she would like to think either, she remarried in a matter of months and seems more worried about keeping her high social status instead of grieving the loss of her husband. Hamlet notices this, and cannot help but be angry at his mother for not mourning his father. Hamlet’s father’s murder sets up the conflicts which will ultimately result in his own

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