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.
I don’t value my life as highly as a pin”. From this point on in the play, Hamlet’s state of mind has completely changed, now only focused on nothing but avenging the death of his father. When Hamlet is at the wedding of his mother Gertrude and King Claudius, he is dressed in dark and gloomy colors. These colors reflect his mood immensely at this moment in the play as he is extremely depressed and sad over the loss of his father and also over his mother’s inability to stay ‘loyal’ to his father. He firmly believes that
Paul Tarlevs ENG 4U1 April 26th, 2012 Revenge is Too High a Cost The Tragic Hero - Hamlet’s Great Inability to Act The first characteristic of a tragic hero is that he/she must be a person of great importance. Hamlet being the prince of Denmark, he is in fact a valuable character. The surprise visit from the ghost of his father introduces a prophecy, where Hamlet will have to avenge his fathers’ death by killing the current King of Denmark, Claudius. The usual first impression on Hamlet in the beginning of the play is that he is a man of strength and power. However, a tragic hero is a character who experiences conflict and suffers greatly as result of his/her choices.
Could he expose Claudius' actions to everyone and so he serves his rightful punishment? Many different methods could have been used to restore justice in Denmark instead of getting revenge. Not only could he reveal his uncle, but also his mother that he discovers problematic. He does indeed finally kill his uncle after his mother has been poisoned, but only becomes the king long enough to label his replacement as he is dying at the time he slayed Claudius. This great play was a tragedy; but Hamlet had an opportunity to seek justice and finally become king himself.
The play’s main protagonist Hamlet lets his grief over his father’s murder fuel his thirst for revenge, Ophelia lets the grief over the murder of her father Polonius drive her to apparent suicide, and Ophelia’s brother Laertes is pushed to conspire with Claudius to kill Hamlet as a result of his grief. Grief might as well be its own character in Hamlet because if it was it would always be center stage. The grief present in Hamlet comes in many different shapes and forms. Even for life today, until people learn how to deal with grief it will become an inherent part of a person’s character. It is interesting to note how Shakespeare portrays his male and female characters ability to handle grief.
Soon after, the young prince is visited by a ghost that resembled the appearance of his dead past father. To increase confusion on Hamlet’s situation even more, the ghost gives details about the truth of King Hamlet’s death; the King was murdered by Claudius while asleep. Because of this and other similar factors, like betrayal, Hamlet began to fall down into a sense of insanity. Throughout William Shakespeare’s play The Tragedy of Hamlet: Prince of Denmark, indication of Prince Hamlet’s true madness is seen in his feelings of abandonment and betrayal from the relationships he has with his family and friends, the unstable emotions and thoughts of avenging his father’s “unnatural” murder, and the unbelievable appearance and meeting of the presumably ghost of former king of Denmark Hamlet’s father, King Hamlet. The character of Hamlet has
However true that may be, that he did commit a final act of loyalty for his father, along the way he still continuously lost and found an inconsistent faith that lead him along a questionable heroic path of glory. Hamlet did not die as he lived; he accomplished his task but not admirably so. He disregarded everyone that sincerely cared for him, igniting a series of events that would eventually lead to their suicides and or murders. Hamlets did what he was meant to do, but the way in which he went about leaves many wondering at the true nobility of his
Hamlet questions whether to take action in avenging his father’s death or to commit suicide in his fourth soliloquy, located in the rising action of the dramatic structure of the play, seen particularly in the lines “puzzles the will/ And makes us rather bear those ills we have/ Than fly to others that we know not of?” Here, Shakespeare foreshadows the recurring theme of Hamlet’s inaction towards avenging his father’s death and uses rhetorical questions to aid in his self-analysis. This is such a controversial part of the play, as many believe that there is more to this speech then just the choice of revenge/suicide. One opinion on this soliloquy is that the contemplation of suicide accentuates the contemplation of what is and what isn’t. The indecision is highlighted within this soliloquy as Hamlet expects nothing less than a sacrifice, believing that he is condemned either way with his struggle of religious code vs honour code, therefore deeming both acts as sinful. This perspective clarifies that to be or not to be is not in fact about suicide but the overall uncertainty of thoughts and actions.
Hamlet also expresses the possibilities that the ghost could have been the devil. Although hamlet gets upset with himself he believes that the play he arranged would display Claudius’ guilt and then he will know for sure he killed his father. This reveals to the audience that Hamlet is a procrastinator and he is a coward. In Hamlet’s fifth soliloquy he contemplates the idea of suicide, he suggests that maybe the only reason we choose life is because we know so little about death other than it Is final. After contemplation Hamlet decides not to take his own life.
An Analytical Review of corruption's ability to induce death and mortality In Hamlet For centuries, humanity has been intrigued by the profound discussion about death and the undefined inevitable state of mortality it presents. Death is often foreseen as the separation between the soul or spiritual being, and the biological compound of the human body. Factors which cause death can derive from the gradual onset of natural physical deterioration of the surrounding anatomy and mental capacity, much like the progressive evolution of corruption in a diseased state. Vulnerability can also lead to exterior instances of mortal exacerbation such as murder, suicide and accidental killings that are caused by a third party. In the play Hamlet, Shakespeare uses the theme of corruption to metaphorically represent the deterioration of each Character’s physiological well being and state of mind when exposed to corruption that ends in death.