Hamlet Madness In Hamlet

While Hamlet’s “mad” behavior starts out as an “antic disposition,” his mental state deteriorates. Does Hamlet truly go “mad,” or is all of his wackiness an act?

There is a distinct division of opinion among the other characters of the play about Hamlet's sanity and the split is along gender lines. Ophelia and Gertrude both state that Hamlet has gone mad, but the major male characters, on the other hand, like Polonius think that there is "method" in Hamlet's "madness," that his insanity is a surface mask to shield him as he plans the darker purpose of revenge. Since Hamlet is disturbed by the sudden death of his father and his mother's marriage to his uncle, King Claudius, the abnormality of his behavior to some extent is also understandable. Hamlet is naturally withdrawn, dark, and passive in the wake of those traumatic events. He also shows this when he constantly releases his anger with lines like "How (weary), stale, flat, and unprofitable seems to me all the uses of this world!" His self-exile and his self-reproach are essentially normal reactions to a series of events that he must avenge at his dead father's command but without further direction against a powerful chain of power within the guilty King.

When reading Shakespeare’s Hamlet as a class, the first thing that most teachers or professors point out is the argument/idea of sanity, specifically Hamlet's sanity. I believe that Hamlet is, in fact, feigning his madness. What I do not know is if I believe this because it is what I was taught or if I came up with the idea myself based on my own interpretation. When I was taught Hamlet there was no argument it was just fact that he was faking his madness. Because of my confusion, I came to find that it may be interesting take out of the play any moment in which Hamlet makes the audience aware that he is only pretending that to be mad. I want to take out any proof that his madness isn’t real. The argument for legitimate madness is always

     Hamlet, by William Shakespeare, is a complex play, filled with layers of meaning. These are often revealed through the madness of the characters and the theme of madness throughout the play. Although Hamlet and Ophelia are the only characters thought to be so afflicted, the reactions of other characters to this madness mirrors their own preoccupations.

His madness was argued to be an act to confuse Claudius. He acted crazy to cover his plans of seeking revenge on Claudius, when talking to Polonius he acted completely mad, “For in the sun breed maggots in a dead dog, being a good kissing carrion-Have you a daughter?”(Hamlet 2.2.95) Hamlet used much blabber, such as this, when talking to anyone close to Claudius. As the play went on his madness was more and more liable. He started becoming very irrational and distracted by his plans. When Ophelia gives Hamlets letters back he goes into a rage, yelling “Get thee to a nunnery.”(Hamlet (3.1.131) The most well known action Hamlet committed was when he stabbed Polonius in a rash decision, hoping it was Claudius, “O, what a rash and bloody deed is this!“(Hamlet 3.4.171) One thing that brought him one step closer to going mad was Ophelia’s death. Hamlet may have been acting in the beginning but by the end of his devious plan to avenge his father, he lost himself and actually caused himself to go mad.

Why does insanity affect some people in different ways and why? Hamlet is a play by William Shakespeare which tells us when we read it about how some people react differently to insanity then others. Hamlet is the some of the late King Hamlet who was murdered. Gertrude, King Hamlet's wife, was remarried to her brother-in-law Claudius, two months after her husband died. Insanity takes hold of three people in particular in the play: Hamlet, Ophelia and Claudius.

In William Shakespeare’s Hamlet, one of the most evident and important themes is the theme of madness. The theme is apparent throughout the play, mainly through the actions and thoughts of Hamlet, Ophelia, and Laertes. Madness is defined as the quality or condition of mental illness or derangement (being insane). Madness is at the center of the conflicts and problems of the play and is conveyed through Shakespeare’s elaborate use of manipulation and parallels between Hamlet, Ophelia, and Laertes to contribute to Hamlet’s tragic character.

To start, Hamlet shows his insanity through his blinding rage. While visiting his mother in her room to discuss his outrage with her marriage, Hamlet becomes destructive. He throws his mother around the room, grabbing her and screaming at her. All this commotion scares Gertrude, his mother, and causes her to scream out “What wilt thou do? Thou wilt not murder me? / Help, Ho!”(III.iv.23-33). Gertrude is so scared of her son and who he has become that she believes that he will kill her. This shows that Hamlet is delusional because he reaches a point in which he is threatening his mother, a woman who his fathers ghost warned him about mistreating. Hamlets rage takes over his mind and does not allow him to think clearly.

The play Hamlet by William Shakespeare can be interpreted in many different ways due to its ambiguous nature. This causes for conflicting arguments and theories to be held throughout the play. One argument is whether or not Prince Hamlet is overwhelmed with madness or he uses it as a persona in order to give others a false perception of him.

Hamlet’s insanity can be thought of as a tragedy or misconception of reality. The death of his father had shaped the first few impressions of his own persona as well as a new experience with his new aunt. As  a result of his genius insanity prince Hamlet has devised a plan to make things more clear to the audience. “Hamlet’s behavior strikes the audience as abnormal on  several occasions. For example, Hamlet seems to be really mad when he is in front of Ophelia in disordered clothes. He behaves as if he had been loosed out of hell to speak of the horror”.  As the progress of the play foreshadows a significant end to his insanity that he acts upon.  As the play progresses throughout, Hamlet finds ways in order to give others the impression that he has lost his sanity from his “love” of Polonius’s daughter Ophelia. “(Ophelia)He grabbed me by the wrist and held me hard, then backed away an arm’s length and just looked at me, staring at me like an artist about to paint my

Hamlet expresses many emotions throughout this play. We can see one emotion he expresses the mist is his insanity level also referred to as his madness. When Hamlet sees the ghost is madness level increases, indicating he turns into a different person that what he normally is. Hamlet experiences many illusions of seeing the ghost.

Insanity with Purpose In literature, no characteristic of a character's behavior is presented without greater purpose. In The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark written by William Shakespeare, Hamlet, the protagonist, poses to have gone mad to discover who is responsible for his father’s death. Shakespeare's tragic play highlights the eccentric behavior of Hamlet through his actions and inner thoughts. Shakespeare and Emily Dickinson both theorize that the meaning of madness must often be seen with a “discerning eye.” Shakespeare shows Hamlet's erratic behavior through soliloquies and interactions with King Hamlet's ghost.

Hamlet was one of the most interesting works of Shakespeare. One of the themes that appear in several characters is madness. It shows how the mind of characters acts in different circumstances of their life and how in some cases is used to deceive others. Some of the characters who demonstrate this theme are Hamlet, the main character, Laertes and Ophelia. Considering Hamlet, he was not crazy, he acts in this way in order to take revenge of his father, and he knows he wanted for this reason, in some cases his insanity was questioned because if he could prepare a plan and in this moment he demonstrates sanity.

The tragedy of Hamlet by William Shakespeare is about Hamlet going insane and reveals his madness through his actions and dialogue. Hamlet remains one of the most discussed literary characters of all time. This is most likely due to the complex nature of Hamlet as a character. In one scene, Hamlet appears happy, and then he is angry in another and melancholy in the next. Hamlet’s madness is a result of his father’s death which was supposedly by the hands of his uncle, Claudius. He has also discovered that this same uncle is marrying his mom. It is expected that Hamlet would be suffering from some emotional issues as result of these catastrophes. Shakespeare uses vivid language, metaphors, and imagery to highlight how Hamlet’s madness

The play “Hamlet” is one of William Shakespeare’s greatest works as well as one of the most famous English plays ever written. Created as a tragedy, it features a complicated central character and a plot containing many themes. The main character, Hamlet, has been a subject of numerous interpretations and studies where his actions and thoughts throughout the play have been analyzed time and again. A certain aspect that is arguably the most disputed is Hamlet’s sanity. Do the events that take place in the play drive him to the point of insanity, or was it all an act of deception? Though there is evidence that generally brings support to both sides of the argument, Hamlet is truly not insane. He merely acted insane for his own agenda.