The Insanity Of Hamlet By William Shakespeare - 1517 Words

The Insanity in Hamlet Insanity, a theme explored by multiple authors in countless classic selections, has instilled itself as one of the darkest and interesting themes in the literary world. In Shakespeare’s legendary Hamlet, the audience questions the sanity of Hamlet and Ophelia constantly, as well as that of the other characters. As the story progresses, this becomes more and more relevant, bringing the reader to consider the causes and effects of the characters’ mental states on the resolution of the literary work. Hamlet obviously suffers from, at best, a mediocre sense of reason. Even as the conflict of the plot began to first arise, Ophelia becomes curious about Hamlet’s possible madness when he visits her after seeing the ghost.†¦show more content†¦Though Polonius’s death clearly occurred at the hand of Hamlet, the location of the body remains secret and Hamlet entrusts no one to know where it rests; nor does he trust anyone to know why the remains of his victim must stay so secret. Hamlet makes his secrecy obvious when he states, In heaven. Send thither to see. If your messenger find him not there, seek him i th other place yourself. But if, indeed, you find him not within this month, you shall nose him as you go up the stairs into the lobby,† (Shakespeare 104). On the contrary, Gertrude’s sanity never really becomes a subject of question by any character within the story, but one cannot believe she maintains a healthy state of mind if she considered marrying her husband’s brother. It does not help her case that Claudius killed her husband. She loves him undyingly in a way only a mad person could. Hamlet wonders how on earth she would willingly marry her husband’s brother only two months after his death. â€Å"A little month; or ere those shoes were old With which she followed my poor father s body Like Niobe, all tears; — why she, even she, (O God! a beast that wants discourse of reason, Would have mourn d longer!) married with mine uncle, My father s brother; but no more like my father Than I to Hercules: within a month; Ere yet the salt of most unrighteous tears Had left the flushing in her galledShow MoreRelatedMental Insanity In Macbeth And Hamlet By William Shakespeare952 Words   |  4 PagesWilliam Shake speare uses insanity to contrast characters in his tragedies. Shakespeare often uses stress as a trigger to spiral his characters into this state of mind. Shakespeare’s tragedies Macbeth and Hamlet both contain characters that experience a great deal of stress and fall into mental unrest. This mental unrest or insanity is a device used by Shakespeare for contrasting imagery of characterization. The contrast of mental illness with mental wellness within these tragedies is shown in multipleRead MoreWilliam Shakespeare s Hamlet - Sanity Vs. Insanity1742 Words   |  7 PagesJoyner Sanity VS. Insanity â€Å"Hamlet represents the mid period of the growth of Shakespeare s genius, when comedy and history ceased to be adequate for the expression of his deeper thoughts and sadder feelings about life, and when he was entering upon his great series of tragic writings† (The World s Best Essays from the Earliest Period to the Present Time). Hamlet’s actions are entirely too extreme for him to be faking his insanity. Hamlet is constantly on the brink of insanity, or so it seems likeRead MoreInsanity By William Shakespeare s Hamlet Essay1998 Words   |  8 PagesInsanity, the idea that one’s mental health is weak and questionable. This concept of a low level of mental stability seems to have a concrete definition, which means it should be easy to discern. And yet, the criteria needed to be of sound mind is less tangible. Dr. Frederic S Lee writes, â€Å"The actual degree of insanity from which any one of us suffers is a matter of difficult of determination, since it c an be made known only through the verdict of one’s peer, who themselves in turn are demented†Read MoreWilliam Shakespeare s Hamlet - Uncertain Madness And Insanity1401 Words   |  6 PagesUncertain Madness and Insanity Madness can drive a person to do actions that could be described as weird, strange, concerning, and disturbing. Hamlet, the main character in the play Hamlet, leads people on to believe he has gone mad and insane. There is a debate that if Hamlet is truly mad, or if he is faking being mad. Also if he Hamlet does slip into insanity in the play at any point. Well with the evidence shown in the play, Hamlet is faking going into madness for most of part. Hamlet does in factRead More Use of Irony in A Streetcar Named Desire and Hamlet Essay706 Words   |  3 Pages In both A Streetcar Named Desire and Hamlet, Tennessee Williams and William Shakespeare, respectively, demonstrate their abilities to create engaging plays which work on several levels in order to produce the desired effect. One of the most important characteristics of these plays is the playwrights success in using their words to create the worlds surrounding their works. Both Shakespeare and Williams effectively use irony in the aforementioned plays, both in the plot Read MoreIs Hamlet s Madness Genuine Or Feigned?1671 Words   |  7 Pagescontroversially discussed themes in William Shakespeare’s play, Hamlet, is the theme of Hamlet’s madness. Shakespeare left it up to the audience to decide whether he was truly crazy or not. Although, there are many deliberate acts of fabricated insanity repeated throughout the play. Hamlet’s life events such as the death of his father, loving someone he cannot have, and not mention the marriage of his mother to his uncle, was enough to make someone go off of the deep end. However, Hamlet even admits that he wasRead MoreMental Illness in Shakespeares Works1371 Words   |  6 Pagesmental illness most prominently are King Lear, Hamlet, and Macbeth, while also managing to showcase the conception of mental illness at the time. Of the three plays, King Lear is the one that examines mental illness the most. King Lear is the story of the titular king, Lear, his decision to exclude his third daughter, Cordelia, from her inheritance, the abuse he suffers at the hands of his other two daughters, Goneril and Regan, and his descent into insanity, before dying. Possibly the first indicationRead MoreHamlet, Madness or Sanity Essay953 Words   |  4 PagesHamlet, Madness or Sanity Hamlet, by William Shakespeare, is about a young prince who wants revenge when he learns about the murder of his father. As the play begins, Hamlet’s character appears to be a normal, sane person. Moving through the acts Hamlet’s personality changes from normal to depressed. There are hints of insanity that try to convince people Hamlet is â€Å"mad†. Others might say that Hamlet is faking madness to pursue his goal of revenge. First, he sees a â€Å"ghost† that tells Hamlet whoRead MoreInsanity In Hamlet Essay975 Words   |  4 PagesQuestioning the Sanity of Hamlet In Hamlet by William Shakespeare, Hamlet’s sanity is questionable throughout the play. Insanity is defined as the â€Å"unsoundness of mind or lack of the ability to understand† (Merriam-Webster). In the play, Hamlet’s father, King Hamlet, is murdered by Claudius, Hamlet’s uncle, in secrecy. To make matter’s worse, Claudius then continues on to get married in an inscetuous relationship with Hamlet’s mother, the queen. Emotions are heightened when Hamlet then see’s a ghost thatRead More Insanity in Hamlet1565 Words   |  7 PagesHamlet: A look Inside the Insanity Many people have seen Hamlet as a play about uncertainty and about Hamlets failure to act appropriately. It is very interesting to consider that the play shows many uncertainties that lives are built upon, or how many unknown quantities are taken for granted when people act or when they evaluate one anothers actions. Hamlet is an especially intriguing production, both on the set and on the screen because of its uniqueness to be different from what most people