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Symbolism of the Ghost in Hamlet
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Recommended: Symbolism of the Ghost in Hamlet
Throughout Shakespeare’s play: Hamlet, it is clear as a summer’s day, that Hamlet himself acts quite mad in some situations. Madness can come from many causes in a person’s life, Hamlet’s directly coming from his father’s, King Hamlet’s, death. He seems to go insane over whether or not his father was murdered, who did it, and how to get revenge upon this person. Whether or not he has actually gone insane is the big question. It is easy to assume that he is just playing a game, to gain attention to him and his plot against Claudius to confess over King Hamlet’s death, but without realizing it, Hamlet seems to actually go mad over this without realizing it. As soon as the play begins, Hamlet is genuinely distressed. Soon after, the audience …show more content…
This passage takes an interesting turn. Gertrude tells Claudius that she thinks Hamlet is “mad as the sea and wind,” but earlier this day, Hamlet asked his mother to lie to Claudius and say he is mad, even though he is not. It begs the question if Gertrude thinks Hamlet is actually mad or if she is just protecting her son from Claudius. Throughout the play, the presence of King Hamlet’s ghost seems to go hand in hand with Hamlet’s insanity. Hamlet says, “The spirit that I have seen / May be the devil: and the devil hath power / To assume a pleasing shape; yea, and perhaps / Out of my weakness and my melancholy, / As he is very potent with such spirits, / Abuses me to damn me:” (Shakespeare, page 39). Here, Hamlet is thinking that the ghost may be the devil and is trying to convince him to kill Claudius. The vulnerability Hamlet has at this point in the play leads him to be vulnerable to the devil’s deception and influence. There are many opinions and stances on whether or not Hamlet is mad. There are many examples of both Hamlet’s madness and Hamlet being sane. In Shakespeare’s: Hamlet, the main character, Hamlet, has many reasons to go crazy. Though he may not actually be mad, there are many times when he acts completely
Moreover, Hamlet is mad or so he seems to be. By looking at Hamlet and all his actions everyone is convinced he has gone mad. His mood changes a lot throughout the play, he speaks "wild and whirling words" (I.v.127-134) when he found our about his father’s death, has violet outbursts towards his mothe...
Hamlet: Is He Insane? & nbsp; & nbsp ; The term insanity means a mental disorder, whether it is temporary or permanent. permanent, that is used to describe a person when they don't know the difference. between right or wrong. They don't consider the nature of their actions due to the mental defect of the person.
In Shakespeare’s play Hamlet the main character Hamlet experiences many different and puzzling emotions. He toys with the idea of killing himself and then plays with the idea of murdering others. Many people ask themselves who or what is this man and what is going on inside his head. The most common question asked about him is whether or not he is sane or insane. Although the door seems to swing both ways many see him as a sane person with one thought on his mind, and that is revenge. The first point of his sanity is while speaking with Horatio in the beginning of the play, secondly is the fact of his wittiness with the other characters and finally, his soliloquy.
Hamlet decides to portray an act of insanity, as part of his plan to seek revenge for his father's murder. As the play progresses, the reader may start to believe Hamlet’s “insane” act, but throughout the scenes, Hamlet shows that he knows right from wrong, good from bad, and his friends from his enemies. Hamlet shows that he still has power and control over his actions. As Elliot says “Hamlet madness is less than madness and more feigned”. Hamlet portrays a mad man, in order to be free from questioning, thus allowing him to have an easier path towards revenge.
A couple of experts say Hamlet isn’t fully insane. However, looking into act one on his first soliloquy showing his madness and some parts from The Tragedy of Hamlet’s World View by Richard A. Levine, an English Professor. Also Tenney L. Davis has some good points in his The Sanity of Hamlet. However, act three has the best proof of hamlet’s psychological state as it becomes unstable.
In Shakespeare’s play Hamlet, an obvious subject to discuss would be that of Hamlet’s sanity. To some people Hamlet just seems mad or angry, but others would argue that he is truly mad, as in insane. At first, Hamlet wants people to get the impression that he has gone into madness so they won’t suspect his plan of revenge. The question is, does he place himself too close to madness and not realize that he truly becomes mad, or is he so smart and is able to control himself enough to allow his acting mad be just a disguise in order to execute his plan of revenge? Throughout the play Hamlet’s character becomes blurred and is a huge question mark asking is he mad or is he mad? In Shakespeare’s play Hamlet, madness is a key element to the story.
Rather than focusing on the mission given by the ghost and believing Claudius was truly guilty of “The Mouse Trap,” he focused on his madness, spending very little time actually pursuing his main goal, and assuming the ghost was lying. While reading The Norton Shakespeare edition, I found the quote “The spirit that I have seen/ May be the devil: and the devil hath power/ To assume a pleasing shape; yea, and perhaps/ Out of my weakness and my melancholy,/ As he is very potent with such spirits,/ Abuses me to damn me: (2.2.58-63) which expresses how Hamlet’s depressed state has led him to ponder on the idea that he has possibly become vulnerable to evil, and the ghost was just that, rather than It is almost impossible to prove whether or not Hamlet actually went insane because his mental state was supposed to mirror the doubt and ambiguity in the play, but the consistency of his “mad” state continued even with other people. Ophelia, for example, even began to fear Hamlet after he became abusive and indifferent towards her as well throughout the play.
Hamlet throughout the play seems insane but in reality it is only an act to achieve his goal of killing his father's murderer. Hamlet chooses to go mad so he has an advantage over his opponent and since he is the Prince of Denmark certain behavior is unacceptable, so by faking madness he is able to get away with inappropriate sayings and actions. We can see this when he talks to Claudius, Polonius, Ophelia and his mother. When Hamlet talks to Horatio in the first act he says how he is going to "feign madness" and that:
I think that it is very clear that Hamlet is mad. Everybody in the play, except for Horatio, believes him to be mad, and I believe he is from the beginning to the end. Throughout the play he shows signs of madness typical of an insane person. The angry flurries, the loss of reason, the hallucinations, and the incessant rambling are all substantial indications of Hamlets paranoia. His madness defines who he is during the play.
Another reason why Hamlet is not mad is in the way he escaped his awaited execution in England. Hamlet knew that he was to be sent to England to be killed on the orders of Claudius. But once he saw a chance of escape on the pirate ship, he took this opportunity to board the ship, which made him escape death, thus prolonging his life a little longer. If Hamlet were actually mad, it would be doubtful that he would know of Claudius’ plans,...
This started the whole beginning of the madness. Hamlet shows his insanity in little details in the beginning.
Hamlet's public persona is a facade he has created to carry out his ulterior motives. The outside world's perception of him as being mad is of his own design. Hamlet is deciding what he wants others to think about him. Polonius, a close confidant of the King, is the leading person responsible for the public's knowledge of Hamlet's madness. The idea that Hamlet is mad centers around the fact that he talks to the ghost of his dead father. He communicates with his dead father's ghost twice, in the presence of his friends and again in the presence of his mother. By being in public when talking to the ghost, the rumor of his madness is given substance.
The Conclusions of Hamlet’s Insanity To be, or not to be, that is the question. When regarding Hamlet by William Shakespeare, there are many discussions to whether or not Hamlet is considered crazy. This quote from Shweta Bali, gives a definition of insanity. “Insanity is defined as ‘mental illness or derangement’ perpetuating ravings, loss of reason, dementia, psychosis, paranoia, hallucinations and schizophrenia” (2). Based on this definition, Hamlet is crazy because of his hallucinations, his paranoia, and his psychosis.
In the actual play, one of the principle argument is whether Hamlet is truly mad or not. To analyze this for validity, one would have to look at the linguistics of the play and the situations that play out within it. There is concrete evidence, as well as implied detail, which leads one to believe that Hamlet is only acting as if he were mad in order to carry out his plan to avenge the death of the late King Hamlet.
Hamlet is upset because he can not do much in that moment to avenge his father’s death and must wait for God to decide what to do with it. He decides that he wants some actors to perform a play to get proof of his uncle’s guilt. Hamlet is very conflicted with himself during this soliloquy and questions himself and the actions he is taking. We are able to understand how conflicted he is and how big of an affect the whole situation has on