Madness of Multiple Characters in Shakespeare's Hamlet

937 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Concerns in the tragic play hamlet

In the play Hamlet, the author, Shakespeare portrays madness or insanity through most of its characters. What is madness, it is a state of mind in which doesn’t let ones ideas flow normally or think with a clear mind. In this case it is evident that there is something wrong with almost all the main characters. All the characters in the play in some form or fashion display madness either through thoughts, actions or words. Due to Hamlets father recent death, Hamlet is looking for a way out of problems. While speaking to his new step father/ old uncle he makes this statement: “O, that this too, sullied flesh would melt, Thaw, and resolve itself into a dew, Or that the everlasting had not fixed His canon ’gainst self slaughter! O God, God, How weary, stale, flat, and unprofitable Seem to me all the uses of this world!” (1.2.32-36) Due to all the confusion and sadness Hamlet falls under a depression and has deadly thoughts. Prior to the quote Claudius and Gertrude got married, Claudius Hamlet’s new stepfather was making fun oh him for still mourning over his father’s death. Afterward Horatio enters and begins to talk with Hamlet. Hamlet is so distraught that once he hears about the apparition from Horatio he says this: “I will watch tonight. Perchance “twill walk again” (1.2.258-259) Hamlet just needs some closure and is willing to do ANYTHING to see his father again. However, Hamlet shows a strong hatred for Polonius and his daughter Ophelia by saying this: “Let her not walk i’th sun conception is a blessing, but, as your daughter may conceive, friend, look to ‘t”. (2.2.197-199)Before Polonius and Hamlet spoke the king queen and Polonius were talking about Hamlet and Ophelia one day getting married. Then Haml... ... middle of paper ... ... ducat, (3.4.27) Hamlet is back in town and is still on a mission to avenge his father’s death Hamlet: “What man dost thou dig it for? Gravedigger: For no man, sir. Hamlet: What women then? Gravedigger: For none, neither. Hamlet: Who is to be buried in’t? Gravedigger: One that was a women, sir, but, rest her soul she is dead” (5.1.128-134) Hamlet is joking with the gravedigger not knowing that the grave he is talking about is Ophelia’s grave. After that Ophelia’s dead corpse arrives along with Laertes and part of Denmark. Hamlet and Laertes confront each other during the actual burial. In this play, there is more than enough evidence to conclude that madness is used often. Not just by hamlet but by other characters. In the end everyone who sought revenge did what they needed to do, but the problem was that many innocent people were also harmed.

Show More
Related

  • Hamlet Insane or Sane

    779 Words  | 2 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Hamlet- Truly Mad, for Freigned Madness?

    1234 Words  | 3 Pages

    Throughout Shakespeare’s play, Hamlet, the main character, Hamlet, must seek revenge for the murder of his father. Hamlet decides to portray an act of insanity, as part of his plan to murder Claudius. Throughout the play, Hamlet becomes more and more believable in his act, even convincing his mother that he is crazy. However, through his thoughts, and actions, the reader can see that he is in fact putting up an act, he is simply simulating insanity to help fulfil his fathers duty of revenge. Throughout the play, Hamlet shows that he understands real from fake, right from wrong and his enemies from his friends. Even in his madness, he retorts and is clever in his speech and has full understanding of what if going on around him. Most importantly, Hamlet does not think like that of a person who is mad. Hamlet decides to portray an act of insanity, as part of his plan to seek revenge for his fathers murder.

    Read More

  • Hamlet's Sanity

    1524 Words  | 4 Pages

    Throughout Shakespeare?s play, Hamlet, the main character, young Hamlet, is faced with the responsibility of attaining vengeance for his father?s murder. He decides to feign madness as part of his plan to gain the opportunity to kill Claudius. As the play progresses, his depiction of a madman becomes increasingly believable, and the characters around him react accordingly. However, through his inner thoughts and the apparent reasons for his actions, it is clear that he is not really mad and is simply an actor simulating insanity in order to fulfill his duty to his father.

    Read More

  • Hamlet's Sanity In Hamlet Analysis

    1561 Words  | 4 Pages

    Shakespeare 's play "Hamlet" is about a complex protagonist, Hamlet, who faces adversity and is destined to murder the individual who killed his father. Hamlet is a character who although his actions and emotions may be one of an insane person, in the beginning of the book it is clear that Hamlet decides to fake madness in order for his plan to succeed in killing Claudius. Hamlet is sane because throughout the play he only acts crazy in front of certain people, to others he acts properly and displays proper prince like behavior who is able to cope with them without sounding crazy, and even after everything that has been going on in his life he is able to take revenge by killing his

    Read More

  • Does Hamlet Love Ophelia Analysis

    1043 Words  | 3 Pages

    Ophelia is talking to her father Polonius about Hamlet and she mentions to her father that Hamlet has given her gifts: "He hath, my lord, of late made many tenders / Of his affection to me" (1.3.99-100). Polonius is afraid Ophelia will get pregnant by Hamlet, because he thinks Hamlet won 't marry his daughter. Polonius only worries is his reputation, and he doesn 't want his daughter to make a fool out of him. Polonius also mentions that

    Read More

  • Essay On Insanity And Insanity In Hamlet

    1102 Words  | 3 Pages

    ... ideas that Hamlet is mad and that Hamlet is not mad. Readers and critics can agree that Hamlet is not a "man of action," but is instead a "man of reflection"-reflection that is concentrated on both himself and the world (Schucking 31).I believe it is Shakespeare's anger towards corruption and religion that makes Hamlet to fall into madness. “Finding a character in real life of a person endowed with so delicate as to border on weakness with sensibility too exquisite to allow of determined action “(Sylvia 13).While it’s difficult to point out the exact cause in Hamlet's life that lead to his insanity, one thing is for certain; he went mad, and the madness did to him what it does to everything that holds madness; it destroys whatever it touches. Insanity in The tragedy of Prince Hamlet over powered sanity which concludes that the entire play revolves around insanity

    Read More

  • Ambiguity In Hamlet Essay

    1675 Words  | 4 Pages

    (citation) explaining that Hamlet may have to marry above his station or marry someone to resolve tensions between kingdoms rather than marry Ophelia. Next Ophelia is commanded by her father Polonius in the same scene to reject Hamlet’s advances because it is likely that Hamlet is only trying to gain access to her bed and in doing so, would not only dishonor Ophelia but also Polonius. Not long after this, Ophelia is commanded to spy on Hamlet to ascertain the reasons for his alleged madness. Hamlet, already knowing that the King is trying to spy on him, sees through Ophelia’s act and rebukes her. He commands her to “get.to a nunnery” (citation) and while Ophelia responds to these comments with “God has mercy on his soul” (citation), it isn’t confirmed whether Ophelia is playing along with Hamlet

    Read More

  • Hamlet as Victim of a Corrupt World

    1502 Words  | 4 Pages

    Hamlet as Victim of a Corrupt World Troubled by royal treason, ruthless scheming, and a ghost, Denmark is on the verge of destruction. Directly following King Hamlet's death, the widowed Queen Gertrude remarried Claudius, the King's brother. Prince Hamlet sees the union of his mother and uncle as a "hasty and incestuous" act (Charles Boyce, 232). He then finds out that Claudius is responsible for his father's treacherous murder. His father's ghost asks Hamlet to avenge his death, and Hamlet agrees.

    Read More

  • Analysis Of Vengeance In Shakespeare's Hamlet

    211 Words  | 1 Pages

    With the reveal of the sighting of Hamlet’s late father, this scene begins the journey of vengeance, the central plot of the play. Apathetic and lacking meaning in life, Hamlet decides to find and interact with the ghostly apparition resembling his father, risk potential danger and even death. In a private conversation, the ghost reveals to him that Claudius was the cause of his father’s death, not a poisonous slug, and commands him to seek revenge. Without Horatio telling him that he saw the ghost, Hamlet would have continued in his grieving process until time numbed his feelings, after which he would have likely developed a good relationship with Claudius, unknowing that it was him who had killed his father. Horatio, knowing Hamlet well,

    Read More

  • Hamlet and his battle with depression

    1756 Words  | 4 Pages

    Hamlet, a young prince preparing to become King of Denmark, cannot understand or cope with the catastrophes in his life. After his father dies, Hamlet is filled with confusion. However, when his father's ghost appears, the ghost explains that his brother, Hamlet's Uncle Claudius, murdered him. In awe of the supposed truth, Hamlet decides he must seek revenge and kill his uncle. This becomes his goal and sole purpose in life. However, it is more awkward for Hamlet because his uncle has now become his stepfather. He is in shock by his mother's hurried remarriage and is very confused and hurt by these circumstances. Along with these familial dysfunctions, Hamlet's love life is diminishing. It is an "emotional overload" for Hamlet (Fallon 40). The encounter with the ghost also understandably causes Hamlet great distress. From then on, his behavior is extremely out of context (Fallon 39). In Hamlet's first scene of the play, he does not like his mother's remarriage and even mentions his loss of interest in l...

    Read More

  • Hamlet Essay: Hamlet's Gone Mad

    718 Words  | 2 Pages

    By the time Hamlet was written, “madness” was already a popular element within revenge tragedies in the Elizabethan period. But, the role of madness in Hamlet was deeply ambiguous, which set it apart from the other revenge tragedies in its time. Whereas other revenge tragedy protagonists were the complete opposite and just simply insane. Hamlet fiddles with the idea of being insane, which is where it all began. Hamlet states, “How strange or odd soe'er I bear myself, / As I perchance hereafter shall think meet/ To put an antic disposition on” (1.5.58-60) but his sane mental state began to decay over time leaving him actually insane. As the play goes on the role of madness becomes much larger and more crucial, and begins to sweep the spotlight from the other themes within it.

    Read More

  • Justification of Hamlet's Sanity in Shakespeare's Hamlet

    1594 Words  | 4 Pages

    Shakespeare's play "Hamlet" is about a complex protagonist, Hamlet, who faces adversity and is destined to murder the individual who killed his father. Hamlet is a character who although his actions and emotions may be one of an insane person, in the beginning of the book it is clear that Hamlet decides to fake madness in order for his plan to succeed in killing Claudius. Hamlet is sane because throughout the play he only acts crazy in front of certain people, to others he acts properly and displays proper prince like behavior who is able to cope with them without sounding crazy, and even after everything that has been going on in his life he is able to take revenge by killing his father's murderer. In the play Hamlet by William Shakespeare Hamlet is sane but acts insane to fulfill his destiny of getting vengeance on his father's murderer.

    Read More

  • Parent And Child Conflict In Hamlet

    605 Words  | 2 Pages

    Hamlet is the son of Queen Gertrude, this type of parent and child conflicts are somewhat common in some of Shakespeare’s plays. The events surrounding these characters must be taken into account as we watch the attitudes and personalities of Gertrude and Hamlet change as the play progresses. They have their own unique places in the story but do not always mesh well together when thrown into a conflict. Throughout the play hamlet struggles to keep his sanity. This is especially apparent after his father’s ghost visits him. The ghost tells him that his father was murdered by his uncle Claudius, who is the curre...

    Read More

  • Hamlet - Intelligent , NOT Insane

    1345 Words  | 3 Pages

    Throughout the Shakespearian play, Hamlet, the main character is given the overwhelming responsibility of avenging his father’s "foul and most unnatural murder" (I.iv.36). Such a burden can slowly drive a man off the deep end psychologically. Because of this, Hamlet’s disposition is extremely inconsistent and erratic throughout the play. At times he shows signs of uncontrollable insanity. Whenever he interacts with the characters he is wild, crazy, and plays a fool. At other times, he exemplifies intelligence and method in his madness. In instances when he is alone or with Horatio, he is civilized and sane. Hamlet goes through different stages of insanity throughout the story, but his neurotic and skeptical personality amplifies his persona of seeming insane to the other characters. Hamlet comes up with the idea to fake madness in the beginning of the play in order to confuse his enemies. However, for Hamlet to fulfill his duty of getting revenge, he must be totally sane. Hamlet’s intellectual brilliance make it seem too impossible for him to actually be mad, for to be insane means that one is irrational and without any sense. When one is irrational, one is not governed by or according to reason. So, Hamlet is only acting mad in order to plan his revenge on Claudius.

    Read More

  • Theme of Madness Conveyed in Shakespeare's Hamlet

    1161 Words  | 3 Pages

    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.

    Read More

More about Madness of Multiple Characters in Shakespeare's Hamlet

Open Document