Hamlet, Madness or Sanity

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Hamlet, 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 “mad”. Others might say that Hamlet is faking madness to pursue his goal of revenge. First, he sees a “ghost” that tells Hamlet who killed his father and married his mother. Was this a dream or was this real? Second, Hamlet kills more than one person to avenge his father’s death. Where these accidents or intentional? “Insanity: a legal term for mental illness of such degree that the individual is not responsible for his or her acts.” (Dorland’s Medical Dictionary for Health Consumers 2007). Lastly, Hamlet becomes depressed and considers suicide.
The ghost appears three times in the play. First appearing to Barnardos, Marcellus and Horatio, but disappearing at sunrise. The ghost then appears at midnight and tells Hamlet that he is his father and was poisoned and murder by his brother Claudius. Then asks young Hamlet to avenge his death. “But know, thou Nobel youth, the serpent that did sting thy Father’s life, now wears the crown” (Shakespeare, Hamlet Act 1 Scene 5 page 1029). This leaves Hamlet angry and tells Horatio and Marcellus to swear they didn’t see anything and that he may act “mad” to carry out his assignment. In Act 2 Scene 2 “The spirit that I have seen may be a devil and the devil hath power t’assume a pleasing shape...” (Shakespeare, Hamlet Act 2 Scene 2 page 1049). This says that Hamlet is not sure if he actually saw a ghost or if it was just a d...

... middle of paper ...

...d” or just bipolar.

Work Cited
Mabunay, Ivana. "Character Analysis of Hamlet: Psychological Disorders." Transmedial Shakespeare. Wordpress.com, 22 Sept. 2012. Web. 19 Apr. 2014.

Dorland. "insanity." TheFreeDictionary.com. © 2007 by Saunders, an imprint of Elsevier, Inc. All rights reserved., 1 Jan. 2007. Web. 19 Apr. 2014.
.

Shakespeare, William. The tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark,
Literature: An Introduction to Reading and Writing. Ed. Edgar V. Roberts and Robert Zweig. 5th Compact ed. New York: Pearson Longman, 2012. 1010-1107. Print.

"Depression." Merriam-Webster.com. Merriam-Webster,
n.d. Web. 20 Apr. 2014.
.

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