Hamlet: The Irrational Prince

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Recommended: The madness in the characters of Hamlet

Has the Prince of Denmark gone mad? Or has he simply disguised his intensions by acting like a lunatic? In Shakespeare’s Hamlet, the Prince of Denmark, named Hamlet, is the main character that’s going to avenge is fallen father. Shakespeare makes the audience wonder if Hamlet is really mad or he is just presenting some excellent acting skills that make it seem as if he has really gone insane. We must consider if he has gone mad, could be due to the loss of his father and if he is just simply acting mad, could that be to confuse his enemies? And hide is intensions?

One thing is for certain and that is Hamlet cannot act on his words. He is excellent at expressing himself verbally either to others or to himself but cannot act on them which makes us wonder, is the Prince of Denmark a coward? There are many times Hamlet was able to execute his vengeance for his father. In Act 3 Scene 3, Claudius tries to ease his guilty conscience in prayer, which unfolds a splendid opportunity to avenge his father for Hamlet, however, Hamlet fails too get his vengeance for his father. Hamlet states that “A villain kills my father, and for that I, his sole son, do this same villain send to heaven” in Act 3 Scene 3, lines 76-78. Hamlet does not feel that this is the perfect way to avenge his father because Claudius is praying and confessing his unnatural acts, which is the perfect way to heaven if killed by Hamlet. Hamlet had the perfect opportunity to murder Claudius. Claudius was all alone, there were no other souls around to witness it, but Hamlet, the procrastinating coward he is, fails to take advantage of the situation. After he decides he will not kill the king not he says “Up, sword, and know thou a more horrid hent: When he is drunk asleep, o...

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...ng of Polonius could be argued as Hamlet really has gone mad but Hamlet in fact was simply enraged when speaking to Gertrude, who added fuel to the fire, as Hamlet is already infuriated that he did not kill Claudius yet. When Gertrude yells out for help and Polonius hears it and also calls out for help his voice is dampened because he is behind the curtain which can confuse Hamlet into thinking it might have been Claudius he stabbed. Either way the killing of Polonius makes sense because he heard everything Hamlet and Gertrude were talking about and was rather a private conversation and his secrets could be told to others. Polonius, the rat he is, would tell everyone about what he heard so Hamlet did the sane and analytical thing which does mean he is crazy. His actions were justified.

Works Cited
Shakespeare, William. Hamlet. Oxford: Oxford University Press 1992

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