Each director has a distinct interpretation of the scene of Polonius’s murder. All three interpretations show fluctuating levels of hysteria within Hamlet’s mind. Michael Almereyda portrays Hamlet as having a great level of mental instability and hysteria. This is shown through his actions throughout this scene. At the beginning of the scene Hamlet is shown being extremely violent towards Gertrude. He throws her on the floor with great force, and then while on the ground he grabs her hair and forces her against the mirror. While against the mirror Hamlet makes Gertrude look at her herself. After this he pulls her away and wraps his arms around her neck and holds her there (Almereyda 2000). The violence expressed shows his inability to control his emotions. Further, this shows his mental instability because he lacks that ability have a normal interaction with his mother. He lets his anger overcome all other emotions he is feeling and takes it out on Gertrude. Also, within this scene Almereyda shows Hamlet’s hysteria after he has committed the act of killing Polonius. While still holding Gertrude in a choke like hold he shoots Polonius through a closet door. After Polonius is shot he falls out of the closet and onto the floor. Hamlet stands on the bed and looks down at the body. He appears shocked and as if he doesn't know what to do (Almereyda 2000). Hamlet's mental instability is shown here by the emotions he shows. He shows no remorse for what he has just done and only stays focused on the body for only a short period of time before returning to his interest in Gertrude. Rodney Benner shows hamlet as having both high and low levels of mental instability and hysteria. He is shown as having high levels during the beginning of this scene. Benner shows Hamlet being verbally abusive towards Gertrude. He yells in Gertrude's face and speaks in a harsh tone of voice. His increasingly violent actions thus lead to Gertrude slapping Hamlet across the face. Hamlet responds by pulling out his sword and threatening her with it (Benner 1980). These actions show Hamlet’s mental instability because he is unable to keep his emotions under control. He lets his anger take over and he takes out his rage on Gertrude. He continues to show this high level of instability during the murder of Polonius. After being threatened, Gertrude calls out for help.
death when his mother and the king enter the room and question him on his
Hamlet: Hamlet's Sanity & nbsp; & nbsp; “Great wits are sure to madness near allied, and thin partitions do. their bounds divide.” Though John Dryden's quote was not made in regard to William Shakespeare's Hamlet, it relates very well to the argument of whether or not Hamlet went insane. When a character such as Hamlet is under scrutiny, it can sometimes be difficult to determine what state he is in at. particular moments in the play.
Riddled with ambiguity by its very nature, the text of William Shakespeare's Hamlet has been a commonly debated subject in literary circles since its first performance. The character Hamlet undergoes intense physical and emotional hardship in his quest for revenge against his despicable uncle. This hardship, some argue, leads to an emotional breakdown and, ultimately, Hamlet's insanity. While this assessment may be suitable in some cases, it falls short in others. Since Hamlet is a play, the ultimate motivation of each of the characters borrows not only from the text, but also from the motivations of the actors playing the parts. In most respects, these motivations are more apt at discerning the emotional condition of a character than their dialogue ever could. Thus, the question is derived: In Kenneth Branagh's film adaptation of Hamlet, does the character Hamlet suffer from insanity? Giving halt to the response, this paper will first endeavor to establish what insanity is and will then provide sufficient examples both from the text, film, and Branagh's own musings on his motivations as proof that Hamlet's character, at least in Branagh's version of the play, is not insane.
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.
Hamlet has mood swings as his mood changes abruptly throughout the play. Hamlet appears to act mad when he hears of his father's murder. At the time he speaks wild and whirling words:Why, right; you are I' the right; And so, without more circumstance at all, I hold it fit that we shake hands and part... [Act I, scene V, lines 127-134]. It seems as if there are two Hamlets in the play, one that is sensitive and an ideal prince, and the insane barbaric Hamlet who from an outburst of passion and rage slays Polonius with no feeling of remorse, Thou wretched, rash, intruding fool, farewell! / I took thee for thy better. Take thy fortune;/ Thou find'st to be too busy is some danger.- [Act III. scene IV, lines 31-33] and then talks about lugging his guts into another room. After Hamlet kills Polonius he will not tell anyone where the body is. Instead he assumes his ironic matter which others take it as madness. Not where he eats, but where he is eaten. / A certain convocation of political worms a e'en at him. [Act IV, scene III, lines 20-21]
When Hamlet murders Polonius, it is evident that Hamlet has gone thoroughly insane and he cannot return from the point he is at. No one is safe from Hamlet and the way he is deporting now. Hamlet has upset his mother by incriminating Claudius and insisting that her marriage is incest. Gertrude even says, Come, come, you answer with an idle tongue (Act 3 Scene 4. 10). This is in replication to Hamlet telling his mother that she is disrespecting King Hamlet (Act 3 Scene 3.9). All this that has occurred verbalizes volumes to Hamlet losing his sanity due to his recollection of the loss of his
One of the most analyzed plays in existence is the tragedy Hamlet, with its recurring question: "Is Hamlet’s 'antic disposition' feigned or real?" In truth, this question can only be answered by observing the thoughts of the main characters in relation to the cause of Hamlet real or feigned madness. In the tragedy Hamlet, each of the main characters explains Hamlets madness in their own unique way. To discover the cause behind the madness of Hamlet, each character used their own ambitions, emotions and interpretations of past events. Characters tried to explain Hamlet's "antic disposition" by means of association to thwarted ambition, heartbreaking anguish, and denied love. In the workings of their thoughts, the characters inadvertently reveal something about their own desires, emotions and experiences to the reader.
Unsurprisingly, Branagh’s version of the scene in Gertrude’s closet contains many differences as well. Even in this scene so wrought with family peril, the focus of Branagh’s Hamlet remains on the theme of revenge. From the moment Hamlet arrives in Gertrude’s chamber there is a screaming match. Gertrude is indignant and insulted, rather than hurt and scared as in Doran’s portrayal. Even when Hamlet becomes more violent and physical with her, she still appears to be strong and a nearly even adversary. The killing of Polonius occurs in a similar fashion, except he is hidden behind a curtain rather than a mirror and Hamlet kills him with a dagger instead of a gun. This time period difference is vital in the playing out of this murder, because the “revenge” that takes place is much more personal with a dagger than with a gun. Hamlet is able to commit the murder from farther away with a gun, creating a less hands-on image of murder and revenge. During Hamlet’s line regarding revealing Gertrude’s innermost part, instead of simply referencing a mirror, the audience sees Hamlet try to forcefully undress her. Where in Doran’s film this disrobing was entirely figurative, Branagh takes it more literally in the scene’s staging. For most of the scene, Hamlet and Gertrude are leaning towards each other as if it is a heated argument, rather than Hamlet
In addition to verbal abuse, Hamlet is prone to fits of physical violence, the most notable being the murder of Polonius in Act 3, Scene 4, which will eventually lead to the untimely death of his one true love. He shows no remorse over the killing of his love’s father and when asked where he hid the body provides little information, at first taking an opportunity to further show his insanity before finally revealing the body’s whereabouts.
Polonius takes this opportunity to spy on Hamlet and informs Gertrude that he will hide behind a tapestry and eavesdrop on their conversation. During their conversation Hamlet forces his mother in front of a mirror as to literally reflect on herself and the betrayal she’s caused him to feel. He tells her that he wants to reveal the figurative inmost part of her, but she takes this literally and thinks that he means he is going to murder her. She cries out for help which causes Polonius to cry out as well. Hamlet, thinking that the voice of the man who had just cried out for help belonged to his uncle, stabs Polonius through the curtain and kills him. Gertrude laments the murder of Polonius calling it a bloody deed and Hamlet retorts, “A bloody deed! Almost as bad, good mother, As kill a king and marry with his brother” (Shakespeare 1862). In this scene, Hamlet reaps revenge on Gertrude by emotionally torturing her so she may feel the utmost guilt for betraying her son and husband. Then, Hamlet’s unremorseful character is revealed in his ability to murder Polonius when he thought it was Claudius he had heard behind the curtain. Hamlet then justifies his murdering Polonius by equating it to Gertrude’s sin of marrying the man, her brother in law, who killed her
In Lewis Carol’s, Alice in Wonderland, he tells of the meeting between two of his characters, Alice, and the Mad Hatter. Carol writes about the struggles the young girl Alice has with him due to the fact that he appears to be entirely crazy, though the question stands if there is some method to his madness. Playwright and actor, William Shakespeare, uses this controversial connection between real madness and loss in his play Hamlet, portrayed in his characters Hamlet, and his crazed actions towards his loved ones, in Ophelia and her reaction to the death of her father, and lastly, in his character Laertes and his quick, rash reaction to act upon his desire for revenge.
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 death of Polonius does not even seem to bother Hamlet the slightest bit. Soon after he commits the unforgivable act of murder against Polonius Hamlet says, “Thou wretched rash, intruding fool, farewell. I took thee for thy better” (3.4.32-33). The violent nature of his killing reveals Hamlet’s hysteria because he was unable to stop himself. The act of overkill displayed during this scene shows his inability to control his own emotions. Therefore, such behavior depicts that of a madman. This very incident was the beginning of Hamlet’s unmasked madness. It is obvious that Claudius’s murder of the King drives Hamlet to despair. At first, Hamlet feigns his madness; however after his first kill he pushes aside any rationale he has left and becomes bloodthirsty for revenge.
The tragedy of Hamlet by William Shakespeare is about Hamlet going insane and reveals his madness through his actions and dialogue. Hamlet remains one of the most discussed literary characters of all time. This is most likely due to the complex nature of Hamlet as a character. In one scene, Hamlet appears happy, and then he is angry in another and melancholy in the next. Hamlet’s madness is a result of his father’s death which was supposedly by the hands of his uncle, Claudius. He has also discovered that this same uncle is marrying his mom. It is expected that Hamlet would be suffering from some emotional issues as result of these catastrophes. Shakespeare uses vivid language, metaphors, and imagery to highlight how Hamlet’s madness influences several important aspects of his life including his relationships and the way he presents himself.
In writing Hamlet, William Shakespeare plumbed the depths of the mind of the protagonist, Prince Hamlet, to such an extent that this play can rightfully be considered a psychological drama.