Emily Dickinson Hamlet Madness Quotes

In William Shakespeare’s own quote he said “madness in great ones must not go unwatched.” In this quote he is referencing the theme of madness prominent in his play Hamlet. Madness is prominent in literature to help control the plot of a story. One definition of madness is a mental delusion or an eccentric behavior arising from it. This definition infers that someone has actually gone insane. In contrast, within Emily Dickinson's poem she wrote “Much madness is divinest Sense— To a discerning Eye—.” This means that all madness might not be madness but a persona to put on in order to gain something. These gains could be used for things such as revenge. Gains brought about by madness are prominent in the lives of characters within Shakespeare’s

The theme of madness is broad, the word itself has many different definitions. In the play the only definition of madness is said by Polonius, “To define true madness, What is’t but to be nothing else but mad?” (II, ii, 93-94). In this quote Polonius defines madness as taking over your thoughts that you cannot focus on the things around you only the madness itself. This would mean that to go mad breaks you off from reality causing the person to not function as they had. As said in Emily Dickinson's quote pertaining to madness can also be faked to gain different benefits. This theme is prominently seen through the characters Hamlet and Ophelia. Hamlet puts on a persona of madness after the ghost tells him of his father’s true murder, to make certain that no one figures out what he is trying to do. This persona helps Hamlet to figure out if Claudius actually killed his father or if the ghost was trying to trick Hamlet. This persona had tricked both Claudius and Polonius into thinking he was mad. In contrast there were times where it had seemed that he was mad such as act three during his confrontation with Ophelia. During this confrontation Hamlet dragged