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Psychology analysis of hamlet
Psychology analysis of hamlet
Mental illness in hamlet essays
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Exploring the Validity of Hamlet's Madness in Hamlet by William Shakespeare
The issue of madness is one of major importance in this play. Is Hamlet truly mad, meaning insane? Or is he merely angry? Does he feign madness and use it as a guise? Or does he place himself so dangerously close to the line between sanity and insanity that he crosses it without even realizing it? Or is he so intelligent, cunning and in control that this is merely the playing out of his completely conceived and well-executed plan of attack? The patient is a thirty year-old male. He is Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, an introspective, grieving young member of the royalty, plagued by the recent death of his father, and the hasty marriage of his mother to his uncle, Claudius. He is capable of depressing anyone around him; the King and Queen attempt to pry Hamlet from his mourning. As relations become more strained between Hamlet and Claudius, his attitude becomes destitute. He begins to withdraw himself from everyone in the castle, and spends most of his time in solitude; he is often seen walking alone, talking to himself. Upon deeper investigation, it is discovered that Hamlet is seeing the ghost of the ex-King of Denmark, Hamlet's father. The ghost becomes Hamlet's counselor, guiding him through his everyday maze of depression and confusion. It is through the ghost of his father that he learns that Claudius, the new King of Denmark, is solely responsible for his father's "foul and most unnatural murder" (I.v.26). He claims that he is told to seek revenge on his father's murder by murdering Claudius. Hamlet sees the ghost at various times over the course of the play, appearing when he is in need of help. Hamlet's condition persists, gradually getting worse, as...
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http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Aegean/6440/eng-lit/hamlet5.txt*. "Though This is Madness, Yet There is Method in It." Online Archive. 9 March 1999.
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that they had seen a ghost during the night watch. Hamlet was shocked at the
The reasoning behind Hamlet’s madness is the investigation that occurs with the cause of his father’s death. As Hamlet recognizes the truth associated with his father’s death, he realizes the death was committed by murder. This is revealed in act one, scene five, as his father’s ghost explains that Claudius poisoned him (1.5.64-80). In addition, the circumstances concerning the marriage of Claudius and Gertrude enhances Halmet’s urge to act mad. When Hamlet encounters his father through the figure of a ghost, Hamlet reveals his sanity: “Here, as before, never, so help you mercy/ How strange or off so ever I bear myself/ As I perchance hereafter shall think meet/ To put an antic disposition on” (1.5.187-190). Hamlet describes his madness to be an act, to put on a show. This madness allows for Hamlet to advance his intention of finding out the truth behind his father's death. As Hamlet presents this form of madness, it allows him to advance his plan on killing his stepfather, Claudius. Claudius believes that Hamlet is mad, although he does not know the reason for why he is mad. This allows for Hamlet to create a plan to kill Clausius without many questions being asked. In act two, Hamlet admits that he can alter his madness: “I am but mad north-north-west. When the wind is southerly I know a hawk from handsaw” (2.2.390-391). With this information, the suggestion is that Hamlet is clever in the way he acts. During the beginning of the play, some of the characteristics of Hamlet are identified. The explanation of Hamlet being a student and attending university provides the audience with information that as a character, Hamlet has an abundance of knowledge. As Hamlet conducts his form of madness and the plan for the death of Claudius, his intelligence characteristics are displayed. The act of a madman creates successful opportunities for Hamlet as other characters reveal
death when his mother and the king enter the room and question him on his
“I plead guilty by reason of insanity,” is Hamlet’s plea if he was sitting in a modern courtroom. In Hamlet by William Shakespeare, it is evident that Hamlet himself is indeed out of his mind. The reader understands the reason for his anger and frustration, but how he “fixes” the situation is beyond a sane mind. To be fair, his madness deals more with emotional instability referred to as melancholy or madness than a person who is incoherent. Hamlet’s madness becomes clear in his actions and thoughts, in his erratic relationship with Ophelia, and in the murder of Polonius.
Intelligence is often mistaken for brilliance, and conversely genius is mistaken for madness. Some of the greatest minds have been misconstrued in there time, and it is not until their whole life is taken into observance from the outside looking in, that their genius is realized and appreciated. Websters dictionary defines madness as "the act of being foolish or illogical." Ironically this form of thought has prompted some of the greatest advancements in government, science, and technology. It was the thought that every common man and woman should be included in his or her respective governments that prompted Democracy, a form of government unheard of before the signing of the Magna Carta. It was scientists and inventors thinking outside of the lines that inspired the cure for Small Pox and the invention of the computer. It can clearly be seen that serious thought is often the by-product of irrational thinking, this is also true for literature. It is while in madness, both feigned as well as sincere, that the characters in William Shakespeare's Hamlet are able to practice true mental clarity and express themselves in a manner free of treachery and falsehood.
Shakespeare's tragic hero, Hamlet, and his sanity can arguably be discussed. Many portions of the play supports his loss of control in his actions, while other parts uphold his ability of dramatic art. The issue can be discussed both ways and altogether provide significant support to either theory. There are indications from Hamlet throughout the play of his mind's well being.
Many argue that Hamlet was truly mad, but was he really? There are many scenes throughout Hamlet that push more toward the idea that Hamlet himself, is in fact mad, but the more in depth you read into Hamlet, the more you come to notice that it is all just an act. A good way to decipher this is to compare his counterfeit madness to Ophelia’s potential genuine madness. When doing this, it becomes crystal clear whether or not Hamlet is truly mad.
After this scene Hamlet acts insane and he often criticizes his mother for remarrying and even insults her, but gets away with his actions because at this point those around him are starting to believe there is something wrong with Hamlet. He is not crazy but if he were truly crazy then he would not internally realize that he is mad, a crazy person usually doesn 't realize they are going crazy, but it is others who realize because of his or her actions. In Hamlet 's case, Hamlet knows he is "crazy" and his acting is beneficial for him because he is able to talk freely without having to hold anything back. If Hamlet were truly insane it would have caused him his own death, because usually when an individual is insane they are unaware of what they are saying and their actions are usually always made hastily, a quality that Hamlet does not seem to
Shakespeare, William. "Hamlet." The Norton Introduction to Literature. Eds. Alison Booth, and Kelly J. Mays. Tenth. New York, NY: W.W. Norton & Company, 2011. 1024-1129. Print.
All of the madness in the play originates from Hamlet and the meeting with his father’s ghost. Here, Hamlet discovers the truth of his father’s death and the emotional affairs between Hamlet’s uncle, the now King, and his widowed mother. Despite the Ghost’s warning to leave his mom out of the problem, Hamlet confronts his mother about the events preceding his father’s death and the current state of the royal court. All the while, hiding behind a nearby curtain Polonius listens to the conversation. The way Hamlet is acting frightens the Queen and she cries out for help. Polonius in turn shouts giving away his hiding place. Unsheathing his sword, Hamlet leaps towards the wall hanging and stabs through it, killing Polonius who Hamlet mistakes as the King. He returns to his mother, and continues ranting to her about the differences between his murdered father and uncle. Then, the Ghost appears to Hamlet and chides him for the rough way he’s been treating his mother. At the sight of Hamlet’s unseen conversation, the Queen
Hamlet, knowing that he will get into difficulty, needs to feign madness for the purpose of carrying out his mission. He rehearses his pretended madnesss first with Ophelia, for even if he should fail there in his act of simulation, that failure will not cause him any real harm. The manifestations of insanity that Hamlet will show become predictable - a sure sign that it is a simulated and not a real insanity.
He appears to vary in how mad he is, sometimes appearing completely sane, and sometimes more insane. His madness is mostly portrayed through his ramblings at the other characters, or through soliloquies. Originally Hamlet was only feining madness in order to reach his goals and discover if Claudius was really the one who killed father. He decides this after meeting the ghost of his dead father: “As I perchance hereafter shall think meet To put an antic disposition on-...”(Hamlet: 1.5.171-172).The other characters pick up on his “madness” as the play progresses further. They were all curious as to the cause of Hamlet’s madness. Polonius and Claudius believe it may be caused by the lack of contact with Ophelia that they had caused, whereas Gertrude’s first thought was that it was to do with his father’s death. Hamlet keeps up his act throughout the whole play, calling Polonius a fishmonger at one point, and also when he berated his ex-girlfriend Ophelia, even stating that she should go to a nunnery. She comments on Hamlet after his rant: “Oh what noble mind is overthrown…”(Ophelia 3.1.144). She starts to believe he has really gone mad, and that he truly does not care about her anymore. This also becomes a problem for the kingdom, as Hamlet is a royal and the heir to the throne, so having madness could be potentially calamitous for all of them. Shortly after
Davis, Tenney L. “The Sanity of Hamlet.” The Journal of Philosophy 18.23 (1921): 629–634. JSTOR. Web. 25 Apr. 2014.
He may not be mad, but he likely is close to the edge of sanity during