Hamlet is one of Shakespeare’s most analyzed plays. The Danish prince is developed into a mysterious and fascinating man. A philosopher and a fencer, he is a man disgusted with the rottenness of life around him and is obligated to set things right. Under the guise of madness he attempts to achieve his ends; yet there is much to puzzle over. Was Hamlet really such a good actor that he could fool everyone into believing in his madness or was he truly mad? And, why did he wait so long to carry out his revenge? Hamlet thinks too much and this drove him to an insanity that was not feigned.
“… and the devil hath power/ To assume a pleasing shape…';
The ghost provides Hamlet with a dilemma. Supernatural forces are not always to be trusted. Hamlet does not know whether the ghost is telling the truth or not, which is why he has ‘The Mousetrap’ performed by the visiting players. If Hamlet had killed Claudius solely on the ghost’s advise, he would certainly have been put to death himself. There would probably have been a civil war to choose a new king. Being the humanitarian that he is, and taking account of his responsibilities as a prince and future king, Hamlet would most likely want to avoid a civil war. Even though Claudius is a murderer, and probably not as noble a king as Hamlet Sr. was, he is still a king. Hamlet realizes that Claudius brings order to Denmark and in killing him he will plunge his country into the darkness of chaos.
On top of this dilemma, Hamlet cannot share his feelings with his mother or his girlfriend. While the first is literally sleeping with the enemy, the latter has chosen the side of her father (and Claudius). Ophelia is in a difficult position, being torn between her father and her lover.
All of these things amass a great deal of stress on Hamlet. Even if Hamlet is truly only pretending to be mad after his first encounter with the ghost he is most truly insane by the end of the play. The death of his father and loss of contact with his lover begin driving him to insanity. We can say with some certainty that the ghost is real on its visit to Hamlet because others witness it, but after the death of Polonius, Hamlet is its only witness. By this point Hamlet must surely be insane. He has been brooding for so l...
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...he end of Act III). Although not every one of them might have come to killing Claudius, Hamlet seems not to do anything. Again, he thinks too much, but why?
Hamlet is self-conscious, while the majority of the characters that surround him are not. This explains why he feels inhibited to act. Hamlet resembles a real person more than any other character in the play, which might be another reason why he still remains a subject of discussion. What also sets him apart is his elusiveness. Many of the characters in the play can be categorized within minutes of their introduction. The pompous Polonius and the thick-skulled Guildenstern and Rozencrantz are perfect examples of this. This does not hold true for some characters such as Laertes and Ophelia.
In conclusion, Hamlet’s character is still a matter of debate, even centuries after his creation. Hamlet clearly shows all the signs of psychosis, something that is not easily fabricated, no matter what he may say. Most people simply assume that because he declares that he is merely feigning madness that this must be true. But, cannot a proven lunatic also claim the same?
Right after Hamlet’s father dies he goes through a mourning phase and acts different than he normally does, but this is just an effect of seeing his dad’s ghost. The reader can make inference that he is not crazy when he sees the ghost the first time because his friends and the guards saw the ghost too. The second time the ghost appears to Hamlet his mother can not see it
In Shakespeare’s play Hamlet the main character Hamlet experiences many different and puzzling emotions. He toys with the idea of killing himself and then plays with the idea of murdering others. Many people ask themselves who or what is this man and what is going on inside his head. The most common question asked about him is whether or not he is sane or insane. Although the door seems to swing both ways many see him as a sane person with one thought on his mind, and that is revenge. The first point of his sanity is while speaking with Horatio in the beginning of the play, secondly is the fact of his wittiness with the other characters and finally, his soliloquy.
There is a great controversy amongst those who have read and studied Hamlet by Shakespeare. People argue whether or not Hamlet had gone mad or not. Many people believe that Hamlet had actually lost his mind, while others believe that it was all just an act. Since Hamlet is the most widely published book in the world, besides the Bible, this question has been asked and analyzed many times to little avail. The answer is open to whatever one wants to believe, which may intrigue some and bother others. Throughout the play, Hamlet’s personality changed after certain events. The play starts with him very upset over his father’s death. Then, after he saw his father’s ghost, he became full of vengeance. He seemed to have completely
Hamlet accidentally kills Polonius and finally, the ghost of his. father visits him in the future. Though at this point these situations create plenty of reasons for Hamlet to be insane, he remains sharp and credible. “ [ Hamlet] concocts this state of madness.his intellect remains clear, his discourse. sound and comprehensive,” Harris, p. 129. & nbsp; Hamlet reveals to his friends and his mother of his plans to pretend to act insane.
Is Hamlet truly insane? While the play is not extremely clear on the matter and often contradicts itself, many of Hamlet’s wild ramblings and words of nonsense seem to be not the true words of a madman. Hamlet says himself that he is merely “putting on an antic disposition” (Act 1, Scene 5, Line 181). He admits very early on in the play that his insanity will be nothing more than a ruse to fool those around him. This is further proven by the fact that when he is around Horatio he shows no signs of mental illness. He speaks calmly and everything he says makes sense.
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 feigns madness so that he will be able to successfully get revenge on Claudius. In order for his plan not to be discovered, he has to fake madness in order to throw off his enemies. For his revenge plan to be a success, Hamlet will have to be perfectly sane so that he won’t sabotage his plan in anyway, and to keep himself alive long enough to carry it out. Hamlet’s plan on proving Claudius’ guilt and whether or not the ghost is his dead father shows that Hamlet is too intelligent to be mad. If Hamlet were indeed mad, he would be too dim-witted to come up with such a clever plan.
One of Hamlet’s flaws is that he over thinks things a lot and it is first shown the most at the prayer scene with Claudius. Once Hamlet sees how Claudius reacts to the play he knows that Claudius killed his father and that the ghost was right, he has a chance to kill him and doesn’t take it . His only proof was the ghost and even though others saw the ghost no one else heard it talk except Hamlet. Hamlet was also considering a lot of other things at this time, like how if he killed Claudius now Claudius would be free of sin and would go to heaven. He was also thinking if his father didn’t get to die free of sin it wouldn’t be fair for Claudius to die free of sin either, which shows how vengeful Hamlet’s character is. At the same time, Hamlet has morals and understands the consequences so that’s why it’s harder for him to perform the act . After a l...
When Hamlet is in the presence of certain people, he acts differently, he acts like any other normal individual, he is smart, he is able to thoroughly think about every plan or idea he has and he is fully aware of his surroundings.
In Hamlets mind, it is now his duty to avenge his father's murder. This is where the real problem of inaction enters the play. Later that night, Hamlet has a perfect opportunity to kill Claudius, when he sees the King kneeling in prayer. He wonders if this is the time to kill him and get it over with, but decides not to. He claims that he does not want Claudius to go to heaven, so he would rather kill him when he is committing a sin. If this is the case, then why doesn't he simply wait till Claudius has completed his prayer, accuse him of the murder and kill him in his sin of denial. Instead, Hamlet goes to the chamber of his mother and passes up his best opportunity at revenge. The argument can be made, however, that it is not a fear of killing that causes this inaction. He does not display an inability to end someone's life when killing Polonius. He neither hesitates nor capitulates in sending Rosencrantz and Guildenstern to their executions. Why then would the prince of Denmark hesitate to kill the one man he most justly could? Many literary believe that his inaction is the result of a vicarious Oedipus complex. Those who concur with this theory say that Hamlet, in his subconscious mind, has a desire to do exactly what his uncle has done; that is, get rid of the king so that he can have Gertrude for himself.
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 is without a doubt one of the most complex pieces to interpret for many different scholars and people. The question of the truth behind his madness has become a debate among anyone who lays eyes on the play. In fact, madness becomes a large role within the play that will cause many situations as well as effect them. I believe Hamlet unintentionally went mad attempting to act as a mad man.
Hamlet throughout the play seems insane but in reality it is only an act to achieve his goal of killing his father's murderer. Hamlet chooses to go mad so he has an advantage over his opponent and since he is the Prince of Denmark certain behavior is unacceptable, so by faking madness he is able to get away with inappropriate sayings and actions. We can see this when he talks to Claudius, Polonius, Ophelia and his mother. When Hamlet talks to Horatio in the first act he says how he is going to "feign madness" and that:
Hamlet was incredibly popular with the people, and Claudius wasn't. Instead he wiles away the time, playing mad and deceiving people, but accomplishing nothing. Hamlet also procrastinates in parts such as during the protracted Players' scene or during the clown's graveyard scene, for the essential reason that his psychological feelings confuse his ability to confront his destiny. He finds it very difficult to decide whether to kill Claudius or let him be.
Hamlet can be a very smart and noble person but in parts of the play he exhibited actions that are completely opposite of the person he can be. He acted with a sense of madness that made me think he was actually going mad. He acted obnoxious and annoying to other characters in the play. Here is a scene where Hamlet is talking to Polonius and they get into a little argument over what figure a cloud forms.