“Hamlet is obviously insane, don’t you think?” To quote Hamlet Act III, Scene III, Line 92, “No” (Shakespeare 3.3.92). Hamlet is far from “obviously insane”. In fact, Hamlet is far from “obviously anything”. He is one of the most dynamic characters in English literature. Hamlet cannot be understood by being read. People try to analyze Hamlet’s motives and actions, but they are missing out on a major part of Hamlet’s character: his physical embodiment. The lingering question that a reader is left with after reading Hamlet is if Hamlet is insane or not. But a reader could read and reread and still be left unsure, because it is impossible to tell. To make an accurate decision on the sanity of Hamlet, he must be brought to life on stage. Even then the sanity of the character fluctuates from performance to performance. In the first act of the play Hamlet decides he is going to act insane, because he is bothered by his mother, Gertrude, marrying his uncle, the King, after the death of his father. Hamlet says “Here, as before, never, so help you mercy, /How strange or odd some’er I beat myself /(As I perchance hereafter shall think meet /To put an antic disposition on)” …show more content…
(Shakespeare 1.5.189). Tenney L. Davis discusses the Catch 22 behind believing Hamlet’s claims that he is merely feigning madness. An insane person would not realize he or she is insane, but a sane person would not claim to be insane. So the audience cannot use Hamlet’s claims as evidence to analyze his sanity. Davis continues to argue that Hamlet is without a doubt sane, and that sanity must be cause of his insanity. He says, “His madness, whether real or feigned, was an excess of sanity” (Davis 630). Hamlet is too self-aware for his own good. His knowledge of his situation and tendency to act justly cause his slow spiral into insanity (Davis 632). But is he insane if he is constantly alert throughout the play? He always understands what is happening to him and other characters in the play. But, most characters whom Hamlet encounters are sure of his insanity. Mary E. Cardwill urges consumers of Hamlet to not set that fact aside. She discusses how humans perceive each other. Humans judge others by the impressions left on them. The actions and words that one outwardly expresses should be taken into account (Cardwill 227). Gertrude believing Hamlet is insane is a solid argument to prove that Hamlet is insane. But then Horatio’s belief that Hamlet is insane would strike that argument. So how can one read Hamlet and decipher if Hamlet is sane or insane? It simply cannot be done.
Hamlet’s sanity cannot be determined by reading the play alone. Hamlet was written to be seen as a performance, with the characterizations of the characters changing with the performers. Marvin Rosenberg explains this concept in his essay, The Masks of Hamlet. Rosenberg describes Hamlet as a blank slate. Shakespeare created Hamlet to be a mold, and the actor playing him must decide how to fill that mold. He states, “There have been gentle Hamlets, fierce Hamlets, intellectual Hamlets, passionate Hamlets, sophisticated Hamlets, naïve Hamlets, melancholy Hamlets, spirited Hamlets, and more—each striving to integrate the widest possible range of notes into the character” (Rosenberg xi). Rosenberg discusses Hamlet’s characterization in depth with his discussion of Act III, Scene
IV. Rosenberg argues that this scene is the most intricate scene in the entire play (Rosenberg 645). In this scene Hamlet visits his mother in her bedroom. He comes to her in a rage and throws her around trying to get her to feel remorse for marrying her late husband’s brother. The ghost of Hamlet’s father, who cannot be seen by Gertrude, interrupts the scene. In some versions of the play the audience sees the ghost on stage, and in others, they do not. The ghost is not seen in Hamlet at Elsinore with Hamlet being played by Christopher Plummer (Hamlet at Elsinore). The camera work implies that Hamlet can see his father, but the audience and his mother cannot. The director creates the implication that Hamlet is sane because of his level head through talking to his father’s ghost. The director also makes a very deliberate decision at the beginning of the scene. Before Hamlet enters the room with his mother, he pauses and can be seen preparing to put on an act of insanity. He takes out his sword and attacks Gertrude, but not in a forceful way. Gertrude looks threatened, but an onlooker sees that she is in no real danger. After Polonius interrupts the conversation between Hamlet and Gertrude, Hamlet stabs him thinking it is the King. Plummer’s Hamlet shows immediate regret when he realizes who he has killed. Plummer delivers the line, “A bloody deed—almost as bad, good mother, /As kill a king and marry with his brother” with regret (Shakespeare 3.4.34). He seems to be ashamed of his own actions more than the actions of the king. Hamlet stays level headed throughout the scene. He seems to be not crazy, just angry and hurt. Plummer created a Hamlet that the audience fully believes to be sane. David Tennant’s Hamlet in the 2009 film of Hamlet starkly contrasts Plummer’s performance (Hamlet. Dir. Gregory Doran). In the same scene that Plummer convinces the audience of Hamlet’s sanity Tennant’s eyes leave no doubt that Hamlet is insane. Tennant gallivants into his mother’s chambers and kills Polonius without a second thought. Even when he discovers he murdered Polonius instead of the King, he shows no remorse. His mother, portrayed by, Penny Downie, is clearly terrified to be alone with Hamlet. Hamlet is trying to reason with his mother by being aggressive, he is disheveled and he pulls apart the coverings on his mother’s bed while pleading with her. The insanity of the scene is heightened with the entrance of the ghost of Hamlet’s father. Tennant falls to the floor when he sees his father, who is angry with Hamlet. Hamlet is no longer in a rage, but is now terrified. His mother asks him, “Whereon do you look?” To which Hamlet replies, “On him, on him!” (Shakespeare 3.4.142). Tennant’s deliverance of the line is full of terror and pleading. Hamlet is mad. Gertrude knows it, the audience knows it, and Hamlet himself knows it. Kenneth Branaugh’s performance as the title role in the 1996 production of Hamlet finds the mysterious medium between Tennant and Plummer. He creates a feeling of uneasiness throughout Act III, Scene IV (Hamlet. Dir. Kenneth Branagh). Branaugh is aggressive in the scene, throwing his mother around and stabbing Polonius several times. Once the audience is convinced of his madness, he shows remorse when he realizes he has stabbed Polonius. He repents like a sane man, and regrets his actions. When his father comes into the scene, Hamlet becomes awestruck and looks at him with complete love. He mimics his father’s facial expressions throughout the scene. It is obvious that Hamlet’s father truly visited him, and is made himself unseen by Gertrude. Branagh’s ability to oscillate between sanity and insanity leaves his audience unsure of the state of Hamlet’s mind. Although the topic will always be up for debate, Hamlet’s sanity cannot be determined by reading the play alone. Trying to analyze Hamlet by the reading the play alone is like deciphering a Van Gogh in black and white, it just does not do the character justice. To understand the character of Hamlet one must see the play performed by actors who have the ability to fill the mold of Hamlet. Even then the answer of his sanity is left unanswered, because each actor puts a different spin on the character. Shakespeare succeeded in creating one of the most intriguing and dynamic characters who can be studied in literature.
Throughout William Shakespeare’s play, Hamlet, Hamlet undergoes a transformation from sane to insane while fighting madness to avenge his father’s death. The material that Shakespeare appropriated in writing Hamlet is the story of a Danish prince whose uncle murders the prince’s father, marries his mother, and claims the throne. The prince pretends to be feeble-minded to throw his uncle off guard, then manages to kill his uncle in revenge. Shakespeare changed the emphasis of this story entirely, making Hamlet a philosophically minded prince who delays taking action because his knowledge of his uncle’s crime is so uncertain. To begin with, Hamlet portrays himself as sane.
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.
In William Shakespeare’s Hamlet, the title character is insane. He kills a person, sends two more to their doom, plans another’s death, and is both suddenly active and haltingly inactive at various points in Shakespeare’s play. Yes, in certain circumstances all of these may be enacted by a person of sane character, but any examination of the play will show that Hamlet is not a sane character.
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.
Logan Gaertner Mrs. Amon English IV 1 March 2014 Is Hamlet’s Insanity Real? 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 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.
Throughout the play, Hamlet becomes more and more believable in his act, even convincing his mother that he is crazy. However, through his thoughts, and actions, the reader can see that he is in fact putting up an act, he is simply simulating insanity to help fulfil his fathers duty of revenge. Throughout the play, Hamlet shows that he understands real from fake, right from wrong and his enemies from his friends. Even in his madness, he retorts and is clever in his speech and has full understanding of what is going on around him. Most importantly, Hamlet does not think like that of a person who is 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
To put an antic disposition on” (1.5.58-60) but his sane mental state began to decay over time leaving him actually insane. As the play goes on, the role of madness becomes much larger and more crucial, and begins to sweep the spotlight from the other themes within it. Hamlet’s intentions of appearing “mad” did have an advantage in the play, which automatically impacted it. He basically simulated madness as a strategy to direct the suspicion of his plotted revenge elsewhere. It does not sound very complex, but his performance of madness ended up slightly distracting him from his plot rather than benefitting him.
Many people question the psychological condition of the character Hamlet in the sixteenth century play Hamlet written by William Shakespeare. One of the reasons that the mental health of Hamlet is in question by many people is the result of Hamlet's actions as well as his reactions to events that occur during the play. Some people argue that the character Hamlet is insane, while others may argue that his insanity can be justified by several means such as his need for justice of his father's murder. However, Hamlet's need for justice or revenge does not necessarily justify Hamlet's behavior in the play. In addition, Hamlet's behavior falls into several categories of insanity such as shizophrenia.
As Hamlet transforms from a motivated intellectual to an obsessed griever, Shakespeare evaluates the fluidity of sanity.The juxtaposition of Hamlet’s desire to act and inability to do so unveils Hamlet’s inner turmoil, for as Hamlet disconnects from family, distrusts his environment, and forms an obsession with perfection, the audience realizes his fatal flaw and watches him tumble into the grasps of insanity. This degeneration forces the audience to consider how equilibrium between thought and action influences the conservation of sanity, not only for Hamlet, but also for all of humanity.
Shakespeare's play "Hamlet" is about a complex protagonist, Hamlet, who faces adversity and is destined to murder the individual who killed his father. Hamlet is a character who although his actions and emotions may be one of an insane person, in the beginning of the book it is clear that Hamlet decides to fake madness in order for his plan to succeed in killing Claudius. Hamlet is sane because throughout the play he only acts crazy in front of certain people, to others he acts properly and displays proper prince like behavior who is able to cope with them without sounding crazy, and even after everything that has been going on in his life he is able to take revenge by killing his father's murderer. In the play Hamlet by William Shakespeare Hamlet is sane but acts insane to fulfill his destiny of getting vengeance on his father's murderer.
In the play Hamlet by William Shakespeare, Hamlet the king of Denmark is murdered by his brother, Claudius, and as a ghost tells his son, Hamlet the prince of Denmark, to avenge him by killing his brother. The price Hamlet does agree to his late father’s wishes, and undertakes the responsibility of killing his uncle, Claudius. However even after swearing to his late father, and former king that he would avenge him; Hamlet for the bulk of the play takes almost no action against Claudius. Prince Hamlet in nature is a man of thought throughout the entirety of the play; even while playing mad that is obvious, and although this does seem to keep him alive, it is that same trait that also keeps him from fulfilling his father’s wish for vengeance
In connection to Hamlet's indecisiveness and melancholiness, one has to question his sanity. At the beginning of the play Hamlet seems logical and quick, but this soon fades after Hamlet has his first visitation with the ghost of his father. Hamlet then doubts himself and starts to believe that his eyes have deceived him.
In Shakespeare’s play, Hamlet, protagonist Hamlet, experiences many rises and falls throughout the play that have a major impact on his mentality decline. The way in which readers interpret the character, Hamlet, can vary in many ways. For instance, Hamlet delivers many soliloquies throughout the work, giving readers a better insight of his state of mind. Additionally, two significant soliloquies in both Acts II and III show a clear view of Hamlet’s mental and emotional state.