Several emotions engulf Shakespeare’s Hamlet throughout the play, the most famous being Hamlet’s own emotional state. His madness, triggered by his incestuous uncle, has led several scholars to explore the psychological causes of his behavior. This research into Hamlet’s madness will explore his state in comparison to other characters, the psychoanalytic studies behind his actions, and defining whether his insanity is genuine or another play within the play. His mother and his uncle were married after only two months of Hamlet’s father’s death, which caused Hamlet to be in a heavy state of anger, mixed with his already deep state of mourning. According to Theodore Lidz, an American psychologist, these two states can lead one to think back …show more content…
Let’s take into consideration Hamlet’s best friends, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern. Hamlet’s childhood friends arrive relatively early in the play and Hamlet’s behavior is similar to that of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern. For example, during the scene that Polonius talks about the players that are coming into town to perform, Hamlet acts in the same childish way that Rosencrantz and Guildenstern act. This alone could lead one to question Hamlet’s true state. He has only acted mad around the people he fears, such as Claudius. He could have them believe in his insanity and therefore, make it easier for Hamlet to manipulate them. In the same way, he manipulates his mother to discover whether or not she knew about the …show more content…
Lidz point of view is that which concerns Hamlet’s mother’s betrayal of her husband. The audience knows that Hamlet’s mother is very important to him; he depends on her to provide him a mother to respect, trust, and love. When Hamlet sees that his mother betrays his father by marrying his uncle shortly after his death, Hamlet becomes irate. He loses respect for his mother and subsequently, his trust in her. “In general, a child will feel secure and will trust others if his parents have placed his needs on the same level with their own and with those of his brothers and sister. He will rebel and seek to hurt if he is neglected or disillusioned, and he is apt to become devious and dishonest if he can only gain his needs—whether for material things or affection—through circumvention” (Lidz 225). When confronted by his mother and uncle, Hamlet loses his control and his actions are the ones that he expresses in a maniacal
Throughout the play, Hamlet, written by William Shakespeare, the unclear representation of the protagonist’s actions is present. The protagonist, Hamlet, conducts the idea that he is turning mad. Although, there are many indications which support that this so-called “madness” is part of an act that Hamlet portrays. The other characters within the play try to understand the reasoning behind Hamlet’s madness, but cannot figure out the truth behind it. The main cause of Hamlet’s madness is the realization of his father’s death and the numerous influences his father’s death has on his life. Hamlet can control his actions of madness and specifically acts differently around certain characters. The characters who are more concerned
Hamlet's sanity can be recognized when mourning for his dead father at the beginning of the play. Including the fact his mother married her dead husbands brother, Hamlets uncle, builds Hamlet sickness. Shakespeare’s purpose in this scene is to utilize Hamlet.
nbsp; Some of the characters themselves come to realize that Hamlet is not to be mad at. Claudius confesses that Hamlet's "actions, although strange, do not appear to stem from madness. " III, i. In addition, Polonius admits that.
Perhaps Hamlet truly is sane and has little fits of hysteria as the world seems to stack up against him. His anger and feelings of betrayal overload to explosive outbursts that can be interpreted as real madness. Upon learning that Ophelia has allied herself with Polonius and Claudius, he loses his head and has an incredibly dramatic episode. He is initially honest and open with Ophelia, but his mood quickly changes when he learns they are being spied on. He question Ophelia’s motives by asking whether she is honest and fair. He...
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]
Even in his madness, he retorts and is clever in his speech and has full understanding of what is going on around him. The characters might have learnt to never trust anyone, because your best friend can be spying on you and your uncle can be your fathers murderer; you should be careful of the people around you. Through all this, Hamlet is able to use common sense, rationalize, and think like a normal man. showing his is in fact not crazy. Hamlet acts no more crazy, than any other man would in a situation like that.
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.
In William Shakespeare’s Hamlet, he tells the story of Hamlet, who has not only lost his father but has found that his uncle is the killer. To make matters worse, his uncle has married Hamlet’s mother, making his father’s killer the new king. Throughout the play, Hamlet appears to have gone insane. The characters in the play are left to wonder what has caused Hamlet’s sudden departure from reality. The main speculation is that his madness is due to the loss of his father and from a broken heart, from the rejection of Ophelia, who is Hamlet’s love interest.
Every main character in Hamlet seems to have their own conjectures as to why Hamlet is acting so out of character. One obvious reason is the mourning of his father's death. In addition to this, though, they all have personal ideas of varying merit. Claudius thinks that Hamlet has some kind of secret cause for the sudden change in his personality. Gertrude believes that along with being upset about the death of his father, Hamlet is tormented by the fact that she married Claudius. Rosencrantz and Guildenstern believe that he is hurt, for his ambitions have been squashed. Not only does his uncle...
The theme of madness in Hamlet has been a widely popular topic in the discussion of the play by both critics and readers alike. It is quite simple to see the reason why, since the play confronts us with evidence to prove the validity of the claim to Hamlet’s true madness, or, rather, a view that the actions and words arising from the apparent madness, is but an feigned "antic disposition" as proclaimed by Hamlet himself. This uncertainty in my view, is the question that has bothered many readers of the play, since a dramatic device like this has it’s purpose. What that purpose is however, is not made clear because of the conflicting evidence of that can be found within the play that supports or contradicts each other. Some have even attributed this uncertainty as carelessness on Shakespeare’s part. My view however is that the unresolved tension these questions bring up, have a part in playing out the plot and also in showing the uncertainties of human nature. Madness in my view, is not an absolute concept. It’s occurrence varies with the situation, or for Hamlet, it varies in the degree he allows his emotions to carry him.
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.
Scholars have been disputing the sanity of Hamlet, for over four hundred years, in the play Hamlet, by William Shakespeare. Is he an insane madman or a vengeful, devious, genius? There are many contradictory ideas and theories on Hamlet’s so called psychosis, his procrastination in avenging his father’s death, and his actions towards his mother.
...ntentionally relates to him, for by murdering Hamlet's father and marrying his mother, Claudius has carried out Hamlet's own childhood dream. As a result, Hamlet is unable to murder his uncle as easily as he kills others, such as his two unfaithful friends, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern. Freud clears the thick confusion surrounding Hamlet’s inconsistent mentality by attributing it to the Oedipus complex.
himself portrays madness in his actions through deception, the seek for revenge, and insanity. To discover the reasoning behind Hamlet 's madness, each character is impacted by either exploring