Hamlet's Sanity In Hamlet Analysis

1561 Words4 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: How hamlet madness contributes to the play

Justification of Hamlet 's Sanity in Shakespeare 's Hamlet
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
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:

" There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, Than are dreamt of in your philosophy...How strange or odd some 'er i bear myself (As i perchance hereafter shall think meet To put an antic disposition on) That you, at such times seeing me, never shall, With arms encumbered thus, or this headshake, Or by pronouncing of some doubtful phrase...let us go in together, Ad still your fingers on your lips..."
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

Show More
Related

  • Questioning the Sanity of Hamlet in Shakespeare's Hamlet, Prince of Denmark

    982 Words  | 2 Pages

    If Hamlet were truly mad, he would not have been able to give such a guileless and processed response.... ... middle of paper ... ... Hamlet’s feigned insanity was all part of his overall scheme to avenge his father, King Hamlet.

    Read More

  • Hamlet Sanity Analysis

    1117 Words  | 3 Pages

    Including the fact his mother married her dead husbands brother, Hamlets uncle, builds Hamlet sickness. Shakespeare’s purpose of this scene is to utilize Hamlet currently is sane but his situation may drive him insane slowly.

    Read More

  • Hamlet Insane or Sane

    779 Words  | 2 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Hamlets Mental Outline: Hamlet's Mental Decline

    1173 Words  | 3 Pages

    He is mentally disturbed by the thought of his uncle killing his father to the point where he loses touch with sanity. Hamlet is a tragedy that will never have a straightforward answer as to if he faked being crazy or not. My belief is that Hamlet had in fact lost touch with reality. The slow decline of his mental health throughout lead me to believe he did go crazy, even if he might have been faking it at first. After seeing his father’s ghost, I believe he started acting like he had lost his mind to blame his future actions on the fact that he was crazy. I also believe he truly did lose his mind shortly after when he found out about Claudius murdering his

    Read More

  • Hamlet: Hamlet's Sanity

    676 Words  | 2 Pages

    Hamlet is around Polonius, Claudius, Gertrude. Ophelia, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, he behaves irrationally. When Hamlet around Horatio, Bernardo, Francisco, The Players and the Gravediggers. he behaves rationally (Bevington, p. 59). &

    Read More

  • Hamlet's Sanity

    1524 Words  | 4 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Hamlet - Intelligent , NOT Insane

    1345 Words  | 3 Pages

    Throughout the Shakespearian play, Hamlet, the main character is given the overwhelming responsibility of avenging his father’s "foul and most unnatural murder" (I.iv.36). Such a burden can slowly drive a man off the deep end psychologically. Because of this, Hamlet’s disposition is extremely inconsistent and erratic throughout the play. At times he shows signs of uncontrollable insanity. Whenever he interacts with the characters he is wild, crazy, and plays a fool. At other times, he exemplifies intelligence and method in his madness. In instances when he is alone or with Horatio, he is civilized and sane. Hamlet goes through different stages of insanity throughout the story, but his neurotic and skeptical personality amplifies his persona of seeming insane to the other characters. Hamlet comes up with the idea to fake madness in the beginning of the play in order to confuse his enemies. However, for Hamlet to fulfill his duty of getting revenge, he must be totally sane. Hamlet’s intellectual brilliance make it seem too impossible for him to actually be mad, for to be insane means that one is irrational and without any sense. When one is irrational, one is not governed by or according to reason. So, Hamlet is only acting mad in order to plan his revenge on Claudius.

    Read More

  • Hamlet- Truly Mad, for Freigned Madness?

    1234 Words  | 3 Pages

    Hamlet decides to portray an act of insanity, as part of his plan to seek revenge for his father's murder. As the play progresses, the reader may start to believe Hamlet’s “insane” act, but throughout the scenes, Hamlet shows that he knows right from wrong, good from bad, and his friends from his enemies. Hamlet shows that he still has power and control over his actions. As Elliot says “Hamlet madness is less than madness and more feigned”. Hamlet portrays a mad man, in order to be free from questioning, thus allowing him to have an easier path towards revenge.

    Read More

  • Was Hamlet Faking His Insanity?

    576 Words  | 2 Pages

    I’m not saying that Hamlet was faking the whole thing. I mean, having your dad die is bad, but to have your mom marry your uncle. Also to see the ghost of your dead dad. That might make you a bit crazy, but not as crazy as everyone thought Hamlet was. If it wasn’t for Hamlet’s insanity, the King would have known that something was wrong with Hamlet, and might have him killed. If Hamlet didn’t act to make the king believe that he was insane, then the King would have seen it and would figure that Hamlet knew the truth.

    Read More

  • Was Hamlet Really Mad

    1528 Words  | 4 Pages

    Shakespeare’s Hamlet is seen by some people as being a story about a prince named Hamlet going mad after the ghost of his father, the king, tells him that he was murdered by Hamlet’s uncle, Claudius. This is all very distressing for Hamlet, and some suggest that this is the point where he goes insane. Indeed, Hamlet’s behavior throughout the remainder of the play is erratic and unpredictable. However, this is seen by many scholars as simply being the way that Hamlet wished to be perceived by those around him. Many scholars feel that Hamlet’s behavior is actually very logical and calculated, stating that “If Hamlet was really mad, his psychosis was that of an intellectual… while if he was only feigning his insanity, then he did it by taking things too strictly, too literally, by a general social perverseness manifested in a desire to quibble and split hairs. His madness, whether real or feigned, was an excess of sanity” (Davis 630). Therefore, instead of being mad, Hamlet is simply aware of and thinking about things that those around

    Read More

  • Justification of Hamlet's Sanity in Shakespeare's Hamlet

    1594 Words  | 4 Pages

    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:

    Read More

  • Hamlet

    1500 Words  | 3 Pages

    In the play Hamlet by William Shakespeare, the main character, Hamlet, is often perceived by the other characters in the play as being mentally unbalanced because he acts in ways that drive them to think he is mad. Hamlet may very well be psychotic; however, there are times when he “feigns insanity” in order to unearth the truth surrounding his father's death. This plan seems to be going well until Hamlet's mental state slowly begins to deteriorate. What began as an act of insanity or antic disposition transitions from an act to a tragic reality. After studying Hamlet's actions, one will notice that as the play progresses, his feigned insanity becomes less and less intentional and devolves into true mental illness.

    Read More

  • Dishonesty In Hamlet

    595 Words  | 2 Pages

    Hamlet’s perceived sense of insanity is the result of an act by Queen Gertrude and King Claudius. The two characters play rather important roles of their own by acting to be benevolent and innocent when they were actually the people who killed Hamlet’s

    Read More

  • Hamlet's Evidence Of Madness

    463 Words  | 1 Pages

    Throughout William Shakespeare’s play, Hamlet, the main character, Hamlet, shows evidence of obtaining madness. Most people often question if his madness is real or if it is merely just an act. Shakespeare himself wrote Hamlet the way he did to have readers deciding themselves if Hamlet is faking the madness or not. With reasoning, Hamlet is faking his madness. He creates an act to get revenge for his father’s death, to put the attention on himself, and leave everyone confused.

    Read More

  • Hamlet Insanity Analysis

    573 Words  | 2 Pages

    His plan to make himself be seemingly insane is the only exposed to his closest companion, Horatio. “How strange or odd some’er I bear myself / As I perchance hereafter shall think meet/To put an antic disposition on)” (67). Hamlet is explaining to Horatio that if he is to act crazy in his ways, that it is simply an act to fool. “ His plan to act insane provides him with the means with which to act and speak in ways which would, under normal circumstances, not be tolerated” (1). The author is arguing that the reason for Hamlet’s act of insanity is to depict an image of himself that will be unsuspecting to Horatio, in order to pull off his plot of revenge. Hamlet primarily tells his most loyal asset that the insanity is a lie.“That I essentially am not in madness, but mad in craft” (183). It is suggested through this quote that Hamlet is saying his plan is so far fetched, it may seem like madness but it is not he that is mad. Moreover, it can then be assumed his act is only one his friend knows

    Read More

More about Hamlet's Sanity In Hamlet Analysis

Open Document