How Does Hamlet Go Insane

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"Just about any ordinary person can slip into madness. In fact, all it may take to trigger the process is a special kind of blow to one's self-image to push someone over the edge of sanity."(Zimbardo, pg.1). Throughout Shakespeare's Hamlet, the title character slowly becomes more insane as he tries to frame his uncle for the murder of his father. As part of his plan to frame his Uncle Claudius Hamlet hides the fact that he knows his uncle committed the crime by starting to act crazy. While Hamlet and others do start out the story as sane, he and others slowly fall victim to his act and become insane over time.
In the beginning of the book Hamlet is visited by the ghost of his dead father who asks him to avenge his murder. "Revenge his foul …show more content…

Some of the other characters include Claudius and Laertes. While Claudius does start to go insane because of Hamlet, the real reasons behind it are his desire for power and the guilt he feels from killing Hamlets father. This is shown later in the story as Claudius is willing to do anything to keep his power, such as trying to kill his nephew Hamlet. Laertes starts to go insane upon hearing about the death of Polonius . Laertes then vows revenge on whoever killed his father and when asked who's going to stop him, he replies "My will, not all the world's. And for my means, I'll husband them so well, they shall go far with little."(Laertes pg. 254). Laertes' only becomes more insane for revenge as the story goes on and is eventually snaps when he is told that his sister, Ophelia, commits …show more content…

Both Claudius and Laertes want to kill Hamlet for their own separate reasons (Claudius so he can rule without guilt and Laertes to avenge the deaths of his father and sister), so they devise a plan in which they will poison Hamlet during a fencing duel. As they develop the plan, the reader is able to see how Clausius has gone mad about keeping his power and how Laertes is willing to do anything for his father and sister. However, this is when Hamlet finally snaps and goes completely insane as he says "Heaven make thee free of it. I follow thee. I am dead, Horatio. Wretched Queen, adieu! You that look pale and tremble at this chance, That are but mutes or audience to this act, Had I but time- as this fell sergeant, Death, is strict in his arrest."(Hamlet pg 330). Soon enough, Claudius' and Laertes' insanity driven plan backfires as the Queen, Claudius, Laertes, and Hamlet all end up being poisoned and dying not long after. Ironically enough the only main character still living is Horatio, the only one who didn't go

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