Is Hamlet Sane Or Insane

People in today's society are under pressure by parents and other people that often leads to stress. Teens can already be under lots of stress with other things and parents can make it much worse. In William Shakespeare's Hamlet, he is under stress by his mother's early remarriage after his father's death. Throughout the play, Hamlet is either sane, insane, or temporarily insane. Claudius was in the wrong for not only killing Hamlet’s father, but then for marrying his mother shortly after. Any person would be upset and angry if something like that would happen. When he kills his uncle for remarrying to his mother, he would be considered sane. Hamlet is sane and rational in his first soliloquy. Hamlet is this way because any son would be upset

In scene i, Hamlet is deciding whether it is better, “To be, or not to be” which is to kill himself or not kill himself (III.i.57). Someone who is thinking of killing themselves would seek help to try and end the pain they are going through. Part of him wants to end all of the “heartache and the thousand natural shocks that flesh is heir to” when he could try and talk to someone about what is going on (III.i.64-5). Therefore, Hamlet is insane. In scene ii, Hamlet is very rude to his mother in public by saying, “No, good mother. Here’s metal more attractive” referring to Ophelia (III.ii.100). Hamlet is insane for making a scene and making people around him upset and making things awkward when he does not have to act like that. Hamlet starts thinking about killing his uncle in scene iii but stops himself. He realizes that if he kills his uncle, he would go to heaven even after his uncle killed his father and married his mother. This is a sane reaction because you would not want someone who did that to go to heaven. Hamlet says how heaven is not the right place for him and, “Oh, this hire and salary, not revenge” when hell would be better for a person like him and Hamlet would get his revenge (III.iii.80). In scene iv, Hamlet is talking to his mother while Polonius is behind the curtain listening. Polonius yells for help and Hamlet, “stabs his sword through the arras and kills Polonius” which is insane because he

When Hamlet finds out that Ophelia died, he was very depressed. Hamlet expresses his love to Ophelia and would let Laertes “throw millions of acres” onto him (V.i.259-260). Hamlet wrote letters and showed her love all throughout the play. Hamlet is sane because his “madness” is the reason he fought Laertes (V.ii.219). A person does not always make the right decision and acts out a way they should not and Hamlet is sane because he was able to understand that it was his mental illness that caused the fight. An insane person would not be able to understand the consequences of their actions the way Hamlet did. At the end of the play, Hamlet's actions were sane and rational because Gertrude points out to him that “the drink” was “poisoned” before she died