Sanity And Insanity In Hamlet

At the end of the play the following characters are alive; Horatio, Fortinbras, and some minor characters (including Reynaldo, Bernardo, and Marcellus). The father of Fortinbras, and former King of Norway, died as he was killed by King Hamlet amidst battle over land. King Hamlet was killed by his brother Claudius, while he (King Hamlet) was taking his usual nap in his garden. During this nap, Claudius poured a vile poison in his ear and killed King Hamlet. Polonius was killed as he responds to Queen Gertrude’s cry for help during her conversation with Hamlet in her room. However, since Polonius’ presence was unbeknownst to Hamlet, as Polonius was spying on Hamlet, the prince became suspicious and killed Polonius under the misguided belief that

The reason being, that the demise of Hamlet came down to the fact that he was never able to draw the line between sanity and insanity. Early in the play Hamlet made the following comment to Horatio, “How strange or odd soe 'er I bear myself (As I perchance hereafter shall think meet To put an antic disposition on).” (Act 1 Scene 5) This highlights the point in the drama in which Hamlet decided to act as if he was mad. However, thereafter this “act,” proved to have dire consequences. Initially Hamlet decided to put on such an act to disrupt the investigation of Queen Gertrude and King Claudius, who sought to find out the reason behind his erratic behavior. one of the first displays of his newfound insanity occurred when he went up to Ophelia and declared that he never loved her. During this misogynistic diatribe, his words asserted themselves into the heart of Ophelia, who later committed suicide in the play and one of the factors of said death lied in the fact that the men in her life had either died, went mad, or were absent (Laertes who was in France). Thus, his madness contributed to the state of women in the play. This is further asserted by the fact that Hamlet’s perceived madness led Gertrude to believe that she was the cause of his erratic behavior. Thus, she was consumed by guilt and once again Hamlet’s inability to draw the line between sanity and insanity affected his mother’s feelings. Further, in regard to the other potential theme, revenge, Hamlet’s insanity lead him to turn a simple plan of revenge into one that lead to the death of many people. For instance, his act of insanity gave way to the death of Polonius, as he acted as if he was mad amidst his talk with Queen Gertrude and went after Polonius under the misguided notion that Polonius was King Claudius. Additionally, Hamlet never expressed any feelings of guilt thereafter as he dragged Polonius’ body and states that Polonius’ body is being consumed by