Why Is Hamlet Crazy

What if you killed someone knowing that when you did, you would gain immense power and influence. Hamlet is a play about a prince who avenges his fathers' death. The foul murderer is his Uncle Claudius who becomes king and marries Queen Gertrude, Hamlets mother. When prince Hamlet finds out that his uncle was the killer he begins to plan his evil uncle's death. In order to cover up the whole plan he pretends to be crazy and insane. During his moments of insanity he sometimes makes it so intense and real that some readers believe he slipped into insanity every know and then. This essay will show how why Prince Hamlet was not crazy and did not slip into insanity. The essay will provide evidence in the book as to show why and how he was not crazy.

First example, the start of mysterious Hamlet acting crazy is when he goes to his lover Ophelia with crazed eyes and disheveled clothes to look like he really had gone crazy. This scene takes place after he finds the ghost of his father and is told that his uncle, now King Cluadius, had poisoned Hamlets father and killed him. Some people say that he really was mad and insane because he had all this information thrown at him and it was too much for him to take all at once.

For him

to take action, he went to the beautiful Ophelia and broke up with her. People think he was really insane especially since he had decided to exact revenge starting with the severing of all his current problems and relationships. When he began to plan his twisted uncle's death he decided to cut off his childhood as well that was why he broke up with loving Ophelia.

Third example, before this had happened Ophelias' father the royal advisor and accomplice of the murder of King Hamlet, Polonius, had told her to deny his access to her. They think that for this reason Hamlet went crazy. Scheming Polonius, gorgeous Ophelia, and the Queen all think that Hamlet has gone crazy because he was denied the love that he had for the beautiful Ophelia. Gertrude's response to this is that they get married but Hamlet does not ask her to marry him and instead he had ignored her for the reason shown before, he has severed all ties to him.

Fourth example, Ophelia dies and during the funeral he declares to Leartes that he loved her so much and that shows that when he stopped seeing Ophelia he really was acting and that he could still think without all the intensity of the information. During the dead Ophelias' funeral her brother Leartes says that no one could have loved her the way he did. The enraged Hamlet then jumps at Leartes and fights him saying that he forty thousand men could not make up the love that he had for the beautiful Ophelia. Hamlet begins to fight Leartes over this reason, Leartes also was enraged at Hamlet because he could not believe that someone like him would love Ophelia, mostly because he was insane and crazy.

Fifth example, another scene where people think that he is crazy is when he confronts his mother, Queen Gertrude, and the ghost of Hamlets father comes in. Mysteriously though Gertrude does not see the ghost and most would definitely say that he was insane since the very beginning, except he was not the only one to see the ghost. The castle guards and Horatio saw it to and although they don't ever speak to it and only Hamlet, it would make sense since the ghost does not know who helped Claudius kill him.

Sixth example, if the ghost of the late King Hamlet had told everything he knew to Horatio, then his plan for revenge would not work. Horatio would have told not only the murderer Claudius, he would have told the entire kingdom. It is said that the reason he only shows himself to Hamlet is because he is the only one that the dead king trusts to carry on his vengeance. Not only that but he sees Hamlet as the only one willing or able to kill his uncle. Since Hamlet already has hate towards his mother and uncle this only gives him more of a reason to exact revenge.

Seventh example, when Hamlet delivers the speech that everyone knows the first six words to, "to be or not to be." Here he gives a long speech questioning the reasons of he should keep living and just end it all by suicide. Many actors have portrayed this scene as either him screaming and yelling or wide eyed and an intense tone. That is not the only thing, many believe that here he has reached the point of insanity where he will never return.

Eighth example, to counter this you could look at the summaries made by big college professors. He is considered the first modern man, the first one to think about the meaning of life and why not just end it if you have the power to do so. Here he portrays the title that people give him as the modern man and so even with all that had just happened he still was able to stay sane. From here on the reason they call Hamlet the first modern man is because he is the first person to talk and think about existentialism. Hamlet is the first to have though about why not to end their lives and why humans live in the first place.

Ninth example, most people that lived in the 1600s always did as they were told no questions, but when it came to murder they were very harsh on it.

Whoever had killed someone would also have to die. Hamlet however sees' both outcomes of what would happen if he took a certain path. If Hamlet had just gone and killed the fake King Claudius, then people would think that Hamlet really was insane and taken him to jail. Not only that he would have been no different than Claudius, a murderer. If Hamlet had gone and looked for evidence and given it to the people, it would have taken to long. There was also no way to get evidence unless he had captured Claudius and shown the people his true nature. He also would have been taken to jail for that

reason.

In conclusion, these are examples and evidence to back up how Hamlet had not gone crazy at all during his acting of insanity. First, he only wanted to cover up his act of revenge with acting and even when his affection with Ophelia he did not want to kill or hurt her. Second, when the ghost comes and he's the only one to see him it does not instantly raise alarms because Horatio also the ghost. And lastly, when he gave his famous speech he was only questioning existence due to all the pain that he has had recently. For these reasons, and more that were not mentioned, Hamlet was not crazy. Even though most would definitely say he was crazy this explains why he wasn't. This is the evidence provided to show that he was not crazy rather just a very great actor. Now that you know these facts you can read the book for yourself and decide whether or not he was crazy, good luck reader.