Why Is Hamlet Insane

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While it is said that Hamlet acted to be insane towards his goal of vengeance, his emotionally depressed state causes his mental sanity to deteriorate. Not to say that he was a madman out of touch with reality, but a man who was driven to insanity by thought. His behavior throughout the play, especially towards loved ones, is inconsistent and uncontrolled. Hamlet first shows signs of his madness with his mother Gertrude. She tries to explain to Hamlet that he has offended his stepfather, Claudius. In turn, he objects and claims that she has offended his father, King Hamlet, by hastily marrying Claudius. He constantly bashes her with harsh words and claims about her remarriage to his uncle. Hamlet’s emotions were always in a state of flux which is why he had violent outbursts …show more content…

You go not till I set you up a glass where you may see the inmost part of you” Gertrude, who starts feel the discomfort, replies, “What wilt thou do? Thou wilt not murder me? Help, Ho!”(ACT 3 scene 4 pg. 1405). Not even letting her leave the room, here he tries to physically force Gertrude to do something not of her will. This is again his own mother who was given no choice but to cry for help from her own son. In the same scene with Hamlet and Gertrude, the ghost appears to Hamlet which he then tells his mother of its presence leading to the second point to be made about Hamlet’s insanity. She however does not see the ghost which leads her to admit that her son has actually has gone mad. Hamlet is the only person in the entire play to have supposedly heard and conversed with the ghost of King. Reality is just what is generally agreed upon, in layman terms, and if you deviate strongly enough from others’ reality, you become insane (Jeremy weavers peer support specialist QUORA.com). Insanity occurs when our mind breaks contact with reality and it becomes unable to deal with the reality of our lives. And in this play, Hamlet is shown as an individual who has a miserable and complex

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