Why Is Hamlet Insane

1151 Words3 Pages

The lingering question that a reader is left with after reading William Shakespeare’s Hamlet is if Hamlet is insane or not. In the first act of the the play Hamlet decides he is going to act insane, because he is bothered by his mother, Gertrude, marrying his uncle, the King, after the death of his father. Hamlet says “Here, as before, never, so help you mercy, /How strange or odd some’er I beat myself /(As I perchance hereafter shall think meet /To put an antic disposition on)” (Shakespeare 1.5.189). Tenney L. Davis discusses the Catch 22 behind believing Hamlet’s claims that he is merely feigning madness. An insane person would not realize he or she is insane, but a sane person would not claim to be insane. So the audience cannot use Hamlet’s …show more content…

He says, “His madness, whether real or feigned, was an excess of sanity” (Davis 630). Hamlet is too self aware for his own good. His knowledge of his situation and tendency to act justly causes his slow spiral into insanity (Davis 632). But is he insane if he is constantly alert throughout the play? He always is in understanding of what is happening to him and other characters in the play. But, most characters who Hamlet encounters are sure of his insanity. Mary E. Cardwill urges consumers of Hamlet to not set that fact aside. She discusses how humans perceive each other. Humans judge others by the impression left on them. The actions and words that one outwardly expresses should be taken into account (Cardwill 227). So Gertrude believing Hamlet is insane is a solid argument to prove that Hamlet is insane. But then Horatio’s belief that Hamlet is insane would strike that argument. So how can one read Hamlet and decipher if Hamlet is sane or …show more content…

Dir. Gregory Doran). In the same scene that Plummer convinces the audience of Hamlet’s sanity Tennant’s eyes leave no doubt that Hamlet is insane. Tennant gallivants into his mother’s chambers and kills Polonius without a second thought. Even when he discovers he murdered Polonius instead of the King, he shows no remorse. His mother, portrayed by, Penny Downie, is clearly terrified to be alone with Hamlet. Hamlet is trying to reason with his mother by being aggressive, he is disheveled and he pulls apart the coverings on his mother’s bed while pleading with her. The insanity of the scene is heightened with the entrance of the ghost of Hamlet’s father. Tennant falls to the floor when he sees his father, who is angry with Hamlet. Hamlet is no longer in a rage, but is now terrified. His mother asks him, “Whereon do you look?” To which Hamlet replies, “On him, on him!” (Shakespeare 3.4.142). Tennant’s deliverance of the line is full of terror and pleading. Hamlet is mad. Gertrude knows it, the audience knows it, and Hamlet himself knows

More about Why Is Hamlet Insane

Open Document