Exploring the Validity of Hamlet's Madness in Hamlet by William Shakespeare

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Exploring the Validity of Hamlet's Madness in Hamlet by William Shakespeare

The issue of madness is one of major importance in this play. Is Hamlet truly mad, meaning insane? Or is he merely angry? Does he feign madness and use it as a guise? Or does he place himself so dangerously close to the line between sanity and insanity that he crosses it without even realizing it? Or is he so intelligent, cunning and in control that this is merely the playing out of his completely conceived and well-executed plan of attack? The patient is a thirty year-old male. He is Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, an introspective, grieving young member of the royalty, plagued by the recent death of his father, and the hasty marriage of his mother to his uncle, Claudius. He is capable of depressing anyone around him; the King and Queen attempt to pry Hamlet from his mourning. As relations become more strained between Hamlet and Claudius, his attitude becomes destitute. He begins to withdraw himself from everyone in the castle, and spends most of his time in solitude; he is often seen walking alone, talking to himself. Upon deeper investigation, it is discovered that Hamlet is seeing the ghost of the ex-King of Denmark, Hamlet's father. The ghost becomes Hamlet's counselor, guiding him through his everyday maze of depression and confusion. It is through the ghost of his father that he learns that Claudius, the new King of Denmark, is solely responsible for his father's "foul and most unnatural murder" (I.v.26). He claims that he is told to seek revenge on his father's murder by murdering Claudius. Hamlet sees the ghost at various times over the course of the play, appearing when he is in need of help. Hamlet's condition persists, gradually getting worse, as...

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... Henry Scott. Shakespeare: Some Essays and Lectures. New York: Kennikat Press Inc., 1970.

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Kronenberger, Louis. "Hamlet: A Riddle in Greatness." Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1965.

Lewis, Charlton M. The Genesis of Hamlet. New York: Kennikat Press Inc., 1967.

Shakespeare, William. Hamlet. New York: Bantam Books, 1988.

Soon, Adi. Hamlet Essay. 9 March 1999.

http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Aegean/6440/eng-lit/hamlet5.txt*. "Though This is Madness, Yet There is Method in It." Online Archive. 9 March 1999.

*http://homepages.enterprise.net/steph/soa.madness.html*. "Was Hamlet Mad: Arguments For and Against." 9 March 1999.

*http://www.hamlet.edmonton.ab.ca/washemad.htm*.

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