One of the primary inquiries that arises from Shakespeare’s famous work,Hamlet, is whether the protagonist is truly insane or whether he is just pretending to be so. Unlike some of Shakespeare’s other work such as Macbeth where the “discerning eye” can determine whether the character is actually insane or not and where the madness was born, Shakespeare leaves Hamlet’s madness up to interpretation. In the play, Hamlet’s madness can be viewed as rational or viewed as completely crazy. Hamlet’s madness is shown through his rash decisions, mood swings, and his “nutty as a fruitcake” speeches. The method behind his madness can be reasoned through the fact that in his madness he is protected by the king, he makes fools of king and everyone around him, and he gets plenty of time to plot his revenge against Claudius for the murder of his father.
The first of Hamlet’s brilliant “feigned” madness moments is in act 2 scene 2 where Polonius is trying to discern the reason behind Hamlet’s melancholy attitude. The words uttered by Hamlet upon Polonius’ arrival on the scene seem to be said only through madness, “You are a fishmonger” (Shakespeare, line 171). Hamlet is clearly taunting the self-important Polonius with the incorrect identification, under the cover of his feigned madness. Polonius believes Hamlet to be truly mad when in actuality Hamlet is fooling Polonius into thinking he is mad. In the same scene, Hamlet’s second soliloquy displays a seed of rational thinking. Hamlet plots a way to catch “the conscience of the King” (line 531). He plans to put on a play so that “the guilty creatures” will be “struck so to the soul” that they will “proclaim their malefactions” (line 516-518). A truly insane person would not have enough cognitive...
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...r is but variable service, two dishes, but to one table.”(line 19-24). If this reply came from anyone else, they would suffer immediate consequences, but it is from Hamlet whom he can’t touch. By the King’s position and desire for the favor of his people, Claudius is unable to harm Hamlet through most of the play in turn giving Hamlet protection from the King.
Hamlet has all the means to be completely insane such as: the death of his father, the crowning of his uncle, the marriage of his mother to his uncle, his murder of an innocent man, and Ophelia’s forbidden relationship with him and eventually her death. But was he really insane or was Polonius right in saying “Though this be madness, yet there is method in’t” (line 201-202). Hamlet has both rational and irrational aspect making him an inconsistent character therefore, leaving his madness up to interpretation.
Throughout William Shakespeare’s play, Hamlet, Hamlet undergoes a transformation from sane to insane while fighting madness to avenge his father’s death. The material that Shakespeare appropriated in writing Hamlet is the story of a Danish prince whose uncle murders the prince’s father, marries his mother, and claims the throne. The prince pretends to be feeble-minded to throw his uncle off guard, then manages to kill his uncle in revenge. Shakespeare changed the emphasis of this story entirely, making Hamlet a philosophically minded prince who delays taking action because his knowledge of his uncle’s crime is so uncertain. To begin with, Hamlet portrays himself as sane.
In Shakespeare’s play Hamlet the main character Hamlet experiences many different and puzzling emotions. He toys with the idea of killing himself and then plays with the idea of murdering others. Many people ask themselves who or what is this man and what is going on inside his head. The most common question asked about him is whether or not he is sane or insane. Although the door seems to swing both ways many see him as a sane person with one thought on his mind, and that is revenge. The first point of his sanity is while speaking with Horatio in the beginning of the play, secondly is the fact of his wittiness with the other characters and finally, his soliloquy.
Hamlet accidentally kills Polonius and finally, the ghost of his. father visits him in the future. Though at this point these situations create plenty of reasons for Hamlet to be insane, he remains sharp and credible. “ [ Hamlet] concocts this state of madness.his intellect remains clear, his discourse. sound and comprehensive,” Harris, p. 129. & nbsp; Hamlet reveals to his friends and his mother of his plans to pretend to act insane.
Throughout Shakespeare’s play, Hamlet, the main character, Hamlet, must seek revenge for the murder of his father. Hamlet decides to portray an act of insanity, as part of his plan to murder Claudius. Throughout the play, Hamlet becomes more and more believable in his act, even convincing his mother that he is crazy. However, through his thoughts, and actions, the reader can see that he is in fact putting up an act, he is simply simulating insanity to help fulfil his fathers duty of revenge. Throughout the play, Hamlet shows that he understands real from fake, right from wrong and his enemies from his friends. Even in his madness, he retorts and is clever in his speech and has full understanding of what if going on around him. Most importantly, Hamlet does not think like that of a person who is mad. Hamlet decides to portray an act of insanity, as part of his plan to seek revenge for his fathers murder.
Throughout the course of Hamlet, Shakespeare strives to answer the question: when can one’s behavior be declared true insanity? Using key characters, Ophelia and Hamlet, Shakespeare discerns the fine line between madness and manipulation.
Logan Gaertner Mrs. Amon English IV 1 March 2014 Is Hamlet’s Insanity Real? Is Hamlet truly insane? While the play is not extremely clear on the matter and often contradicts itself, many of Hamlet’s wild ramblings and words of nonsense seem to be not the true words of a madman. Hamlet says that he is merely “putting on an antic disposition” (Act 1, Scene 5, Line 181). He admits very early on in the play that his insanity will be nothing more than a ruse to fool those around him.
Shakespeare's play "Hamlet" is about a complex protagonist, Hamlet, who faces adversity and is destined to murder the individual who killed his father. Hamlet is a character who although his actions and emotions may be one of an insane person, in the beginning of the book it is clear that Hamlet decides to fake madness in order for his plan to succeed in killing Claudius. Hamlet is sane because throughout the play he only acts crazy in front of certain people, to others he acts properly and displays proper prince like behavior who is able to cope with them without sounding crazy, and even after everything that has been going on in his life he is able to take revenge by killing his father's murderer. In the play Hamlet by William Shakespeare Hamlet is sane but acts insane to fulfill his destiny of getting vengeance on his father's murderer.
Is Hamlet sane or insane that is the question. There are many sections in the play which show portray him as being insane but there are such as the when he hears of his fathers death. On the other hand Shakespeare illustrates Hamlet as a sane person when ever he is with a non guilty party. Hamlet is clearly sane though because he acknowledges that he is putting on an act whenever he is acting crazy.
Considered to be one of the most famous playwrights written in the history of English literature, Hamlet is no doubt a complex play and far from being easy to decipher. The protagonist finds himself entangled within a slew of different predicaments ranging from love, incest, death, murder, and even touches upon the spiritual world when his father’s apparition presents himself with the task of avenging his death. How he goes about handling all of these difficulties has been a debate for decades and continues to baffle even the greatest minds today. However, in order for Hamlet to uncover the truth and fulfill the task he is given, he must put on an act of madness in which the other characters mistake him to have truly lost his mind. While he
...ing madness to sanity are reminiscent of a bi-polar disorder such as manic depression. It is possible that Hamlet put on his antic disposition to allow himself freedom from the usual constraints and etiquette of the court so that he could use different means to discover Claudius' guilt without being discovered himself. Or his feigned madness may have been a reaction to the stress of his predicament, because in doing so he frees himself from having to make decisions on courses of action and he effectively becomes a spectator in the running of his own life.
Scholars have been disputing the sanity of Hamlet, for over four hundred years, in the play Hamlet, by William Shakespeare. Is he an insane madman or a vengeful, devious, genius? There are many contradictory ideas and theories on Hamlet’s so called psychosis, his procrastination in avenging his father’s death, and his actions towards his mother.
A great controversial point of the play Hamlet, is whether Hamlet is mad or in fact acting mad. The definition of madness is a chaotic state where one is unable to distinguish right from wrong. Hamlet comes up with the idea to fake madness in the beginning of the play in order to confuse his enemies and avenge his father's death. However, for Hamlet to fulfill his duty of getting revenge, he must be totally sane. Hamlet’s intellectual brilliance makes it impractical for him to actually be mad, for to be insane one must be irrational and without any sense. Verifying that there's structure with his madness, and that hamlet is very much in control of his fate. William Shakespeare’s, Hamlet, demonstrates the power of Hamlet’s intelligence to achieve avengement for his father's death. Demonstrating qualities such as composure, intelligence, and restraint to carry out his plans.
Hamlet, a brilliant and witty character, was almost too smart for his own good. The act of insanity he plays not only convinces others of his madness, but almost manages to lead himself to believe it to be true. The front Hamlet exhibits manifests itself when he is engaged with certain characters. Particularly, when Hamlet is around Horatio, Francisco, Bernardo, the Gravedigger, and the Players, he acts rationally. On the other hand, Hamlet’s behavior becomes irrational when with Polonius, Gertrude, Ophelia, Claudius, or Rosencrantz and Guildenstern. For example, when having a conversation with Polonius, Hamlet says:
In William Shakespeare’s Hamlet, one of the most evident and important themes is the theme of madness. The theme is apparent throughout the play, mainly through the actions and thoughts of Hamlet, Ophelia, and Laertes. Madness is defined as the quality or condition of mental illness or derangement (being insane). Madness is at the center of the conflicts and problems of the play and is conveyed through Shakespeare’s elaborate use of manipulation and parallels between Hamlet, Ophelia, and Laertes to contribute to Hamlet’s tragic character. All examples of madness begin and end with death.
I thought Hamlet demonstrated his madness greatly here because it seemed like Polonius knew he was mad and just played along. Polonius didn't want Hamlet to get annoyed because Polonius disagreed with him. If Polonius didn't have any idea that Hamlet was going mad he probably would have said something about what Hamlet was talking about and would have asked him why he was acting like he was. Polonius also would have done something to change the way he had been acting or help him out.