Hamlet Essay: Hamlet's Gone Mad

718 Words2 Pages

Kallie Wagner
Professor Arevalo
World Literature 1
28 April 2014
Hamlet’s Gone Mad
Hamlet is without a doubt one of the most complex pieces to interpret for many different scholars and people. The question of the truth behind his madness has become a debate among anyone who lays eyes on the play. In fact, madness becomes a large role within the play that will cause many situations as well as effect them. I believe Hamlet unintentionally went mad attempting to act as a mad man.
By the time Hamlet was written, “madness” was already a popular element within revenge tragedies in the Elizabethan period. But, the role of madness in Hamlet was deeply ambiguous, which set it apart from the other revenge tragedies in its time. Whereas other revenge tragedy protagonists were the complete opposite and just simply insane. Hamlet fiddles with the idea of being insane, which is where it all began. Hamlet states, “How strange or odd soe'er I bear myself, / As I perchance hereafter shall think meet/ To put an antic disposition on” (1.5.58-60) but his sane mental state began to decay over time leaving him actually insane. As the play goes on the role of madness becomes much larger and more crucial, and begins to sweep the spotlight from the other themes within it.
Hamlet’s intentions for appearing “mad” did have an advantage in the play, which automatically impacted it. He basically simulated madness as a strategy to direct the suspicion of his plotted revenge elsewhere. It does not sound very complex, but his performance of madness ended up slightly distracting him from his plot rather than benefitting him. Rather than focusing on the mission given by the ghost and believing Claudius was truly guilty by “The Mouse Trap,” he focused on his...

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...ot he was completely guilty for Polonius’s death, but as I studied his actions and mannerisms I came to the conclusion he was guilty of both. I was assured when his feelings of depression over his fathers continued and his only goal in life became power over the situation and avenging him. Being in control became somewhat of an obsession because he thought he could overcome any situation if that was the case, but it was just a simple minded way of trying to justify the situation. When you pretend to be something for so long it either unintentionally reflects off you automatically, you begin to forget whom you really are and what you stand for, or you end up liking the front you’ve created for yourself more than your true self; and I believe that is exactly what happened.

Citations:
SPARKNOTES, LLC. "No Fear Hamlet." SparkNotes. SparkNotes, n.d. Web. 29 Apr. 2014.

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