Several emotions engulf Shakespeare’s Hamlet throughout the play, the most famous being Hamlet’s own emotional state. His madness, triggered by his incestuous uncle, has led several scholars to explore the psychological causes of his behavior. This research into Hamlet’s madness will explore his state in comparison to other characters, the psychoanalytic studies behind his actions, and defining whether his insanity is genuine or another play within the play. His mother and his uncle were married after only two months of Hamlet’s father’s death, which caused Hamlet to be in a heavy state of anger, mixed with his already deep state of mourning. According to Theodore Lidz, an American psychologist, these two states can lead one to think back …show more content…
Let’s take into consideration Hamlet’s best friends, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern. Hamlet’s childhood friends arrive relatively early in the play and Hamlet’s behavior is similar to that of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern. For example, during the scene that Polonius talks about the players that are coming into town to perform, Hamlet acts in the same childish way that Rosencrantz and Guildenstern act. This alone could lead one to question Hamlet’s true state. He has only acted mad around the people he fears, such as Claudius. He could have them believe in his insanity and therefore, make it easier for Hamlet to manipulate them. In the same way, he manipulates his mother to discover whether or not she knew about the …show more content…
Lidz point of view is that which concerns Hamlet’s mother’s betrayal of her husband. The audience knows that Hamlet’s mother is very important to him; he depends on her to provide him a mother to respect, trust, and love. When Hamlet sees that his mother betrays his father by marrying his uncle shortly after his death, Hamlet becomes irate. He loses respect for his mother and subsequently, his trust in her. “In general, a child will feel secure and will trust others if his parents have placed his needs on the same level with their own and with those of his brothers and sister. He will rebel and seek to hurt if he is neglected or disillusioned, and he is apt to become devious and dishonest if he can only gain his needs—whether for material things or affection—through circumvention” (Lidz 225). When confronted by his mother and uncle, Hamlet loses his control and his actions are the ones that he expresses in a maniacal
As Hamlet transforms from a motivated intellectual to an obsessed griever, Shakespeare evaluates the fluidity of sanity.The juxtaposition of Hamlet’s desire to act and inability to do so unveils Hamlet’s inner turmoil, for as Hamlet disconnects from family, distrusts his environment, and forms an obsession with perfection, the audience realizes his fatal flaw and watches him tumble into the grasps of insanity. This degeneration forces the audience to consider how equilibrium between thought and action influences the conservation of sanity, not only for Hamlet, but also for all of humanity.
Including the fact his mother married her dead husbands brother, Hamlets uncle, builds Hamlet sickness. Shakespeare’s purpose of this scene is to utilize Hamlet currently is sane but his situation may drive him insane slowly.
Riddled with ambiguity by its very nature, the text of William Shakespeare's Hamlet has been a commonly debated subject in literary circles since its first performance. The character Hamlet undergoes intense physical and emotional hardship in his quest for revenge against his despicable uncle. This hardship, some argue, leads to an emotional breakdown and, ultimately, Hamlet's insanity. While this assessment may be suitable in some cases, it falls short in others. Since Hamlet is a play, the ultimate motivation of each of the characters borrows not only from the text, but also from the motivations of the actors playing the parts. In most respects, these motivations are more apt at discerning the emotional condition of a character than their dialogue ever could. Thus, the question is derived: In Kenneth Branagh's film adaptation of Hamlet, does the character Hamlet suffer from insanity? Giving halt to the response, this paper will first endeavor to establish what insanity is and will then provide sufficient examples both from the text, film, and Branagh's own musings on his motivations as proof that Hamlet's character, at least in Branagh's version of the play, is not insane.
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 is going on around him. Most importantly, Hamlet does not think like that of a person who is mad.
himself portrays madness in his actions through deception, the seek for revenge, and insanity. To discover the reasoning behind Hamlet 's madness, each character is impacted by either exploring
Hamlet has mood swings as his mood changes abruptly throughout the play. Hamlet appears to act mad when he hears of his father's murder. At the time he speaks wild and whirling words:Why, right; you are I' the right; And so, without more circumstance at all, I hold it fit that we shake hands and part... [Act I, scene V, lines 127-134]. It seems as if there are two Hamlets in the play, one that is sensitive and an ideal prince, and the insane barbaric Hamlet who from an outburst of passion and rage slays Polonius with no feeling of remorse, Thou wretched, rash, intruding fool, farewell! / I took thee for thy better. Take thy fortune;/ Thou find'st to be too busy is some danger.- [Act III. scene IV, lines 31-33] and then talks about lugging his guts into another room. After Hamlet kills Polonius he will not tell anyone where the body is. Instead he assumes his ironic matter which others take it as madness. Not where he eats, but where he is eaten. / A certain convocation of political worms a e'en at him. [Act IV, scene III, lines 20-21]
In William Shakespeare’s Hamlet, he tells the story of Hamlet, who has not only lost his father but has found that his uncle is the killer. To make matters worse, his uncle has married Hamlet’s mother, making his father’s killer the new king. Throughout the play, Hamlet appears to have gone insane. The characters in the play are left to wonder what has caused Hamlet’s sudden departure from reality. The main speculation is that his madness is due to the loss of his father and from a broken heart, from the rejection of Ophelia, who is Hamlet’s love interest.
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.
Every main character in Hamlet seems to have their own conjectures as to why Hamlet is acting so out of character. One obvious reason is the mourning of his father's death. In addition to this, though, they all have personal ideas of varying merit. Claudius thinks that Hamlet has some kind of secret cause for the sudden change in his personality. Gertrude believes that along with being upset about the death of his father, Hamlet is tormented by the fact that she married Claudius. Rosencrantz and Guildenstern believe that he is hurt, for his ambitions have been squashed. Not only does his uncle...
On a deeper level, this madness reflects the true nature of his deeper psychological self, and poses questions about his behavior. It is the fact of these two levels co-existing that brings about the ambiguity of Hamlet’s true nature, since both these ideas seem to contradict and even clash with one another. The first reason, to disarm Claudius’s suspicion and any ill intent, comes from Hamlet’s shaky foundation of his beliefs.... ... middle of paper ...
Inspecting and analyzing every action he took, Hamlet demonstrated that he had total control over his mind and emotions throughout The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark. Being powerless to speak honestly about his emotions, Hamlet exaggerated his insanity to Gertrude and Ophelia in order to ease their perspective towards him. The mask of Hamlet’s madness also hid his devious plans from his rivals and King Claudius so that he can take action with his revenge plan. Mastering the act of insanity, Hamlet was able to successfully avenge his father’s death and remain sane throughout the play.
Hamlet's public persona is a facade he has created to carry out his ulterior motives. The outside world's perception of him as being mad is of his own design. Hamlet is deciding what he wants others to think about him. Polonius, a close confidant of the King, is the leading person responsible for the public's knowledge of Hamlet's madness. The idea that Hamlet is mad centers around the fact that he talks to the ghost of his dead father. He communicates with his dead father's ghost twice, in the presence of his friends and again in the presence of his mother. By being in public when talking to the ghost, the rumor of his madness is given substance.
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.
...ntentionally relates to him, for by murdering Hamlet's father and marrying his mother, Claudius has carried out Hamlet's own childhood dream. As a result, Hamlet is unable to murder his uncle as easily as he kills others, such as his two unfaithful friends, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern. Freud clears the thick confusion surrounding Hamlet’s inconsistent mentality by attributing it to the Oedipus complex.
The tragedy of Hamlet by William Shakespeare is about Hamlet going insane and reveals his madness through his actions and dialogue. Hamlet remains one of the most discussed literary characters of all time. This is most likely due to the complex nature of Hamlet as a character. In one scene, Hamlet appears happy, and then he is angry in another and melancholy in the next. Hamlet’s madness is a result of his father’s death which was supposedly by the hands of his uncle, Claudius. He has also discovered that this same uncle is marrying his mom. It is expected that Hamlet would be suffering from some emotional issues as result of these catastrophes. Shakespeare uses vivid language, metaphors, and imagery to highlight how Hamlet’s madness influences several important aspects of his life including his relationships and the way he presents himself.