Hamlet and His Sanity As Determined in a Court of Law

2481 Words5 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Hamlet and mental illness

In the court of law, William Shakespeare’s Hamlet will be used as a transcript to determine the fate of Prince Hamlet as he is responsible for the death of Polonius. With the mask of insanity, Hamlet is conscious of his actions as he murders Polonius through his malicious intent upon King Claudius. Also, with Hamlet being in an intense state of emotion during his confrontation of Queen Gertrude, he intentionally murders Polonius upon adequate provocation which results to voluntary manslaughter. However, by pursuing King Claudius, Hamlet endangers himself and those close to him as he relentlessly involves others through his dangerous pursuit. From a legal context, Hamlet is declared sane when he murders Polonius and will be convicted with voluntary manslaughter. With this conviction, Hamlet will serve time in prison as he is a threat to himself and others close to him through his malicious intent and actions to murder King Claudius.
In order to determine the sanity of Hamlet’s mind, there must be a connection between Hamlet’s actions and the elements of the M’Naughten test. Under those circumstances, Hamlet’s results declare him as sane for he does not meet the requirements of the M’Naughten test. According to Samaha, The M’Naughten test is defines insanity as a mental disease that affects his or her capacity to reason that impairs the defendant’s ability to know both the nature and quality of his or her acts and the difference between morally right and wrong (277). However, a mental disease does not affect Hamlet’s reasoning, as it was due to the circumstances he was in. These circumstances initially include the death of King Hamlet and the marriage between King Claudius and Queen Gertrude but later contain the death of others a...

... middle of paper ...

...rrod. Emotions and Culpability: How the law is at odds with psychology, Jurors, and itself. Washington: American Psychological Association, 2006. Print.
Kübler-Ross, Elisabeth and Kessler, David A. On Grief and Grieving: Finding the Meaning of Grief Through the Five Stages. New York: Scribner, 2005. Print.
Posner, Richard A. Law and Literature. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2009. Print.
Prosser, Eleanor. Hamlet and Revenge. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1967. Print.
Samaha, Joel. Criminal Law. California: Wadsworth Publishing Company,2002. Print.
Scofield, Martin. The Ghosts of Hamlet: the play and modern writers. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1980. Print.
Trial of Hamlet. Boston University, Huntington Theatre Company, Boston Bar Association. 1996. Video
Ward, Ian. Shakespeare and the Legal Imagination. London: Butterworths, 1999. Print.

Show More
Related

  • Hamlet Sanity Analysis

    1117 Words  | 3 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Hamlet Insane or Sane

    779 Words  | 2 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Death And Grieving By Elisabeth Kübler-Ross

    1953 Words  | 4 Pages

    In 1969 Elisabeth Kübler-Ross, a psychiatrist, published the Pioneering book On Death and Dying. The work acquainted the world with the grieving process, called the five stages of grief. Kübler-Ross gathered her research from studying individuals with terminal cancer (Johnson, 2007). The first stage of the grieving process is denial. In this stage the person refuses to believe that their loved one is deceased, a common thought during this period is, “This can’t be happening to me” (Johnson, 2007).The second stage of the grieving process is anger. In this level the person becomes frustrated with their circumstances, a customary complaint is “Why is this happening to me?” (Johnson, 2007). The third stage of the grieving process is bargaining. At this point the individual hopes that they can prevent their grief, this typically involves bartering with a higher power, and an ordinary observance during this time is “I will do anything to have them back” (Johnson, 2007). The fourth and most identifiable stage of grief is depression. This phase is habitually the lengthiest as...

    Read More

  • Hamlet- Truly Mad, for Freigned Madness?

    1234 Words  | 3 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Ordinary People Grief And Grief

    954 Words  | 2 Pages

    Individually, everyone has their own methods of dealing with situations and emotions regardless of any positive or negative connotation affixed to them. One prime example of this comes with grief. Elisabeth Kubler-Ross in her 1969 book “On Death and Dying” suggests that there are five stages of mourning and grief that are universal and, at one point or another, experienced by people from all walks of life. These stages, in no particular order, are as follows: Denial and Isolation, Anger, Bargaining, Depression, and finally Acceptance. Each individual person works through these stages in different orders for varying levels of time and intensity, but most if not all are necessary to “move on.” In order for positive change to occur following a loss, one must come to terms with not only the event but also themselves.

    Read More

  • Crawling Inside the Mind of Shakespeare's Hamlet

    1720 Words  | 4 Pages

    Watson, Robert N. 1990. 'Giving up the Ghost in a World of Decay: Hamlet, Revenge and Denial.' Renaissance Drama 21:199-223.

    Read More

  • Hamlet: The Man behind the Madness

    1015 Words  | 3 Pages

    Shakespeare, William. “The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark” Literature: An Introduction to Reading and Writing. Ed. Edgar V. Roberts. 9th Ed. New York: Pearson Longman, 2009. Print

    Read More

  • Madness and Insanity in Shakespeare's Hamlet - Both a Sane and Insane Hamlet

    924 Words  | 2 Pages

    Shakespeare's tragic hero, Hamlet, and his sanity can arguably be discussed. Many portions of the play supports his loss of control in his actions, while other parts uphold his ability of dramatic art. The issue can be discussed both ways and altogether provide significant support to either theory. There are indications from Hamlet throughout the play of his mind's well being.

    Read More

  • Hamlet Literary Analysis - Stages of Grief

    1300 Words  | 3 Pages

    Elizabeth Kubler-Ross developed a theory based on what she perceived to be the stages of acceptance of death. Her theory has been taken further by psychologists and therapists to explain the stages of grief in general. Kubler-Ross identified five stages: denial and isolation, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance, as happening in that order. In William Shakespeare’s Hamlet, Hamlet exhibits all five stages of grief, we can assume in relation to the recent death of his father, but not necessarily in this order, and in fact the five seem to overlap in many parts of the play.

    Read More

  • Justification of Hamlet's Sanity in Shakespeare's Hamlet

    1594 Words  | 4 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Hamlet - Intelligent , NOT Insane

    1345 Words  | 3 Pages

    Throughout the Shakespearian play, Hamlet, the main character is given the overwhelming responsibility of avenging his father’s "foul and most unnatural murder" (I.iv.36). Such a burden can slowly drive a man off the deep end psychologically. Because of this, Hamlet’s disposition is extremely inconsistent and erratic throughout the play. At times he shows signs of uncontrollable insanity. Whenever he interacts with the characters he is wild, crazy, and plays a fool. At other times, he exemplifies intelligence and method in his madness. In instances when he is alone or with Horatio, he is civilized and sane. Hamlet goes through different stages of insanity throughout the story, but his neurotic and skeptical personality amplifies his persona of seeming insane to the other characters. Hamlet comes up with the idea to fake madness in the beginning of the play in order to confuse his enemies. However, for Hamlet to fulfill his duty of getting revenge, he must be totally sane. Hamlet’s intellectual brilliance make it seem too impossible for him to actually be mad, for to be insane means that one is irrational and without any sense. When one is irrational, one is not governed by or according to reason. So, Hamlet is only acting mad in order to plan his revenge on Claudius.

    Read More

  • The Criminal Justice System

    1478 Words  | 3 Pages

    Fairchild, H. & Cowan, G (1997). Journal of Social Issues. The O.J. Simpson Trial: Challenges to Science and Society.

    Read More

  • Hamlet

    1500 Words  | 3 Pages

    In the play Hamlet by William Shakespeare, the main character, Hamlet, is often perceived by the other characters in the play as being mentally unbalanced because he acts in ways that drive them to think he is mad. Hamlet may very well be psychotic; however, there are times when he “feigns insanity” in order to unearth the truth surrounding his father's death. This plan seems to be going well until Hamlet's mental state slowly begins to deteriorate. What began as an act of insanity or antic disposition transitions from an act to a tragic reality. After studying Hamlet's actions, one will notice that as the play progresses, his feigned insanity becomes less and less intentional and devolves into true mental illness.

    Read More

  • Kahlil Gibran's On Death And Dying

    1076 Words  | 3 Pages

    Everyone has or will experience a loss of a loved one sometime in their lives. It is all a part of the cycle of life and death. The ways each person copes with this loss may differ, but according to Elisabeth Kübler-Ross’s novel On Death and Dying, a person experiences several stages of grief: denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and, finally, acceptance. There is no set time for a person to go through each stage because everyone experiences and copes with grief differently. However, everyone goes through the same general feelings of grief and loss. There are also sections in Kahlil Gibran’s “The Prophet” that connect to the process of grieving: “On Pain,” “On Joy and Sorrow,” and “On Talking.” Kahlil Gibran’s “The Prophet” reflects on Kübler-Ross’s model of the different stages of grief and loss.

    Read More

  • Hamlet Scene Analysis

    1382 Words  | 3 Pages

    William Shakespeare’s Hamlet is filled with many schemes and situations that are a challenge to interpret. The play centers around Hamlet, whose uncle murdered his father and married his mother. Certainly no one could blame Hamlet for appearing a little bit crazy after having to deal with that type of trauma. There are several times during Hamlet when Prince Hamlet appears to be crazy. What makes assessing the prince’s mental state more challenging is the fact that Prince Hamlet sets up a play within the play to expose his uncle for killing his father. Hundreds of years after Shakespeare first wrote Hamlet in 1603, scholars still disagree over whether Prince Hamlet is actually

    Read More

More about Hamlet and His Sanity As Determined in a Court of Law

Open Document