Is Hamlet Mad?
Is Hamlet mad or sane, and if he is mad, was Polonius accurate in saying that there was a “method to his madness';
In Hamlet, there is two characters who fit a mad description, one truly mad, and one only acting mad to serve a plot. Ophelia and Hamlet, with argument to the other’s madness or sanity, Hamlet’s character offers more evidence, while Operlia’s breakdown is quick, but more precise in its madness.
If Hamlet were to see his father’s ghost in private, the argument for his madness would greatly improve. The fact that three men together, witness the ghost before even thinking of notifying Hamlet. Which makes the claim about Hamlet being mad, seem weak. However Horatio pleads a warning to Hamlet, saying “What if it tempts you toward the flood, my lord, or to the dreadful summit of the cliff that beetles o’er his base into the sea, and there assume some other horrible form which might deprive your sovereignty of reason, and draw you into madness? Think of it.
Horatio’s comment may be where Hamlet gets the idea to use a plea of insanity to work out his plan. Later, when Hamlet tells his mother that he saw the ghost in his mothers room, her amazement at his madness is quite convincing.
Another instance of Hamlet’s behavior, manipulation in his meeting with Ophelia, where his uncle and Polonius are hiding behind a curtain.(Earlier in the play it is made quite clear, Hamlets feeling towards Ophelia.) When his complete rejection of her was clearly a hoax.
Hamlet’s actions in the play after meeting the ghost lead everyone except Horatio to believe he is crazy. Hamlet questions his conduct in his speech at he end of Act 2, but after a long time of thinking he decides to go with his instinct and prove to himself without a doubt, the king’s guilt before proceeding rashly.
As Hamlet told Guildenstern in Act 2, “ I am but mad north-north-west: when the wind is southerly I know a hawk from a handsaw.'; This statement reveals Hamlet’s intent to fool people with his odd behavior. This is after Polonius’ comment earlier in the same scene. “ Though this be madness, yet there is method in’t.';
Ophelia with her unquestionable insanity, puts Hamlet’s very questionable madness in a more of a spotlight, while all Ophelia can do after learning of her father’s death is to sing.
Hamlet is grounded in logic throughout the entire play. His logic is more blatant than the average man’s, therefore confusing some of the other characters. Rather than stating something profound in response to when Polonius asks what Hamlet is reading, he says only the most obvious and elementary of answers possible, “words, words, words” (2.2.192). This trend between Polonius and Hamlet continues. “What is the matter my lord?” asks Polonius. Hamlet answers, “Between who?” (2.2.193-194). Tenney Davis responds to this by saying that Hamlet feigned his insanity convincingly by taking things too literally, which manifested in a desire to “split hairs” (Davis 630). Hamlet was always annoyed with Polonius and his garrulous speeches, but reacted not in an irrational way, but to the contrary, with the most simple, though rude, coherent answers. If Hamlet were truly mad, he would not have been able to give make such a guileless and processed ...
After the death of King Hamlet, Hamlet proclaims that he saw his father’s ghost when he, Horatio and Bernardo were in the forest. The ghost spoke to the trio and apparently told them that Lord Hamlet’s uncle, Claudius, now the King, was behind the murder of his father. This troubled Hamlet and at that point he came up with a plan to see whether the ghost’s prophecy was true. A huge part of his plan included him acting insane. “As I perchance hereafter shall think meet to put on an antic disposition on” (I,I,191). This statement is significant as Hamlet himself ...
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.
You can see this when Hamlet says, “I am mad north-north-west. When the wind is southerly, I know a hawk from a handsaw” (2.2.368-369). This is an example of the “wing and whirling words” which Hamlet uses a few times throughout the play, with which Hamlet hopes to persuade people he is crazy. These words show that behind Hamlet's antic disposition, he is in fact very sane.... ... middle of paper ...
People think Hamlet is insane but he is really only acting. After Hamlet has spoken to the ghost, and Horatio and Marcellus find him, emotionally disturbed he says, "As I perchance hereafter shall think meet to put an antic disposition on... to note that you know aught of me--this do swear". (Act 1, scene 5, line 191-192, 201) This means if I (Hamlet) act crazy in the future, don't take it seriously, I am just acting. Hamlet acting crazy will help him prove that his uncle indeed killed his father.
The Polonius, when we know, says that “ there is trick ” in Hamlet's madness (II, ii, 205). And Hamlet says to his mother that “ essentially I am not in the madness,/, But madman in the art ” ( III, iv, 189-90). In fact, Hamlet's madness is more “ as madman ” when he left his unconscious mind. On the other hand, he can seem “ not so crazy ” “ or madman for the plan ” “ or madman in the art ” when he is controlled by his conscious mind, And even when he is faced by his Superego (his father), or other figures Hamlet truly does not show any sign of the madness when he hears to Horatio, Marcellus and the story of Bernado about ghost. In fact, he is quite prudent to say to his friends what was happened between him and the ghost , and quite discreetly to force them to swear that they will not reveal anything of what they have seen. In other scenes when Hamlet finds other figures ...
Even Polonius catches on to his act and mentions “Though this be madness, yet there is method in’t.” (Act 2, Scene 2, Line 205-6). Polonius feels as though Hamlet’s insanity is nothing more than possibly rudeness and sarcasm, instead of genuine loss of mind. Perhaps Hamlet truly is sane and has little fits of hysteria as the world seems to stack up against him. His anger and feelings of betrayal overload with explosive outbursts that can be interpreted as real madness.
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.
As the reader, we are to know that Hamlet is only acting crazy so that when he kills Claudius his insanity can be to blame. Also, when Hamlet talks to the actors that will perform the play about his father's death, he acts completely crazy. He says bizarre things and acts not like himself when he is in front of everyone. To the characters they only see him being crazy, but as the reader we see Hamlet talking to Horatio making complete sense. We know that Hamlet was just pretending because he could act crazy then completely know what was going on around him with in the next minute.
makes the metaphysics of the play dark. The ghost says nothing despite the valiant efforts on the parts of Horatio, Marcellus, and Bernardo. Suspense is created when the audience is ignorant as to the purpose of the ghost. Later in the play the ghost is utilized to allow Hamlet and the audience knowledge of the vile murder of the king by Claudius, the kings own brother. When the ghost finally speaks, he tells Hamlet,
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.
After Hamlet talks to the ghost of his father, he finds out that Claudius killed him to gain the throne of Denmark. Hamlet has to get revenge by killing Claudius. To do this, he must act insane to draw away suspicion from himself. Hamlet says to Hortaio "How strange or odd some’er I bear myslef as I perchanse hereafter shall think meet to put an antic dispostion on,"(I;v;170-172), this indicates that from this moment Hamlet will act insane. He believes this way he will be able to kill the king and get away with it. Polonius becomes aware of Hamlet’s madness and wants to uncover the reason behind it. He says "Mad let us grant him then, and now remains, that we find out the cause of this defect, for this effect defective comes by cause."(II;ii;100-103). Claudius and Polonius spy on Hamlet and Ophelia as they talk. After hearing their conversation Claudius says "And I do doubt the hatch and the disclose will be some danger; which for to prevent, I have in quick determination thus set it down: he shall with speed to England"(III;i;163-166). This means that Claudius is starting to believe Hamlet is dangerous and wants to send him to England. From this point Claudius is very suspicious of Hamlet, he suspects that Hamlet is plotting against him, he says, "Madness in great ones must not unwatched go.
When the encounter with the ghost occurs at the beginning of the play, Horatio’s original skepticism introduces doubt. When Horatio agrees that the spirit exists, the readers are allowed to believe that the ghost was not a figment of Hamlet’s imagination. At the first sighting of the ghost, Horatio, urging Hamlet to stay away from the ghost, says, “What if it tempt you toward the flood, my lord.../And there assume some other horrible form/Which might deprive your sovereignty of reason/ And draw you into madness? Think of it./The very place puts toys of desperation/Without more motive, into every brain” (III.ii.75). Horatio is foreshadowing Hamlet’s descent into madness. Here, Horatio is...
When he is having his discussion with his mother, he can sense her view of his sanity decreasing and cries, “Ecstasy?My pulse as yours doth temperately keep time and makes as healthful music. It is not madness that I have uttered” in a desperate attempt to get her to accept his words about Claudius as the truth. What causes her to lose her faith in him is when he describes how he can see the ghost of his father when she cannot. Schizophrenia is associated with having hallucinations, “things a person sees, hears,...that no one else can” (“What is Schizophrenia?, 2). However, the audience knows that Hamlet is not the only one to have seen the Ghost because Horatio, Marcellus, and Barnardo saw it first and were the ones who told Hamlet about it in the first place. Also, schizophrenia is known to also create delusions, “beliefs that are not true or logical” (“What is Schizophrenia?, 2). This also does not relate to Hamlet as Claudius admits to feeling guilty for his “cursed hand...thicker than itself with his brother’s blood” (III.iii.44-45). The audience is given proof that both what the Ghost told Hamlet was the truth, and that the Ghost is not simply a figure of Hamlet’s imagination, as he would not have known about his father’s death being a murder had it been. Therefore, his beliefs are sane and his vengeance is
One example of Hamlet’s madness is how he mocks Polonius. He would not do so normally because Polonius is older than he is so he would normally treat him with a certain amount of respect which he does not do following the sighting of the ghost of Old Hamlet. The Ghost tells Hamlet of his murder, and to test the truth of what he is told, Hamlet puts on “an antic disposition”. Hamlet manages to convince Polonius that he is inconsiderate of others, knowing that with seeing this odd change i...