Is Hamlet Crazy

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Revengeful, crazy, methodical are words that describes Hamlet in the play The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark by William Shakespeare. After the death of king Hamlet, Prince Hamlet is devastated to make matters worse, his mother quickly remarries his uncle, Claudius, This pushes hamlet over the edge to insanity. Hamlet’s father returns from the dead to seek revenge for his wrongful death. He informs prince Hamlet that Claudius murdered him “Revenge his foul and most unnatural murder”(I.v.31) The ghost tells Hamlet to seek revenge for how Claudius has wronged both of them “Doomed for a certain term to walk the night/ And for the day confined to fast in fires/ Till the foul crimes done in my days of nature/ are burnt and purged away” (I.v.14-28). …show more content…

Hamlet acts very crazy in front of Ophelia by going into her closet “My lord, as I was sewing in my closet, Lord Hamlet, with his doublet all unbraced/ No hat upon his head, his stockings fouled/ Ungartered, and down-gyvèd to his ankle/ Pale as his shirt”( ) she is very frightened and confused by what happens. Hamlet moves on to insult Polonius in order to look crazy and lost from reality “He knew me not at first; he said I was a fishmonger/ He is far-gone. And truly, in my youth, suffered much extremity for love, very near this” (II.ii.205-208). Hamlet says he doesn’t even know who Polonius is, even though he is the father of his girlfriend Ophelia then he insults Polonius by calling him a fishmonger. Polonius believes that Hamlet is just far gone in his love for Ophelia. King Claudius begins to see Hamlet’s madness and tells Rosencrantz and Guildenstern to see what Hamlet is up to. Hamlet knows that they are trying to spy on him and sounds crazy saying “I am but mad north-northwest: when the wind is southerly, I know a hawk from a handsaw” (II.ii.402-403) however, in reality it makes sense that hamlet knows the difference between a real threat the hawk and not a threat the handsaw. Hamlet uses his antic disposition to be able to sneak around without drawing attention to

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