The tragic play Hamlet written by William Shakespeare follows the main character, Hamlet, and his journey of revenge for his father’s death. In the beginning of the play, Hamlet appears completely sane; however, as the play progresses and after his father dies, he chooses to change from depressed to insane. Hamlet is perceived as mad for different reasons: the revenge for his father’s murder and his love for Ophelia. Hamlet wants revenge for his father’s death because although the death is staged to look like an accident, Hamlet is visited by a ghost who tells Hamlet that his uncle Claudius is actually responsible. Only Horatio, Hamlet’s best friend, truly knows Hamlets motives, and Hamlet acts as if he is mad; he acts this way in order to …show more content…
After Hamlet decides he wants revenge on Claudius, Hamlet pretends to be insane so the attention would be taken off of himself, and the people would dismiss his crazy actions. By doing this, Hamlet could lay low throughout his ploy for revenge on Claudius and have a coverup for his actions, and if he were to actually kill Claudius, the murder could potentially be blamed on his “mental illness.” As the story progresses, Hamlet constitutes a way to deceive Claudius with a clever play. Only a sane person would contrive a plan so intricate to prove his skepticisms of Claudius to gain more confirmation on his conclusions; contrary, an insane person would be hastier to kill even with little evidence. After Hamlet gets more evidence for Claudius’ murder after Claudius’ reaction to the play, Hamlets decides he would get the most out of his revenge if he were to kill Claudius in one of his more sinful states: “Up, sword, and know thou a more horrid hent” (Shakespeare III.iii.2371). He does not want to give Claudius the satisfaction of going to heaven since he is confessing his sins in this moment; Hamlet wants Claudius to suffer in purgatory just as his father King Hamlet had. This well thought out act of Hamlet proves him to be sane …show more content…
After wrestling Laertes in Ophelia’s grave, Hamlet apologizes to Laertes for losing control when he says, “That to Laertes I forgot myself,/ For by the image of my cause I see/ The portraiture of his. I'll court his favours./ But sure the bravery of his grief did put me/ Into a tow'ring passion” (Shakespeare V.ii.3730-3735). Hamlet admits that he should be unbothered by Laertes’ grief. Hamlet blames his actions on his “mental illness,” and this deed proves his sanity because Hamlet realizes that Laertes would be more likely to forgive him since Hamlet’s wrestling Laertes was not a just, true intention, rather a result of his apparent insanity; Hamlet is able to get the blame off of himself in this way. Hamlet shows his sanity in this instance because a mentally insane person would not go out of his or her way to apologize for his or her actions. Later in the play, Laertes makes a plan with Claudius to kill Hamlet. Laertes wants revenge on Hamlet for the death of his father and his sister. Claudius wants to kill Hamlet because of how much Hamlet threatens Claudius and his throne by knowing the truth of King Hamlet’s death. During a duel between Laertes and Hamlet, Gertrude, Hamlet’s mother, betrays Claudius by drinking the poison cup and confessing the truth to Hamlet. Although Laertes and Hamlet have both been slain by each other at this point and are bound to die
The Tragedy of Hamlet is a play written by William Shakespeare about a young prince trying to avenge his father’s death. In the beginning of the play, young Hamlet is visited by the ghost of his father, who tells Hamlet that his uncle, Claudius, killed him. Meanwhile Hamlets mother, Gertrude, has gotten married to said uncle. Now it is Hamlet’s job to kill his Uncle-father to avenge his dead father, a task that may prove to daunting for Hamlet. In Shakespeare’s, The Tragedy of Hamlet, the author uses diction and syntax to make Hamlet portray himself as mentally insane when in reality, he is sane thorough the duration of the play, tricking the other characters into giving up their darkest secrets.
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.
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 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.
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.
Insanity rises in a person when something depressing happens to them because it destroys them mentally and physically. In Hamlet, by William Shakespeare, Hamlet’s insanity becomes known when he starts going through troublesome times. Hamlet’s father, which is known as Old Hamlet, was the previous king before he was unexpectedly murdered. Hamlet’s Uncle became king and also married his mother Gertrude which is what hamlet did not like. Also, in the book Hamlet was in the woods with two acquaintance and they came across the ghost of Old Hamlet to when he described to Hamlet that his brother Claudius killed him for power and also for his wife. In Hamlet, William Shakespeare uses word choice and symbolism to display hamlet as an insane character
Claudius quickly takes advantage of this by manipulating Laertes to duel Hamlet. Laertes, under the influence of Claudius takes his fury one step further and poisons his sword, a poison so lethal that one cut will end Hamlet. During their duel, Laertes wounds Hamlet then "In scuffing", they exchange swords. Hamlet wounds Laertes and they are both poisoned.
In Hamlet, he seems to be mad, but there is a question that everyone asks when reading or watching this play “was it, or was it not true that Hamlet was faking his insanity, really suffering, or maybe even both.” First, this is what insanity is: insanity is acting crazy, but not knowing that they’re acting crazy. Also, it’s going through a lot of stress at the same time causing you to act stranger then a normal person. Hamlet was not totally insane. It doesn’t fit.
In William Shakespeare’s play “Hamlet” there are many different events throughout the play that affect and shape the main character Hamlet. The biggest event being when Hamlet meets the ghost of his father, the king, who then proceeds to tell him that his uncle murdered him. This event will lead Hamlet to madness with sanity while plotting his revenge on his uncle which will ultimately end in his, his uncle and several other’s deaths at the end of the play.
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.
What makes a person truly crazy? Is it the way that they dress or is it the way they they they talk? It even may be their actions that cause you to believe that a person has truly gone crazy. Although Hamlet appears to have gone crazy to other characters in this book, the reader can see Hamlet is actually sane throughout the whole entire book. The explanations to why Hamlet is sane are as follows: his change in character is just an effect of his father, any crazy actions of Hamlet were to justify him after he killed Claudius to avenge his father’s death, he shows intelligence and is able to plan for events throughout the story.
What if you killed someone knowing that when you did, you would gain immense power and influence. Hamlet is a play about a prince who avenges his fathers' death. The foul murderer is his Uncle Claudius who becomes king and marries Queen Gertrude, Hamlets mother. When prince Hamlet finds out that his uncle was the killer he begins to plan his evil uncle's death. In order to cover up the whole plan he pretends to be crazy and insane. During his moments of insanity he sometimes makes it so intense and real that some readers believe he slipped into insanity every know and then. This essay will show how why Prince Hamlet was not crazy and did not slip into insanity. The essay will provide evidence in the book as to show why and how he was not crazy.
Hamlet’s revenge mission begins when he is visited by his father’s ghost who commands “Revenge his foul and most unnatural murder” (Shakespeare 1.5.31) after his father recounts the cause of his murder. From this point on, Hamlet begins to act mad in order to put his revenge mission into action. In fact, pretending that he has gone mental is all part of Hamlet’s plan to ultimately murder King Claudius. Furthermore, “Hamlet 's madness is an act of deception, concocted to draw attention away from his suspicious activities as he tries to gather evidence against Claudius…” (Mabillard). Therefore, Hamlet feigns a mental disorder so that he can prove that King Claudius is guilty and can therefore murder King Claudius. Hamlet seeks his revenge on the behalf of someone else, unlike Laertes who seeks revenge for himself. Nevertheless, Hamlet’s act of madness causes everyone around him to see him as having gone insane. Hamlet’s false insanity successfully convinces everyone that they should not worry about him because of his mental state and they are not concerned about him. Although few people concern themselves with Hamlet, King Claudius does after what King Claudius had observed in Act 3, Scene 2. Hamlet instructs the actors in a play that everyone is going to see to reenact the murder of King Hamlet. While that play is taking place, he is watching
People sometimes go through hard times. When this happens they usually go into a state of depression and/or have other negative symptoms that lead to negative effects. Some people get depressed while others just go into some form of madness. Imagine that a person were claiming to be insane. Then people would think that this person is actually crazy. But what if acting insane for them was like acting normal. Hamlet is one of those plays written by Shakespeare. The story takes place in Denmark. Prince Hamlet is the son of King Hamlet who was murdered by his brother Claudius. Then Hamlet meets his father's ghost and the ghost tells him the real story of how he died. The ghost then tells Crazy Hamlet to get revenge for him. Should he believe the
After several attempts to kill Hamlet fail, Claudius teams up with Laertes and tries to murder Hamlet once and for all. Each of these plans directly or indirectly caused Hamlet’s death. 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 myself as I perchanse hereafter shall think meet to put an antic disposition on,"(I;v;170-172).