There are two different types of madness display in William Shakespeare's play Hamlet . Hamlet's madness was because Claudius killed his father and then Hamlet pretended to be mad to fool Claudius . Ophelia's madness was because Hamlet killed her father which caused her to be driven into a depressed state and later leading to her death . Although Hamlet and Ophelia's madnesses are both very similar in how they came about . Hamlet and Ophelia's madnesses are also very different because of how they ended up dealing with it .
In Shakespeare's tragedy, Hamlet, the audience finds a docile, manipulated, scolded, victimized young lady named Ophelia. Ophelia is a foil to Hamlet. Plays have foils to help the audience better understand the more important characters in the play. The character of Ophelia is necessary so that the audience will give Hamlet a chance to get over his madness and follow his heart.
The life of Hamlet is without a doubt very interesting, he suffers from unfortunate events in his time that are often major blows to his ego. His father dies while he’s away at college, Hamlet is next in line to be king until his “uncle-father” steals it from him; but it is to be known his “uncle-father” would not have stolen it if his “aunt-mother” hadn’t allowed it. It’s very apparent from the beginning of the play that he is very well obsessed with his mother and her doings. He harasses, humiliates, and abuses her because she has done such an unforgivable act by marrying Claudius. His thoughts and feelings towards his mother are very strong and well known, he even describes the odd pair as “little more than kin and less than kind.” That’s not all with Hamlet; his mother remarrying is just the tip of the iceberg so deeply rooted in the ocean of his emotions. His relationship with Ophelia is twisted, Hamlet goes through episodes of
In Hamlet, Shakespeare incorporates a theme of madness with two characters: one truly mad, and one only acting mad to serve a motive. The madness of Hamlet is frequently disputed. This paper argues that the contrapuntal character in the play, namely Ophelia, acts as a balancing argument to the other character's madness or sanity. Shakespeare creates a contrasting relationship between the breakdown of Ophelia and the "north-north-west" brand of insanity used by Hamlet in that while Hamlet's character offers more evidence for a contriving manipulation, Ophelia's breakdown is quick, but more conclusive in its precision.
In Shakespeare's Hamlet, there are two characters that display qualities of insanity. Specifically, Hamlet and Ophelia, although they both appear to be mad at times, their downfall (or supposed downfall) is quite different. Ophelia's madness seems complete while Hamlet's is questionable throughout the play. Hamlet's madness comes and goes; Ophelia's does not. Ophelia tells no one that she is "mad"; on the other hand, Hamlet shows everyone about his madness. Hamlet turns his madness on and off depending on the company he keeps. Ophelia on the other hand, cannot handle the loss of Hamlet's love, her brother's absence, and her father's death. It is all too much for her and she snaps. Hamlet and Ophelia’s position in society, along with the actions of all the adults caused the deaths and insanity of Hamlet and Ophelia.
People have mostly seen women inferior to men because women have been thought of as simple-minded and could not take care of themselves. Shakespeare’s Hamlet shows how men treated and thought of women during the 1500s. There was an order most did not interfere with; however, some did. In the 1500s, women were supposed to conform to men’s wishes. Throughout the play, Ophelia first obeyed her father and brother’s wishes, ignored the social norms later, and then went mad, which caused her to never gain her own identity.
Hamlet only claims madness because it allows him to say and perform actions he otherwise would be prohibited from, while keeping people from taking his actions seriously. This seems to be part of his initial plan that is first mentioned when he asks Horatio and Marcellus not to make any remarks in relation to his ?antic disposition (1.5.192).? Hamlet?s madness allows him to talk to Claudius, Gertrude, Ophelia, and Polonius in a manner unsuitable for a prince. He is often disrespectful and insulting in his remarks. Although his acting backfires during his speech to Gertrude, Hamlet is able to severely criticize her for her actions because she thinks he is insane. During the play he also makes many sexual innuendos and even blatantly sexual remarks towards Ophelia such as ?That?s a fair thought to lie between maids? legs (3.2.125).? His convincing insanity act gives him the chance to vent his anger towards Ophelia for her abandonment.
On the other hand we have Ophelia, who also goes insane and even commits suicide. In her case the cause of madness was her love for Hamlet and her being unable to take revenge on Hamlet. It is hinted here:
Shakespeare wrote Hamlet during the Elizabethan age, which is the time period when England was under the reign of a woman for the second time. Despite this, the sustaining years of the traditional patriarchal society was still a basis that many people in 16th century England followed. This would explain for Ophelia’s quick compliances to the standards of the men close to her. A more in-depth examination of this can be made in act 4, scene 5 of Hamlet, which has also been nicknamed the “Mad Ophelia” scene. Patriarchal constraints can be seen when both Hamlet and Ophelia showcased their “madness,” but one is considered acting while the other is diagnosed as mad as King Claudius says, “…poor Ophelia, Divided from herself and her fair judgment,” [IV.V.85]. Actress Frances Barber interpreted Ophelia as “acutely intelligent and highly perceptive” instead of mad, which opposed Elaine Showalter’s argument that Ophelia’s madness stems from a “predictable outcome of erotomania” (139, 287). In addition to these arguments, Ophelia is repressed for she can’t speak out her mind unless she acts hysterical. Hamlet, on the other hand, has more freedom in this category whether he acts sane or not. What Shakespeare conveyed in this scene is not madness, but the voice of a repressed woman.
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.
The inclusion of the term ‘madness’ or phrase ‘gone mad’ play a pertinent role in the play Hamlet by William Shakespeare. Not only does the title Character, Hamlet, show signs of ‘madness’ but his love, Ophelia ‘goes mad’. Although from the plot of the play we can pick up what is meant by mad, but what truly is madness? Merriam Webster dictionary lists two definitions for this term: A state of severe mental illness and or behavior or thinking that is very foolish or dangerous. By the standards of these definitions we can conclude that Ophelia, the lover of Hamlet, daughter of Polonius, sister to Laertes has in fact gone mad, but the question remains as to why. Ophelia has gone mad because her body cannot process all of the grief and stress she has been subjected to, during the events of the play.
This madness was preventable, the men in her life caused it and Gabrielle Dane’s article “Reading Ophelia’s Madness” explains this excellently, what is written in the article gives clear and straight forwards facts and examples on what is the cause of her madness. The cause of her madness started with her controlling father, brother, and lover. All three of these men told her what to do, when to do it, and how she should carry it out, and the things they tell her to do always have to benefit them, they didn’t care what would happen to Ophelia’s mental or emotional state in the process. With the men’s constant abuse they each start telling her different things. Unsure of whom to listen to, she starts to get confused and starts losing herself. When finally there was no one there to tell her anymore she goes mad, and in the brink of her madness she ends up killing herself. Throughout all these events no one stops to think of her as an actual person but instead like a rag doll they could just toss around. The play Hamlet itself was discussed without any bother of Ophelia for nearly four hundred years before scholars started to think of her and read the play with a Feminist view point. Today more and more articles are being written about Ophelia’s treatment by the other characters in the play and her madness. Even though most would see suicide as a cowardly act, Ophelia’s death may be the only rational one in the death-filled
Sweet and innocent, faithful and obedient, Ophelia is the truly tragic figure in William Shakespeare's Hamlet. "Her nature invites us to pity her misfortune caused not by any of her own self-initiated deeds or strategies"(Lidz 138). Laertes tells us convincingly how young and vulnerable Ophelia is, (act I. iii.10) likening her budding womanhood's destruction from Hamlet to a process as "the canker galls the infants of the spring,/ Too oft before their buttons be disclosed, /And in the morn and liquid dew of youth / Contagious blastments are most imminent". "He advises her to stay away and she lovingly banters back, typically like a young teen, reminding him to act as he advises" (Campbell 104). We then learn more of how pure and innocent she is as her father counsels her (Act I.iii.90). Telling her that she is a "green girl" and to think of herself as "a baby" in this matter, he insists that she must stop seeing him.
In William Shakespeare’s Hamlet, Ophelia is the most static character in the play. Instead of changing through the course of the play, she remains suffering in the misfortunes perpetrated upon her. She falls into insanity and dies a tragic death. Ophelia has issues surviving without a male influence, and her downfall is when all the men in her life abandon her. Hamlet’s Ophelia, is a tragic, insane character that cannot exist on her own.
The madness of each individual is not realistic, but the idea that death, grievance, and revenge can drive someone to do things that seem to be mad or make them do things out of their nature. Overall, we see that the theme of madness has a significant impact on the conflicts and overall development of the play as well as the characters themselves and is successfully conveyed. Shakespeare developed a theme that tied the many important emotions and ideas together to make the play what it is. He used Ophelia’s grief and love, Hamlet’s wit and ruminative nature to convey a theme that could be related to more than the one character, and tie all of the conflicts and complications down to one cause.
Laertes, early, tells Ophelia that she must beware of a relationship with Hamlet. The heart of this warning lies in one phrase: Hamlet “may not, as unvalued persons do,/Carve for himself” (1.3 19-20). Laertes means specifically that Hamlet, as royalty, cannot cut his own meat. The suggestions, however, are more involved. Laertes is also saying Hamlet cannot choose his own wife, he is childlike, and cannot kill or fend for himself. These themes are central to the entire tragedy.