What Is The Theme Of Madness In Hamlet

1405 Words3 Pages

Hamlet’s popularity over the last 400 years is due in part to its multi-faceted reflections of concepts that haunt humanity throughout time. In the particular reading selection in Act V, the characters deal with the foreshadowing of death, continue flirting with and the possible pretense of madness, and delve into the secular aspect of life, the relative absence of an afterlife, and the near void of the sacred.
Much of the plot of Hamlet deals with death and its complexities. It begins after the death of Hamlet’s father, the king, and spends the rest of the story solving his murder and bringing justice to his murderer – Hamlet’s uncle, new stepfather, and the new king, Claudius. Hamlet himself spends much of the play pondering his very existence, …show more content…

Hamlet flirts with the idea enough to pretend he is mad to Polonius so that he can further his investigation of his father’s murder. It serves him well for much of the play as he can almost play around in his madness while he allows others to expose their treachery. But at its core, it allows for innocent or less-corrupt people to be harmed in the process. Both Polonius and his daughter Ophelia indirectly suffer for Hamlet’s pretense. Polonius is trying to do right by his new king and his daughter, determining whether Hamlet’s sorrow is genuine or a result of his insanity, all the time not realizing he is a pawn of Claudius. And Ophelia is driven to her own real madness and death after being overtly used as a pawn in the scheme to entrap …show more content…

He even infers that to perform a traditional service would “profane the service of the dead… of peace-parted souls”. (V.i.219-221). Most religious doctrines believe that suicide is the same as murder, even calling it “self-murder” or “unrepentable”. At the time, Catholics refused to give mass and a proper Christian burial to victims of suicide. Jewish doctrine believes even now that a person who commits suicide cannot be buried in a Jewish cemetery. Most Protestants then and many today believe the person outright refuses salvation and eternity in Heaven by committing suicide and thus condemns themselves to

Show More
Related

  • Hamlet Is A Loyal Councilor To Claudius

    1148 Words  | 3 Pages

    Hamlet in the beginning of the play finds out about how his father truly died and begins to devise a plan to avenge his father. Just so happen his plan is to be crazy. Hamlet first begins acting crazy when he goes into Ophelia’s sewing rooms and starts sniffing her, this little act of crazy has Polonius thinking hamlet is mad with love for Ophelia and began occasionally spying on Hamlet. Hamlets friends Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are sent so spy on him by the king but hamlet sees through the cleaver plan and just continues to act mad around his school friends, and tells them that he is "I am but mad north-north-west" (BOOK). Polonius, the Queen, and the king come up with a plan to try and see how hamlet feels about Ophelia. They all watch while Ophelia waits for hamlet to pass by Hamlet and Ophelia speak about their relationship but hamlet say he never loved Ophelia because he knows someone is listening so he must act mad. Hamlets has rewritten a scene in a play that was being preformed in the castle to match the way King Hamlet tells hamlet he was killed. While watching the play hamlet sees that the kings reactions is just what he wants it to be. Guilt. But its at this moment in the play hamlet tries to warn someone about all the things happening. Hamlet goes up to Ophelia after the play and says "believe none of this"(BOOK). While a lot of things could have been

    Read More

  • Loss of Innocence in Hamlet

    1261 Words  | 3 Pages

    In the beginning of the play, Hamlet's father comes to him as a ghost from the grave. He tells Hamlet of his uncle's betrayal of him and tells Hamlet that he must kill Claudius to set things right. Through this event, Hamlet...

    Read More

  • Shakespeare's Hamlet - Observations of Madness

    2623 Words  | 6 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 Insanity Essay

    738 Words  | 2 Pages

    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 to explosive outbursts that can be interpreted as real madness. Upon learning that Ophelia has allied herself with Polonius and Claudius, he loses his head and has an incredibly dramatic episode. He is initially honest and open with Ophelia, but his mood quickly changes when he learns they are being spied on. He question Ophelia’s motives by asking whether she is honest and fair. He...

    Read More

  • Reasoning Behind Hamlet's Madness

    1138 Words  | 3 Pages

    Throughout the play, Hamlet, written by William Shakespeare, the unclear representation of the protagonist’s actions is present. The protagonist, Hamlet, conducts the idea that he is turning mad. Although, there are many indications which support that this so-called “madness” is part of an act that Hamlet portrays. The other characters within the play try to understand the reasoning behind Hamlet’s madness, but cannot figure out the truth behind it. The main cause of Hamlet’s madness is the realization of his father’s death and the numerous influences his father’s death has on his life. Hamlet can control his actions of madness and specifically acts differently around certain characters. The characters who are more concerned

    Read More

  • Abuse Of Power In Hamlet

    1252 Words  | 3 Pages

    At first, Hamlet is successful, and society is convinced Ophelia is the reason for his madness, thus granting Hamlet more time to plot Claudius’s murder. This is achieved in Hamlet’s “to be or not to be speech” [3,1,57] when Claudius and Polonius spy on the conversation between Hamlet and Ophelia. During the Act, Ophelia displays traits of dishonesty and Hamlet uses this to his benefit and appears to go insane to convince Ophelia, Claudius and Polonius that Ophelia is responsible for his madness. Hamlet insists his madness is an “antic disposition” [1,5,179] and that “Thou this be madness, yet there is method in it”. [2,2,204] In the play, Hamlet uses his “antic disposition” [1,5,179] to refuse Ophelia’s affections, which is powerfully portrayed when he exclaims to her “get thee to a nunnery.” [3,1,138] By denying Ophelia’s love, Hamlet’s power in the relationship is effectively demonstrated, and it is shown he is in control of their relationship. In addition, this is reflected in Ophelia’s self-destruction, as she has no purpose to live a life without Hamlet or a man. Overall, Hamlet is successful in using his power over Ophelia for the sake of his

    Read More

  • Madness and Insanity in Shakespeare's Hamlet

    963 Words  | 2 Pages

    Hamlet's public persona is a facade he has created to carry out his ulterior motives. The outside world's perception of him as being mad is of his own design. Hamlet is deciding what he wants others to think about him. Polonius, a close confidant of the King, is the leading person responsible for the public's knowledge of Hamlet's madness. The idea that Hamlet is mad centers around the fact that he talks to the ghost of his dead father. He communicates with his dead father's ghost twice, in the presence of his friends and again in the presence of his mother. By being in public when talking to the ghost, the rumor of his madness is given substance.

    Read More

  • Hamlet's Madness Analysis

    1128 Words  | 3 Pages

    The death of Polonius does not even seem to bother Hamlet the slightest bit. Soon after he commits the unforgivable act of murder against Polonius Hamlet says, “Thou wretched rash, intruding fool, farewell. I took thee for thy better” (3.4.32-33). The violent nature of his killing reveals Hamlet’s hysteria because he was unable to stop himself. The act of overkill displayed during this scene shows his inability to control his own emotions. Therefore, such behavior depicts that of a madman. This very incident was the beginning of Hamlet’s unmasked madness. It is obvious that Claudius’s murder of the King drives Hamlet to despair. At first, Hamlet feigns his madness; however after his first kill he pushes aside any rationale he has left and becomes bloodthirsty for revenge.

    Read More

  • Hamlet Acts Morally, Harms Others by his Actions, and Realizes his Tragic Limits

    1017 Words  | 3 Pages

    Hamlet is Shakespeare’s most famous work of tragedy. Throughout the play the title character, Hamlet, tends to seek revenge for his father’s death. Shakespeare achieved his work in Hamlet through his brilliant depiction of the hero’s struggle with two opposing forces that hunt Hamlet throughout the play: moral integrity and the need to avenge his father’s murder. When Hamlet sets his mind to revenge his fathers’ death, he is faced with many challenges that delay him from committing murder to his uncle Claudius, who killed Hamlets’ father, the former king. During this delay, he harms others with his actions by acting irrationally, threatening Gertrude, his mother, and by killing Polonius which led into the madness and death of Ophelia. Hamlet ends up deceiving everyone around him, and also himself, by putting on a mask of insanity. In spite of the fact that Hamlet attempts to act morally in order to kill his uncle, he delays his revenge of his fathers’ death, harming others by his irritating actions. Despite Hamlets’ decisive character, he comes to a point where he realizes his tragic limits.

    Read More

  • Hamlet, the Existentialist

    1068 Words  | 3 Pages

    Shakespeare’s Hamlet is a tragic play about murder, betrayal, revenge, madness, and moral corruption. It touches upon philosophical ideas such as existentialism and relativism. Prince Hamlet frequently questions the meaning of life and the degrading of morals as he agonizes over his father’s murder, his mother’s incestuous infidelity, and what he should or shouldn’t do about it. At first, he is just depressed; still mourning the loss of his father as his mother marries his uncle. After he learns about the treachery of his uncle and the adultery of his mother, his already negative countenance declines further. He struggles with the task of killing Claudius, feeling burdened about having been asked to find a solution to a situation that was forced upon him.Death is something he struggles with as an abstract idea and as relative to himself. He is able to reconcile with the idea of death and reality eventually.

    Read More

  • Hamlet: The Bewildering Human Condition

    1242 Words  | 3 Pages

    Shakespeare’s play Hamlet is a complex and ambiguous public exploration of key human experiences surrounding the aspects of revenge, betrayal and corruption. The Elizabethan play is focused centrally on the ghost’s reoccurring appearance as a symbol of death and disruption to the chain of being in the state of Denmark. The imagery of death and uncertainty has a direct impact on Hamlet’s state of mind as he struggles to search for the truth on his quest for revenge as he switches between his two incompatible values of his Christian codes of honour and humanist beliefs which come into direct conflict. The deterioration of the diseased state is aligned with his detached relationship with all women as a result of Gertrude’s betrayal to King Hamlet which makes Hamlet question his very existence and the need to restore the natural order of kings. Hamlet has endured the test of time as it still identifies with a modern audience through the dramatized issues concerning every human’s critical self and is a representation of their own experience of the bewildering human condition, as Hamlet struggles to pursuit justice as a result of an unwise desire for revenge.

    Read More

  • Hamlet’s Madness

    1882 Words  | 4 Pages

    The tragedy of Hamlet by William Shakespeare is about Hamlet going insane and reveals his madness through his actions and dialogue. Hamlet remains one of the most discussed literary characters of all time. This is most likely due to the complex nature of Hamlet as a character. In one scene, Hamlet appears happy, and then he is angry in another and melancholy in the next. Hamlet’s madness is a result of his father’s death which was supposedly by the hands of his uncle, Claudius. He has also discovered that this same uncle is marrying his mom. It is expected that Hamlet would be suffering from some emotional issues as result of these catastrophes. Shakespeare uses vivid language, metaphors, and imagery to highlight how Hamlet’s madness influences several important aspects of his life including his relationships and the way he presents himself.

    Read More

  • Theme of Madness Conveyed in Shakespeare's Hamlet

    1161 Words  | 3 Pages

    In William Shakespeare’s Hamlet, one of the most evident and important themes is the theme of madness. The theme is apparent throughout the play, mainly through the actions and thoughts of Hamlet, Ophelia, and Laertes. Madness is defined as the quality or condition of mental illness or derangement (being insane). Madness is at the center of the conflicts and problems of the play and is conveyed through Shakespeare’s elaborate use of manipulation and parallels between Hamlet, Ophelia, and Laertes to contribute to Hamlet’s tragic character.

    Read More

  • Conflict in William Shakespeare's Hamlet

    2442 Words  | 5 Pages

    Up until this point the kingdom of Denmark believed that old Hamlet had died of natural causes. As it was custom, prince Hamlet sought to avenge his father’s death. This leads Hamlet, the main character into a state of internal conflict as he agonises over what action and when to take it as to avenge his father’s death. Shakespeare’s play presents the reader with various forms of conflict which plague his characters. He explores these conflicts through the use of soliloquies, recurring motifs, structure and mirror plotting.

    Read More

  • Condemned: Hamlet’s Moral Dilemma

    1663 Words  | 4 Pages

    Hamlet is one of the most often-performed and studied plays in the English language. The story might have been merely a melodramatic play about murder and revenge, butWilliam Shakespeare imbued his drama with a sensitivity and reflectivity that still fascinates audiences four hundred years after it was first performed. Hamlet is no ordinary young man, raging at the death of his father and the hasty marriage of his mother and his uncle. Hamlet is cursed with an introspective nature; he cannot decide whether to turn his anger outward or in on himself. The audience sees a young man who would be happiest back at his university, contemplating remote philosophical matters of life and death. Instead, Hamlet is forced to engage death on a visceral level, as an unwelcome and unfathomable figure in his life. He cannot ignore thoughts of death, nor can he grieve and get on with his life, as most people do. He is a melancholy man, and he can see only darkness in his future—if, indeed, he is to have a future at all. Throughout the play, and particularly in his two most famous soliloquies, Hamlet struggles with the competing compulsions to avenge his father’s death or to embrace his own. Hamlet is a man caught in a moral dilemma, and his inability to reach a resolution condemns himself and nearly everyone close to him.

    Read More

More about What Is The Theme Of Madness In Hamlet

Open Document