Hamlet Essay- Truly Mad, for Feigned Madness ? 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. As the play progresses, the reader may start to believe Hamlet “insane” act, but throughout the scenes, Hamlet shows that he knows right from wrong, good from bad, and his friends from his enemies. Hamlet shows that he still has power and control over his actions. As Elliot says “Hamlets madness is less than madness and more feigned”. Hamlet is portraying that of a mad man, in order to be free from questioning, thus allowing him have an easier path towards revenge. You can see this when Hamlet says “ I am but 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 sh... ... middle of paper ... ...g man, looking for revenge for the death of his father. A young man that has gone through hell and back since his fathers death, loosing his love, his mother marrying another man, best friends betraying him, all of which finally lead to his demise. 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. The characters might have learnt to never trust anyone, because your best friend can be spying on you and your uncle can be your fathers murderer; you should be careful of the people around you. Through all this, Hamlet is able to use common sense, rationalize, and think like that of a normal man. showing his is in fact not crazy. Hamlet acts no more crazy, than any other man would in a situation like that.
Moreover, Hamlet is mad or so he seems to be. By looking at Hamlet and all his actions everyone is convinced he has gone mad. His mood changes a lot throughout the play, he speaks "wild and whirling words" (I.v.127-134) when he found our about his father’s death, has violet outbursts towards his mothe...
If Hamlet were truly mad, he would not have been able to give such a guileless and processed response.... ... middle of paper ... ... Hamlet’s feigned insanity was all part of his overall scheme to avenge his father, King Hamlet.
Throughout William Shakespeare’s play, Hamlet, Hamlet undergoes a transformation from sane to insane while fighting madness to avenge his father’s death. The material that Shakespeare appropriated in writing Hamlet is the story of a Danish prince whose uncle murders the prince’s father, marries his mother, and claims the throne. The prince pretends to be feeble-minded to throw his uncle off guard, then manages to kill his uncle in revenge. Shakespeare changed the emphasis of this story entirely, making Hamlet a philosophically minded prince who delays taking action because his knowledge of his uncle’s crime is so uncertain. To begin with, Hamlet portrays himself as sane.
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.
Hamlet. The son of a king. A man who could have had it all, but instead he chose the much more painful route of revenge and a life of bloodshed. The downfall of Hamlet is comparable to trying to hide a lie one has told. The deeper we try to cover the lie, the worse it gets and harder it becomes to do the right thing. The deeper the reader explores into Hamlets life, the messier and messier it becomes. With a mind full of suicidal thoughts and insanity with no effort to contain it can only lead one thing, and Hamlets downfall is the ultimate example. Pain, suffering, and extreme
Hamlet has always been a hard to understand character, for many reasons this is understandable, as he comes from a period in history when not many things did make sense. Throughout the story Hamlet demonstrates a broad stroke of characteristics namely those that suit his end goal, the revenge of his father’s death by the hands of his step father, Claudius. With these broad characteristics lies the demonstration of his madness, a trait that eventually takes him over. Hamlet first to begin to act insane to use as a weapon, using it to gather information against his enemies and to act without their suspicion, putting on an “antic disposition”, and even then he only acts insane towards those he sees as his enemies, and allies of his enemies. Hamlet describes himself as "mad north-north-west" (Shakespeare), saying he is mad sometimes and not others. This act of his continues for a large part of the book, until finally Hamlet can’t take it anymore and puts his plan into action. The sudden change of heart comes from his mother’s willful ignorance of the mourning and sudden onset of a new marriage leaves him stumbling at best. Hamlet “was forced to see her in action not only an astounding shallowness of feeling, but an eruption of course sensuality, ‘ rank and gross,’ speeding post-haste to its horrible delight.” (Bradley) Some authors even believe that the entire story is based around this conflict of interests Elliot says
Hamlet is without a doubt one of the most complex pieces to interpret for many different scholars and people. The question of the truth behind his madness has become a debate among anyone who lays eyes on the play. In fact, madness becomes a large role within the play that will cause many situations as well as effect them. I believe Hamlet unintentionally went mad attempting to act as a mad man.
Logan Gaertner Mrs. Amon English IV 1 March 2014 Is Hamlet’s Insanity Real? Is Hamlet truly insane? While the play is not extremely clear on the matter and often contradicts itself, many of Hamlet’s wild ramblings and words of nonsense seem to be not the true words of a madman. Hamlet says that he is merely “putting on an antic disposition” (Act 1, Scene 5, Line 181). He admits very early on in the play that his insanity will be nothing more than a ruse to fool those around him.
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.
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
“To be insane or not to be insane- that is the question”. Throughout the course of the play Hamlet, written by William Shakespeare, an ongoing theme that occurs numerous times is the question of whether or not Hamlet has actually gone mad. We must questions Hamlets madness crucially and examine whether he is indeed crazy, or just simply pretending as part of his master plan to get revenge on Claudius. Many people view this questionable statement differently. Is Hamlet really crazy? Is this all just an act? Can any of his madness rants be justified? With an abundant amount of proof, it is absolutely certain that Hamlet has legitimately gone mad. Although it is very possible that Hamlet had been pretending at first, there is no denying that he has certainly gone crazy over time.
Shakespeare’s tragedy Hamlet, is one of the most analyzed plays in existence due to its vivid dramatization of melancholy and insanity. There is sufficient evidence displayed in the play that Hamlet deliberately feigns his fits of madness. He puts on this act to deceive people such as the King and his following attendants into thinking he was no threat. Hamlet needed to distract attention from the investigation concerning his father’s death so he could baffle those who intend on preventing him in his quest for revenge. In light of the fact that Hamlet had claimed to “put an antic disposition on” (1.5.180) his choice to do so actually lead to his downfall. Thus I claim, that on account of feigning his madness, Hamlet did not only fool
In the play Hamlet by William Shakespeare, the main character, Hamlet, is often perceived by the other characters in the play as being mentally unbalanced because he acts in ways that drive them to think he is mad. Hamlet may very well be psychotic; however, there are times when he “feigns insanity” in order to unearth the truth surrounding his father's death. This plan seems to be going well until Hamlet's mental state slowly begins to deteriorate. What began as an act of insanity or antic disposition transitions from an act to a tragic reality. After studying Hamlet's actions, one will notice that as the play progresses, his feigned insanity becomes less and less intentional and devolves into true mental illness.
Throughout William Shakespeare’s play, Hamlet, the main character, Hamlet, shows evidence of obtaining madness. Most people often question if his madness is real or if it is merely just an act. Shakespeare himself wrote Hamlet the way he did to have readers deciding themselves if Hamlet is faking the madness or not. With reasoning, Hamlet is faking his madness. He creates an act to get revenge for his father’s death, to put the attention on himself, and leave everyone confused.
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.