Societal expectations have, for centuries, dictated what feelings and beliefs are acceptable
to express and what impulses and compulsions are acceptable to act upon. Undesirable thoughts,
beliefs, and actions are consequently either ignored or repressed. Repression of innate, natural
reactions and emotions often leads to violent outbursts, general unhappiness, unresolved issues,
madness, and ultimately, destructive, detrimental behaviors. The increasing violence resulting
from detrimental compulsions then often lead to irrational actions that are observed, in the end,
to contribute to the insane person’s untimely death, and the deaths of those around them.
Repressed emotions and suppressed desires, when paired with deep-seated
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Madness is, in Shakespeare’s works, a metaphorical dais upon which the truth can be lain
out for all to see but none to comprehend. Hamlet’s adopted “antic disposition” allows him to
prove Claudius’s guilt as a murderer; allows him to fully see the truth surrounding his father’s
death (I.v.173). The King’s reaction to “The Mouse-trap”, Hamlet’s play, “upon the talk of the
poisoning” verifies his guilt, as his fleeing the play reinforces Hamlet’s suspicions that Claudius
murdered the former king, his father, in a similar fashion as the character in the play (III.ii.307).
In assuming insanity, Hamlet “took a mask to conceal his own designs, to discover the secrets of
the King” (Snider 73). He is only able to stage the play and reveal the truth because inviting the
players to the castle is an attempt by his friends to rescue him from the crushing grief
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Her madness is a result of “the poison of deep grief; it
springs all from her father’s death”, her deep sense of loss (IV.v.75-76). Ophelia’s grief for her
father conflicts with her love for Hamlet, as he was Polonius’s slayer: thus, “the unresolvable
conflict of loyalties – to Polonius and to Hamlet – will ultimately drive her mad”, as her love for
her father dictates hatred towards Hamlet, but her love for Hamlet disallows hatred (Shapiro
130). Her grief for both men “divided [Ophelia] from herself and her fair judgement”, as she is
unable to process the love that she feels for Hamlet in tandem with the hatred she is supposed to
harbor towards him and the love and grief she has for her father (IV.v.84). In killing Polonius,
Hamlet condemns Ophelia to madness, as she loses her purpose for living: she no longer has a
father or husband to care for, and now, never will. The emotional duress that she faces leads her
to mental ruin, as she “is in the intolerable predicament of having to turn away from the
Hamlet’s curiosity caused him to not only suspect his mother, but also kill poor Polonius. He believed Gertrude was an accomplice in the murder of his father.Hamlet has violent outbursts towards his mother. His anger increased as Gertrude misinterpreted the situation. She believed that she was in danger of being assaulted and therefore cries out for help. Hamlet, who was full of rage, runs his dagger through the arras and kills Polonius, mistaking him for Claudius. "O me, what hast tho done/Nay, I know not. Is it the king?" (III-iv.27-28) Hamlet's passion was furiously aroused, and his words to his mother grew increasingly bitter and sharp. His words acted like daggers that shattered Gertrude's peace of mind. "Nay, but to live in the rank sweat of an enseamed bed, stewed in corruption, honeying and making love over the nasty sty.
Shakespeare is a master of words, in that he is able to make a reader really think about what he is actually trying to say both as a whole (i.e. the entire play) and in the individual poetic dynamics of the play (i.e. metaphors, diction). He does so brilliantly in one of his most famous plays, Hamlet. The play itself is filled with complex internal dynamics, while at the same time the characters in Hamlet have several complex internal dynamics themselves as well. Throughout the play we are constantly on the edge of our seat, waiting and anticipating what or where Shakespeare is going to take us next. What struck me throughout the play was the relationship between Polonius and his daughter Ophelia. Through Hamlet, and thus through Polonius and Ophelia’s relationship and diction, Shakespeare is able to express to us the flawed ways in which relationship between father and daughter can be and consequently are acted out upon.
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
A consideration of the madness of the hero Hamlet within the Shakespearean drama of the same name, shows that his feigned madness sometimes borders on real madness, but probably only coincidentally.
Hamlet so far has been portrayed as passionate and earnest, but not necessarily mad. When he says to his mother, “Seems, Madam? I know not seems…” we are given the impression of a man who is who he is, without pretence or acting. We know little of Polonius so far except that he is a well meaning, good-natured, and for all appearances honourable servant of the king.
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.
Leverenz, David. 1980. 'The Woman in Hamlet: An Interpersonal View.' In Representing Shakespeare: New Psychoanalytic Essays, edited by Coppelia Kahn and Murray M. Schwarz. Baltimore and London: The Johns Hopkins Press, 110-128.
Ophelia’s obedience towards her untrusting father is indescribable ( I; iii; 101-103. "Affection? Pooh! You speak like a green girl, unsifted in such perilous circumstance. Do you believe his tenders, as you call them"?). Why a grown woman would listen to her father and not help the man of her dreams in his time of need is disheartening. A man’s girlfriend should be there for him when a family member passes away, no matter what. If she had been with him on the plan to kill Claudius and knew about his fathers ghost who told Hamlet that Claudius was the one that murdered him, than neither one of them would have went crazy.
... ideas that Hamlet is mad and that Hamlet is not mad. Readers and critics can agree that Hamlet is not a "man of action," but is instead a "man of reflection"-reflection that is concentrated on both himself and the world (Schucking 31).I believe it is Shakespeare's anger towards corruption and religion that makes Hamlet to fall into madness. “Finding a character in real life of a person endowed with so delicate as to border on weakness with sensibility too exquisite to allow of determined action “(Sylvia 13).While it’s difficult to point out the exact cause in Hamlet's life that lead to his insanity, one thing is for certain; he went mad, and the madness did to him what it does to everything that holds madness; it destroys whatever it touches. Insanity in The tragedy of Prince Hamlet over powered sanity which concludes that the entire play revolves around insanity
...She had lost her father and her lover while her brother was away for school, and she was no longer useful as a puppet in a greater scheme. Ophelia was displaced, an Elizabethan woman without the men on whom she had been taught to depend. Therein lies the problem - she lacked independence so much that she could not continue living without Polonius, Laertes, and Hamlet. Ophelia's aloneness led to her insanity and death. The form of her death was the only fitting end for her - she drowned in a nearby river, falling beneath the gentle waters. She finally found peace in her mad world. That is how Ophelia is so useful as a classic feminist study - she evokes imagery of the fragile beauty women are expected to become, but shows what happens to women when they submit as such.
...nation to her inevitable death corresponds to her limited (vacant) freedom of speech and license to develop her own convictions and individual identity and question authority. Secondly, Ophelia’s surrender to her imminent fate also echoes her unstable, manipulative, and emotional abusive relationship with Hamlet and the hierarchy in her dynamic, as she always obeys without hesitation. Regardless of how Ophelia’s death began, the result was a suicide, as the pure (graceful), serene, and beautiful imagery of her suicide implies that her death was a last effort to recover her dignity, rebel against her oppressors, and exert her free will. For Ophelia, a life of oppression and blind obedience drove her to a frailty of mind, and in her last moments, she chose death over dishonor to defeat the inner demons threatening to condemn her to an otherwise hopeless existence.
In the very first scene of the second act, Ophelia rushes to tell her father, Polonius, disturbing news:
Ophelia loves Hamlet; her emotions drive her to perform her actions. Some would say that Ophelia’s emotions could have actually been what ended her young
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.
In William Shakespeare’s The Tragedy of Hamlet, he portrays a young Ophelia, who battles with her desire to please her father and Hamlet, eventually driving her to her own demise. The way Ophelia is perceived by the other characters in the book is not how the reader perceives her. Her love for Hamlet is strong, and very apparent throughout the play. The other characters, however, view her in the opposite manner. Her own father, Polonius, labeled her as a whore, casting her aside as useless. Ophelia’s pain consumes her as she fails to please her family and the man she loves dearly.