Hamlet- Sane or Insane??? 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. After talking with the ghost, Hamlet, comes back to Horatio and Marcellus and tries to explain to them never to let anyone know what has happened. Both are very scared but agree to the prince’s, but both are still looking to find out what happened between the ghost and him. Further on in the evening Hamlet takes Horatio to the side and explains to him that no matter how odd he acted that Horatio say nothing. (And therefore as a stranger-you most need help you Act1 sc5 line 187-202) He basically explained to Horatio that he was going to be acting much differently than normal, and he told him not to ask questions. This here proves he knew what he was going to have to do. It shows that he was willing to get his revenge by any way possible. The second point showing his sanity is the fact that he was able to match wits with the other characters in the play. If he was an insane person why would he plan a way to let Claudius know that he knows about the death of his father. Most insane people don’t have the mind for that type of thing, but he was able to do it. He was able to let Claudius know without saying a word. He had the players act it out for him and what a job they did to let him know. He even knows when his good friends, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, show up that they are they to spy and find information about him to give to the king. (Act2 sc2 Line293-298). If he was insane why would he recognize the fact that his friends are turning on him.
Horatio is the most trustworthy man in the royal court, which is highly significant because he is a witness of everything that happens with Hamlet, and therefore can be trusted to tell the entirely true story of what brought about the demise of Hamlet and the entire royal court, seeing as though they were all massacred in one day. He is introduced early in the play in Act I, Scene i, and is one of the first to see the spirit of the fallen King Hamlet. Alas, he knows that there was, in fact, a ghost of the king haunting Denmark, and that Hamlet spoke with him. After Hamlet speaks with the ghost he literally tells Horatio, verbatim, "Here, as before, never, so help you mercy, how strange or odd some'er I bear myself (As i perchance hereafter shall think meet to put an antic disposition on." (I. ii. 189-192). So, ahead of time Hamlet warns Horatio that he is going to be putting on a show of madness but it is not real. This is noteworthy because as the play develops, other characters perceive Hamlet to become progressively more deranged, however he is always perfectly coherent and rational when speaking to Horatio, seeing as though he is the only one who knows of Hamlet's act and stability.
The question of Hamlet’s insanity is a question raised by many people, is Hamlet a great actor, or has he lost complete sense of what’s real? There is no right answer, there is no wrong answer, many readers have different perceptions on what really was going through Hamlet’s head. My perception is that hamlet comes full circle with his insanity, and at points lets it get the best of him, and brings him down to a extremely low point.
Is Hamlet sane or insane that is the question. There are many sections in the play which show portray him as being insane but there are such as the when he hears of his fathers death. On the other hand Shakespeare illustrates Hamlet as a sane person when ever he is with a non guilty party. Hamlet is clearly sane though because he acknowledges that he is putting on an act whenever he is acting crazy.
In William Shakespeare’s Hamlet, the title character is insane. He kills a person, sends two more to their doom, plans another’s death, and is both suddenly active and haltingly inactive at various points in Shakespeare’s play. Yes, in certain circumstances all of these may be enacted by a person of sane character, but any examination of the play will show that Hamlet is not a sane character.
...ever be truly known if it was an act or not, one can surmise from the information given that Hamlet never truly went insane and he remained clever throughout the entire story. Only certain people ever say a side of insanity in him, and those who witnessed it were his enemies. Whether it was to frighten them, make them believe his actions were not his own, hide his true intentions and plans, or something else is never disclosed, but one can assume that he was in his right mind the entire time. His fake insanity leads not only to his own and his enemies’ deaths, but also the deaths of those few remaining people that he truly loves and cares about. Horatio is the only survivor and Hamlet tells him to continue living so that Horatio can tell the true story of what happened without the bias of thinking Hamlet’s actions were nothing more than the insane acts of a madman.
William Shakespeare’s play of Hamlet is a well know play in English Literature. That is still performed today. The main character, Hamlet is the Prince of Denmark, a tragic hero who loses his mind. Many people question his sanity due to the lack of remorse for those that he has killed. Therefore the only logical explanation is that he is truly insane.
In Shakespeare’s play Hamlet, an obvious subject to discuss would be that of Hamlet’s sanity. To some people Hamlet just seems mad or angry, but others would argue that he is truly mad, as in insane. At first, Hamlet wants people to get the impression that he has gone into madness so they won’t suspect his plan of revenge. The question is, does he place himself too close to madness and not realize that he truly becomes mad, or is he so smart and is able to control himself enough to allow his acting mad be just a disguise in order to execute his plan of revenge? Throughout the play Hamlet’s character becomes blurred and is a huge question mark asking is he mad or is he mad? In Shakespeare’s play Hamlet, madness is a key element to the story.
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.
Some people refer to Hamlet as the “melancholy Dane” whose emotions seem to run his life. However, others argue that Hamlet is completely sane and makes a direct plan to kill the King. Hamlet acts insane throughout the play and deceives many people along the way, including his own mother. He proves his sanity through several of his actions and that he planned to kill the King and avenge his father’s death in the play Hamlet.
Throughout the Shakespearian play, Hamlet, the main character is given the overwhelming responsibility of avenging his father’s "foul and most unnatural murder" (I.iv.36). Such a burden can slowly drive a man off the deep end psychologically. Because of this, Hamlet’s disposition is extremely inconsistent and erratic throughout the play. At times he shows signs of uncontrollable insanity. Whenever he interacts with the characters he is wild, crazy, and plays a fool. At other times, he exemplifies intelligence and method in his madness. In instances when he is alone or with Horatio, he is civilized and sane. Hamlet goes through different stages of insanity throughout the story, but his neurotic and skeptical personality amplifies his persona of seeming insane to the other characters. Hamlet comes up with the idea to fake madness in the beginning of the play in order to confuse his enemies. However, for Hamlet to fulfill his duty of getting revenge, he must be totally sane. Hamlet’s intellectual brilliance make it seem too impossible for him to actually be mad, for to be insane means that one is irrational and without any sense. When one is irrational, one is not governed by or according to reason. So, Hamlet is only acting mad in order to plan his revenge on Claudius.
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.
Hamlet still maintains his sanity thus far, however he does a very good job at convincing everyone that he is crazy. He still thinks sensibly and if he were really crazy he would make rash decisions and not think things through. He had the chance to kill Claudius at the end of act 3 scene 3, yet he didn’t. He says “Now I could do it easily, now he’s at prayer. And now I’ll do it. And then he would go to heaven. So much for my revenge!” (III.iii.76-79). He’s thinking rationally by not killing the king while he is praying because that would send him to heaven, instead he plans to kill him at a later date while he is not doing something in the name of God. He also had the mental stability to plan the play in such a way that he would be able
During parts of the play one can argue, Hamlet is no longer feigning madness and has already crossed onto the side of insanity. For instance, during his meeting with his mother in her bedchamber, he begins to yell at her, scaring her in the process causing her to believe her own son is about to kill her (III, iv, 22). In that same scene he stabs and kills Polonius without the slightest hesitation (III, iv, 24-26), and then he essentially mocks Claudius and plays games with him when asked where he has taken the body. However, one can also conclude his erratic behavior only surfaces in the presence of these specific characters. When in the presence of other characters, specifically Horatio he is sane, calm, rational, and in complete control of his behavior. His word exchanges with Horatio are not from a madman, but rather
Hamlet is one of Shakespeare’s most analyzed plays. The Danish prince is developed into a mysterious and fascinating man. A philosopher and a fencer, he is a man disgusted with the rottenness of life around him and is obligated to set things right. Under the guise of madness he attempts to achieve his ends; yet there is much to puzzle over. Was Hamlet really such a good actor that he could fool everyone into believing in his madness or was he truly mad? And, why did he wait so long to carry out his revenge? Hamlet thinks too much and this drove him to an insanity that was not feigned.
In one of William Shakespeare's tragedy plays, Hamlet, the main character Hamlet, the prince of Denmark, was seen and described as both as a sane prince and an insane madman. For example, one of Hamlet’s soliloquy that he recites to himself, “To be or not to be, that is the question:” (3.1.57). This is an example, where Hamlet takes a moment and thinks aloud and questions if he is noble kind or has he gone mad and lost touch in reality. This then creates the question, is Hamlet just going through an emotional state which causes him to pretend to be mad, or is he, in fact mad? To exemplify, according to Merriam- Webster, the definition of madness is being in, “a state of severe mental illness,” and “behaving or thinking that is very foolish or dangerous.” Therefore by definition Hamlet cannot be considered mad or insane.