Does Hamlet Really Go Insane?

There is a long break in which we don’t sense any insanity from Hamlet, this is due to the fact that he has no need to assume his disguise. When we find Hamlet with the players, he is giving them directions for the play. With the players, Hamlet acts normal and of sound mind because the players are not likely to betray him, they don’t have the opportunity or the wish to do so. Also, when Horatio comes into the room at this time, Hamlet is as good as

Often revered for their emotional complexities, William Shakespeare’s tragic characters display various signs of mental illness. Sylvia Morris notes “Hamlet contains Shakespeare’s most fully-developed study of mental illness, and has always intrigued commentators on the play.” (“Shakespeare’s Minds Diseased: Mental Illness and its Treatment”). When looking at the play, one can infer that Shakespeare makes the relationship between sanity and insanity undistinguishable from one another. At the beginning of the play, Hamlet is melancholic and in a state of grief, which is not out of the ordinary because he is still mourning the loss of his father. After all, Hamlet was home from college and was growing into a nobleman.

The story of Hamlet by William Shakespeare is a story of betrayal, revenge, and intrigue. Hamlet, the title character discovers that his uncle killed his father and married his mother effectively stealing the throne. Hamlet decides he must kill his uncle Claudius as revenge for what he had done. However, as the new king, Hamlet isn't sure how to get to him, so he decides to fake madness, but his plan backfires as Claudius doesn't trust him and makes sure he is always watched. In his fumbled plan for revenge, Hamlet accidentally kills Polonius, forces Polonius's son Laertes to seek revenge against him, and drives Ophelia crazy causing her to kill herself. Hamlet's insane behavior is a significant part of the story because it is supposedly part of his revenge plan, but also because of the additional problems, it creates. Some have argued that his madness was indeed an act, but rather real madness that he was trying to cover up by telling people

Everyone at some point in their life sets a goal that they wish to accomplish for some reason or another, and in William Shakespeare’s play, Hamlet, the goal of the main character is to avenge the death of his father who was killed by his uncle, Claudius. Furthermore, when achieving these goals, people are willing to go to the extreme to make sure that these goals are completed. In Shakespeare’s play the main character, Hamlet, falsely portrays himself as mentally unstable which adds a crafty element to the storyline because his false derangement allows him to undertake rash decisions without consequence to achieve his ultimate goal.

Throughout the play Hamlet continues to act insane and even dies with the act continuing. Even after Hamlet gathers all the evidence that proves Claudius is the murder, Hamlet continues to behave in a strange way. When he mistakenly murders Polonius he does

Crawford states that Shakespeare includes Hamlet’s fits of madness were deliberately used to make Claudius and his attendants confused and for them to think Hamlet’s mental health is deteriorating. Crawford analyzes, “The fact that he [Hamlet] has made it appear like real madness to many critics today only goes to show the wideness of his knowledge and the greatness of his dramatic skill” (Crawford. 1916. p 1.). Crawford states that Hamlet is merely acting insane and he is extremely clever for doing this. He says that because there is such a big debate over Hamlet’s sanity goes to show how clever Hamlet was in his approach to revenge. Crawford explains Hamlet was sane and was only pretending to insane to perplex

One of the most discussed topics of the Hamlet is whether Hamlet is insane or if he was just pretending the whole time. When the play first began Hamlet did not seem crazy but more depressed and suicidal after his father’s death, he did not begin to act crazy until learning about his father’s murder.”How strange or odd soe’er I bear myself, to put an antic disposition on...”, here Hamlet tells Horatio that he will start to act crazy but for them to just ignore it. After this when Hamlet only acts mad around thoses who he does not trust but when

Insanity is an idea that has been examined for a long time in numerous mediums such as films, music, plays, and even works of literature. William Shakespeare’s “Hamlet” is no exception to that rule. Hamlet is one of Shakespeare’s most complex characters, and many scholars have been debating for centuries whether or not Hamlet is truly insane, or whether there is a particular reason for his odd behavior. In Shakespeare’s Hamlet, Hamlet merely pretends to be mad but in reality is sane.

Hamlet is a very confusing character in the story Hamlet. In this story Hamlet is acting as an insane person towards typical people. This is very debatable because, Hamlet is a person who switches on and off being an insane or sane person. There is many evidence that proves that Hamlet is not actually an insane person. Hamlet is a sane person because of the actions he takes. He is an intelligent person. He is a person who thinks about his actions. Another idea is he thinks like a wise person. Even though there is evidence of him being sane there is some evidence that shows the reader that hamlet is actually insane.

Madness is often a symptom, and in the case of Hamlet this may be the reason behind his actions. The death of Hamlet’s father is the catalyst for Hamlet, causing him to see the ghost and ultimately become obsessed with the idea of revenge. A common theme for shakespeare is to explore a character’s mind and reasonings, and Hamlet’s character being mad was a perfect opportunity to continue this theme. Hamlet’s debatable madness, Ophelia being truly mad and the death of every character involved with Hamlet or his father is a prime example of tragedy, which Shakespeare is known for. While Hamlet’s madness is not certain, it is indisputable that the play Hamlet was built off of the idea of what is madness, and how does it affect one’s

In Shakespeare’s tragedy, Hamlet, there are a series of events that causes Hamlet to act abnormally. He has to deal with his father’s death, mother’s remarriage, and his lover Ophelia. However, it is often argued whether Hamlet’s madness is real or fake. Throughout the tragedy, he is over-exaggerating his madness for his plan of revenge. Hamlet is sane because he only acts mad in front of certain people, he told his friends of his plan of revenge, and the fact that many people continuously doubted his insanity.

In act five of the play Hamlet, Hamlet’s mental state is sane and becomes temporarily insane at the end of the act. Hamlet as he arrives at Ophelia’s grave begins to talk to Laertes telling him that he will “fight with him” over who loves Ophelia more (V.i.252). Hamlet is sane because he talks about how he is willing to fight Laertes over who loves her more saying that he will not back down until all his strength is depleted. As Hamlet and Laertes are pulled apart by Claudius, Hamlet shouts at Laertes how even “forty thousand brothers” with their love towards Ophelia would not be able to match Hamlet’s love for her (V.i.255). Hamlet is sane because he talks about how he had truly loved Ophelia and that his own love for her would be unmatched. Hamlet before his duel with Laertes begins to tell Laertes that at the time when he insulted Laertes and fought him it was due to his own mental illness which Hamlet proclaims was “madness” (V.ii.217-219). Hamlet 's mental state is sane because he tells Laertes that the reason for is actions back then was because he had become temporarily insane. Hamlet must be sane in order to identify whether he had gone insane because if someone was insane they would not care about the actions they had done. Hamlet’s actions are not those of sane person when he murders Claudius.When Hamlet realizes it was Claudius, who was at fault for his mother’s death, he becomes enraged and stabs him with the sword that had been poisoned at the tip. Hamlet

Hamlet, who is the main protagonist in the play, is easily one of the most complicated characters in the play. Everyone that reads the play debates if Hamlet is actually crazy or if it is actually a big giant act in front of people he does not really trust. Time moved too fast for Hamlet during the play only a little under two months after his father’s death his mother got remarried to his uncle and his uncle took over the kingdom. Shortly after the marriage and the coronation the late king’s ghost appears before Hamlet when he tells the guards he wants to see it. The ghost tells Hamlet of his murder and Hamlet declares that he will exact revenge for his father’s death.

Many works of art, especially literature, has a large focus on deception and how deception

William Shakespeare tells the tale of a troubled man in his masterpiece, Hamlet. Imagine your beloved father dying and your mother marrying his brother shortly after. You’re left to grieve on your own. Instead of consoling you, your mother and uncle have a wedding and begin to share the same bed. This is what Hamlet suffers through in the play. He is depressed and suicidal as indicated in his infamous quote, “To be, or not to be: that is the question.” (3.1.57). However, while many may choose to carry on after the death of a loved one, Hamlet chose to hold on to his sorrow and pretended to be mad so he can know the truth behind his father’s death. Hamlet’s tragic life is not the cause for his madness. Hamlet drives himself to the brink of insanity