How Is Hamlet Insane
Hamlet’s Hoax In the commonly known children’s story, “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland,” by Lewis Carroll, Alice dreams herself into a world that makes no sense. A world where up means down, big is small, left is right, and sane is insane. Wonderland in Alice’s eyes appeared absurd and Alice to those in Wonderland, seemed bizarre. Upon meeting Alice, the Mad Hatter told her, “You’re entirely bonkers, but I’ll tell you a secret. All the best people are.” The Mad Hatter is alluding to the fact that insanity is defined by a society as acting and thinking different than everyone else. Everyone is a little crazy in their own way, but that doesn’t make them mentally ill. Just as Alice was considered mad to those in Wonderland, Prince …show more content…
He exclaims to Polonius, “Nor what he spake, though it lacked form a little, / Was not like madness. There’s something in his soul / O’er which his melancholy sits on brood” (3. 1. 177-179). Claudius implies that he thinks Hamlet is ‘brooding’ something behind this madness and is not falling for it. Claudius’s suspicions are confirmed by Hamlet’s rash behavior during the play. Instead of letting the actors say their lines while Horatio watched the King’s expression, Hamlet decides to commentate the play. He says, “ O, but she’ll keep her word,” and, “He poisons him i’th’ garden for his estate.” (3. 2. 255, 287). Hamlet gives himself away with these comments, because he is directly speaking out about Claudius’s crime and his mother’s unfaithfulness. These comments not only affirm Claudius’s previous suspicion of Hamlet’s motives, but cause Claudius to form a hoax of his own to get rid of Hamlet and his ‘madness’ for good. Claudius decides to send his nephew to England because he recognizes that Hamlet isn’t mentally crazy just revenge crazy.
Hamlet’s madness throughout the play was created by his intellectual and able mind as a ploy to ultimately get him something he wanted, revenge. His craziness was not real, just as Alice’s assumed craziness in Wonderland was not real. As the Cheshire cat says, “We’re all mad here,” we’re all a little crazy. All the characters in Hamlet are a little crazy and Hamlet’s intentional craziness is mistaken for real insanity when actually he is just as sane as everyone
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741 Words | 3 PagesClaudius is then compared to the internal organs of slaves and a man without morals, remorse or kindness (Ham.2.2.607-608). The powerful metaphors and adjectives used to describe Claudius not only express Hamlet’s intense contempt and disdain towards him, but also serve to convince Hamlet to commit murder. However, Hamlet depicts himself as a whore, a prostitute, and a swearing kitchen maid (Ham.2.2.614-616), reiterating the notion that he is worthless, as well as weak for expressing his emotions through words rather than actions. The shift from metaphors to similes indicate Hamlet’s failure to move past his cowardice and proceed with an act of revenge that would inflict
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Hamlet Insanity In Hamlet
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679 Words | 3 PagesFirst of all, King Claudius’s ambition to become the next King of Denmark causes him to lose his conscience. As King Hamlet’s ghost reveals the truth of his death, he anguishes, “Thus was I [King Hamlet], sleeping, by a brother’s hand, Of life, of crown, of queen at once dispatched” (1.5.81-82). The throne of Denmark motivates King Claudius to slay his own biological brother to succeed King Hamlet’s “crown”. His desire to gain power has overwhelming covered up his moral values.
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