Is Hamlet Playacting Insanity In Hamlet

While Macbeth plainly states in asides and dialogue with his wife that he is planning to mislead other characters, Hamlet does not openly speak of his tricks. One of the most intriguing and puzzling parts of the play is Hamlet’s antic disposition that he speaks of in the first act: “As I perchance hereafter shall think meet/ To put an antic disposition on” (I, v, 171-72). Even by the end of Hamlet, a lot is left unclear. While the topic of Hamlet’s antic disposition has arrived at somewhat of a general consensus, certain details regarding his “madness” are fuzzy to say the least. Many things, such as the legitimacy of the ghost of Hamlet’s father and his message for Hamlet, Gertrude’s knowledge of Claudius’s actions, and Hamlet’s hesitancy to avenge his father’s murder remain topics for debate.

William Shakespeare writes Twelfth Night a play known for its numerous humorous parts, satire, love, uncertainty and foolishness lurk the pages, creating a comedic value. The sub plot present in this piece opposes the traits listed above. Malvolio, the character that makes up Shakespeare’s sub plot, is known for his pompous personality. A series of events in Malvolio’s life, relating to women’s and acquaintances, lead those around him to plan a number of tricks to fool him. The debate surrounding Malvolio’s role in the comedy, has been up for debate for quite some time.

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. A select few scholars believe that Hamlet is not pretending to be mad, but in reality is insane.

Even as he dies, there is so much we cannot understand about his personality. We admire Hamlet because he is an enigma. Humans are attracted to mystery and Hamlet is the ultimate puzzle. Was he ever in love with Ophelia? Did he truly believe the Ghost 's words in Act 1?

An overwhelming amount of evidence shows that Hamlet faked his insanity to confuse the king and his accomplices. 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.

Hamlet Hamlet is a tragedy play written by William Shakespeare. It is a play that involves numerous deaths. Hamlet is the main character in the play and he is depicted as an insane person. Hamlet faked his madness so as to confuse Claudius and his assistants in order to find the truth about the death of his father. He acted strange when he was around the king and his attendants and this is evident when he tells his friend Guildenstem that "his uncle-father and aunt-mother are deceived" (Shakespeare).

Madness is described as the state of being mentally ill or in the state of frenzied, chaotic activity, and is also when one cannot be trusted which, is shown multiple times throughout the play. While Hamlet and Ophelia both display madness, Hamlet uses his madness in order to find the truth whereas Ophelia is a victim of the madness happening in her life. The kingdom of Elsinore, where Hamlet and his family lives, is a good example of Shakespeare demonstrating how madness affects all characters. Elsinore, is filled with untrustworthy characters such as King Claudius and Polonius. Polonius is considered untrustworthy in the play because he sends people to go spy on his son, Laertes.

Although Hamlet appears to be the epitome of an anti-existentialist from the outset of the story, Hamlet 's logic slowly begins to unravel scene by scene, like a blood-soaked bandage, with layer after layer revealing snippets of Hamlet 's emotion and feeling. When Hamlet utters the famous lines " To be, or not to be: that is the question: / Whether ’tis nobler in the mind to suffer / The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune / Or to take arms against a sea of troubles " he is contemplating the thought of suicide and wishing that God had not made suicide a sin (III.i.58-61). Hamlet 's anxiety, uncertainty, and tensions cause him to doubt the power of reason alone to solve his problems. Hamlet begins to realize that reason is impotent to deal with the depths of human life—one of the central assertions of existentialism (Bigelow, paragraph 6). Perhaps this is why Hamlet feigns madness; he realizes that he lacks the emotions to avenge his father 's death.

It is obvious, and reasonable, that these occurrences would drive Hamlet to insanity. This madness can be further supported by Hamlet’s actions throughout the play. He is known to have “contradictory moods and warring passions (Poison, Play, and Duel).” His soliloquies constantly challenge each other. For example, in his famous soliloquy “To Be Or Not To Be,” Hamlet

Although, the effect of those memories may not be to the same extreme extent as on Hamlet, purpose relies strongly on memory. In the play, Hamlet stated, “Purpose is but a slave to memory” (3.2.176). Memory drives action, which is seen in the play how the memory of Hamlet’s father and, addition to the lack of memory of the other characters, guide Hamlet’s journey into madness. Not only does the word slave enforce the idea of being under the domain of something (OED), but it also indicates a lack of control. And this may relate to why Hamlet professed his madness as the sperate entity, because he lacks the control over it.