...Hamlet’s Insanity Nora Ephron, an America author, once said, “Insane people are always sure that they are fine. It is only the sane people who are willing to admit that they are crazy” (www.brainyquotes.com). William Shakespeare, the Prince of Denmark, writes an interesting play called Hamlet. People have taken sides on whether or not Hamlet, the main character, crazy or not. I believe that Hamlet acts on impulse about any of the consequences, which makes him insane. Murdering others, thinking about suicide and somehow seeing ghosts all bring up different conclusions about his sanity. Hamlet is in fact crazy throughout most of the play, lacking remorse in Polonius’s death, seeing his father’s ghost, while losing his own grip when Ophelia takes her own life. After Hamlet accidentally kills Polonius he feels absolutely no regret or remorse in one bit of his body. Polonius is planning to eavesdrop on the Queen’s and her son’s conversation hoping to figure out why Hamlet has been acting bizarre. Hamlet realizes someone is behind the arras, and the Queen thinks it’s Claudius and yells “how now! a rat?”(III.iv). Hamlet, by drawing his sword and powerfully stabbing it through the tapestry while hoping it is the King. Gertrude, the Queen, asks Hamlet what he has done. Hamlet replies by saying “Nay, I know not:/Is it the King?”(III.iv). Gertrude tells Hamlet Stone 2 that his insane act was “rash and bloody”. He tries switching the subject by bringing guilt...
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...In William Shakespeare’s Hamlet, the protagonist, Hamlet, leads an antic disposition that causes his downfall and leads him to insanity. The cause of his insanity was quickly developed at the beginning when the sudden death of his father, King Hamlet, was announced to him. The tragic Hamlet plotted to murder his father’s murderer, thus the act of madness was introduced. His antic disposition affects his judgment, destroys relationships and creates a belief that he is truly mad. Throughout the play, Hamlet is consumed with anger of his father’s death which causes him to act through emotion and without reason, thus affecting his judgement. Hamlet’s main goal is to avenge the death of his father. His actions to do so are hindered because of the irrational decisions he has made through the antic disposition he has put on that has finally led to his misguided judgement. Hamlet’s irrational decisions began after the death of his father. As any normal human being would be allowed to grieve, Hamlet was not, he was expected to accept the death of his father and move on. “Do not for ever with thy vailed lids, Seek for thy noble father in the dust. Thou know'st 'tis common. All that lives must die, passing through nature to eternity.” (Act 1, Scene 2. 69-74) These lines spoken by the Queen, Hamlet’s mother, are proof that Hamlet is obliged to accept his father’s death. With little time to grieve and a mother that seems to care less about her deceased husband, Hamlet’s mind was given the...
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...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 throughout the play seems insane but in reality it is only an act to achieve his goal of killing his father's murderer. Hamlet chooses to go mad so he has an advantage over his opponent and since he is the Prince of Denmark cert... ... middle of paper ... ...al individual's, if an individual was crazy they would not be thinking everything through and if someone were crazy they would definitely not have the capabilities of outsmarting someone, like how Hamlet outsmarted Claudius. All these reasons and much more are why Hamlet is not insane, he is as sane of an individual as any other, but unlike others he had to go through...
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...Hamlet is a young adult from the sixteen hundreds, he is going through a very tough time in his life. His father has been killed and is back as a ghost. His mother is now married to his uncle. Hamlet is known as the person who goes mad during this play. Everyone has turned against him, the only option he had to maybe save himself was to act mad. Hamlet proves he is not actually mad because he talks to other people perfectly normal. He puts on his act only when he needs to, which is around people that he can not trust. He is afraid they will tell the king the things he says that is why he acts mad. Hamlet despises the king, his uncle father. Hamlet once said, “But my uncle-father and aunt-mother are deceived.” Hamlet despises their relationship and wants it to end. Hamlet is the only one that can talk to the ghost of Old Hamlet. The ghost told Hamlet “I’m the ghost of your father, doomed for a certain period of time to walk the earth at night, while during the day I’m trapped in the fires of purgatory until I’ve done penance for my past sins.” Admitting it is Hamlets father Hamlet is talking to. He is the only one that can talk to the ghost because the ghost only wants to talk to him. Others explained by saying they could see him but could not talk to him, because he only wanted to talk to his son....
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...Ms. Masciantonio AP English Literature 23 February 2012 Hamlet Analysis Essay “It’s is sometimes an appropriate response to reality to go insane”. (Philip K Dick). Hamlet is always questioning himself about his father’s murder, his mother’s guilt and his life. His obsession causes his insanity. Hamlet is depressed, confused, and paranoid the traumatizing events on his life. Hamlet is depressed at his mother’s lustful behavior towards his uncle, so he’s taking his anger out on Ophelia. In doing so, Hamlet was saying mean things that made her feel bad about her especially when he told her “Get thee to a nunnery, why wouldst thou be a breeder of sinners? I am myself indifferent honest, but yet I could accuse me of such things that it were better my mother had not borne me,” (3.1. 123-126). Hamlet shows a strange way of loving Ophelia because one minute he loves her the next minute he’s rude to her. These actions prove his instability. Normal people do not love someone one minute and curse her the next because that is just unrealistic. Lidz said, “Perhaps he seeks to hide the meaning of his embittered and melancholic behavior under the guise of being depressed over Ophelia’s withdrawal of her affection, but it seems a cruel and deceitful way to treat his beloved” (Lidz, Theodore). Hamlet is depressed because of Ophelia’s withdrawal even though he is just being manipulative to her. Hamlet is confused and disorientated. He considers killing himself...
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...madness whether it is feigned or not to be presented in literary works. William Shakespeare and Euripides depict this theme in their works Hamlet and Medea. Medea and Hamlet have experienced familial hardships; as a result they believe that the only way to obtain what they desire is through manipulation. Indeed both characters have become masters at the art of deceiving. In both works the theme of madness can be discussed as we cannot be certain that these personas are truly lunatics. Madness can be here considered as a tool to achieve ones end. Indeed Medea and Hamlet feign insanity in order to achieve revenge over their disloyal family. Medea and Hamlet have been betrayed by their family, the first through the murder of his father by his uncle and the marriage of his mother to the same man and the second by her husband who has agreed to marry somebody else. Both are left alone dealing with these events. As madness may be described as “mental incapacity caused by an unmentionable injury”, it is with no surprise that Hamlet or Medea would fall in the hands of insanity. However their actions and words prove the opposite. We can thus suppose that they are both feigning madness to achieve revenge. Medea thinks about the consequences before taking action “what state would take me in? What friend would offer me his land as refuge”. Hamlet weighs also his options as he does not know whether he should defend his father’s honor or not, “Now might I do it pat, now he is praying;...
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...2012 Deceit in Hamlet Deceit is generally applied in politics and peoples everyday life to achieve power and success. The theme of deceit is generally repeated in William Shakespeare's Hamlet. Hamlets delay in killing Claudius, and Hamlets possible death is a straight-forward result of deceit in the court. Hamlet attempts to deceive everyone into believing that he is gone insane. He believes that he can kill Claudius without getting into any kind of trouble, and take revenge for his father's death. Claudius and Polonius decide to find the reason behind Hamlet's madness. They both make a plan to spy on Hamlet to see why he is acting the way he is. Through spying on Hamlet, Claudius figures out that he is dangerous, and a threat to him. Hamlets deceiving also directs to the death of Polonius and his daughter Ophelia. As well as generating Laertes to take revenge on Hamlet for producing the death of his family. After multiple attempts to murder Hamlet fail, Claudius and Laertes decide to team up. They both try to murder Hamlet and get rid of him once and for all. Each of these plans directly or indirectly leads to Hamlet's deceit and his death. Hamlets desire for revenge causes his insanity. Hamlet speaks to the ghost of his father, he figures out that Claudius murdered him to achieve that throne of Denmark. At this point, Hamlet is very frustrated and disappointed. Hamlet then makes a plan to get revenge by finishing Claudius. To complete this act, Hamlet must act inane...
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...story of Hamlet there are multiple villains and no heroes. Everybody has a fault that leads to something tragic or dramatic during the story the main villain in this story is Hamlet, Prince of Denmark. In Shakespeare’s play The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark the main character Hamlet goes through a series of very unfortunate events throughout his life, and mostly negative things come out of them. During the beginning of the play we find out that Hamlet loses his father the King of Denmark. This causes a great depression to Hamlet. Soon after Hamlet becomes even more upset due to the fact that he finds out that his uncle Claudius will be marrying his mother Gertrude and be the new King of Denmark. This causes Hamlet to go crazy, insane, and mad. Over the course of the play Hamlets madness continues to build due to everything that happens between the beginning and the end. At the end Hamlet has gone completely and incredibly mad. This madness ends up breaking out of him and spread throughout the ending scene of the play. The main reason for Hamlets madness is due to his father passing away and him having to deal with his uncle Claudius. He soon finds out that his uncle will be marrying his mother. These events only get him upset, sad, and gloomy. Later in the story one of his friends and the guards of Elsinore confront a mysterious creature wandering the castle. Hamlet ends up discovering that this creature is a ghost, and not just a ghost but the spirit tells Hamlet “I am...
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...In Shakespeare’s Hamlet, the main protagonist, prince Hamlet,loses his father to death at the hands of his uncle. When Hamlet becomes informed about the true nature behind his father’s death, he is faced with several consequential events. Despite his desire to avenge his father, Hamlet struggles internally with the potential consequences of killing his uncle. In Mccloskey’s criticism of Hamlet, “Hamlet Quest for Certainty” he says, “Now it is Hamlet who is in active danger and not the King…After slaying Polonius he hides the body”, but here lies a flaw in McCloskey’s argument. (McCloskey 449). Instead Hamlet’s fatal error is he is ahead of his time. While the Ghost tries to incite Hamlet to commit mindless murder in the name of vengeance,...
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...1. “The unwilling bride” I wanted to know why you still married me if you don’t love me, Gertrude. I never felt so much love until I got married to you. Your love to me is a lot different than King Hamlet. He was always busy with state affairs and fights and he never cares about me as much as you do. I wasn’t in love with you when I first got married to you, I have no other choices. What do you mean by “no other choices”? I know that once the King Hamlet is dead, I will lose everything. I will be lacking both strength and power. I won’t stay as a queen forever, because a woman is not allowed to take over a kingdom. I will be a useless woman when I am not the queen anymore. You aren’t doing this for yourself, are you? You were trying to protect Hamlet because he is your only son. You want him to take over the kingdom in the future. I know that’s your purpose, right? You will do everything that could keep you as a queen. Marrying a man that you don’t love, like me! Yes, I first married you because I wanted to protect Hamlet. I wanted him to take over this kingdom in the future; this was always his kingdom and never changed. I didn’t love you at the first place because I suspect you were the one who killed King Hamlet. This thought changed after the death of King Hamlet, you supported and sympathized me and gave me a solution to overcome the situation and grief. You loved me so much and you had been nice to me. A nice person like you won’t kill anybody. I...
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...Hamlet is traditionally considered the greatest and perhaps most closely related protagonist that William Shakespeare ever produced. When considering what elements of the play combined to drive Hamlet insane, it is noteworthy just how much of a creature he was of his own time. It is likely that five things about Modern day America would have driven Hamlet crazy, from the ever present paparazzi following his every move, to ghoulishness of the American funeral industry, the speed with which widows remarry in America and the need to resort to legal proceedings to settle what would have been considered during his time a blood debt. The first thing that would have driven Hamlet crazy is the extraordinary amount of press coverage he would face as...
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...In the play Hamlet, madness is very prevalent and is a major theme in the play. Madness is defined as mental delusion or eccentric behavior from it; and in this case Hamlet's madness changes his perception and affected his judgment. When people are mad, people start to react to things instead of thinking them through and do not act normally. Through Hamlet's apparent madness, Shakespeare illuminates the danger that Hamlet's flawed decisions made from poor judgment pose to other, especially those closest to him. Hamlet in the play makes flawed decisions because of his mental state. The madness contributes to his poor judgment. In act one scene five, Hamlet says “As I perchance hereafter shall think meet To put an antic disposition on” (1.5.28). This is Hamlet blatantly stating that he is going to pretend to act crazy. But the premise of it is a bit insane itself. He makes this decision from seeing the ghost of King Hamlet. It is strange that nobody except Hamlet has heard the ghost told. And even later in act three, scene four, Hamlet talks to the ghost in front of Gertrude, but Gertrude acts confused as if she never seen the ghost. The fact that Claudius killed his brother and married King Hamlet's wife upsets Hamlet and causes him to make these rash decision. Another example of his decision making is in act two scene two, where he makes fun of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern. Hamlet confronts Rosencrantz and Guildenstern about them spying on him for the king and queen. Although...
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...As one progresses through Shakespeare’s Hamlet, it becomes overly evident that Ophelia is the most deserving of readers’ sympathy because of the following reasons: as a women, she is weak and has no authority over her own affairs; she has no control over her madness and her death; she is never compensated for her father’s death or her lover’s betrayal. Shakespeare creates sympathy for Ophelia by introducing her to the audience as a women who is too naïve to understand the difference between love and lust and who has no control over her life as both her brother Leartes and her father Polonius dictate her to keep her distance from Hamlet who will only use her for sex and will not marry her (I.iii.5-136). Polonius also plans to “loose my daughter to him” (II.ii.154) to spy on Hamlet just like he is using his servant Reynaldo to spy on Leartes making it clear that Ophelia holds no more importance to Polonius as a daughter than as a servant. Shakespeare amplifies Ophelia’s weakness in Act IV by bringing to light Ophelia’s insanity caused by the grief of her father’s death. While Hamlet is duty bound as a Prince and “his will is not his own, / For he himself is subject to his birth. / He may not, as unvalued persons do, / Carve for himself” (1.iii.17-20), one cannot sympathize with him as he is still a prince, but the fact that being born as a girl robs Ophelia of her basic right to make her own life decisions, begs the audience to direct their sympathy towards Ophelia the most. As...
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...The Shakespeare Hamlet has become a character that is a unforgettable person and a fixated psycho maniac. The Shakespeare Hamlet has gone through many things that have changed him from normal person just liven life, to now a man that has gone insane and only wants death to one perso. The mental fight he has with himself during the story creates to him talking to himself making his thought the only thing he can truly talk to. Another effect that makes Hamlets these is when he loses the only person he truly cares for that is his mother. The determination that Hamlet character has for his plan of revenge shows that he is determine to take claudius to his grave. Which leads to him to become fixated on only murdering Claims and anyone who plans...
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...Patty Cake ____ ENG 4U0 July 17, 2011 Allusion | Literal meaning | How it develops theme | Sources | I would have such a fellow whipped for o’erdoing Termagant (III,ii,14) | In this quote, Hamlet says that he would have whipped whoever was playing the role in the play, if they overdid their part. A “termagant”, is a deity often worshipped by Muslims, who was described as violent, overbearing personage in long robes. (dictionary.com)Everything must go exactly to plan of his father’s murder reenactment, hence why Hamlet is being so strict towards the actors. | This quote really shows how mentally insane Hamlet is going. If he threatens to whip actors for doing their job and over exaggerating a little, then perhaps this develops the theme of “mental issues”, which Hamlet seems to be carrying, and they seem to be getting worse and worse according to the passage. Throughout the play, his mental condition seems to be worsening, or he is doing a better job at pretending, either way, he seems more insane than ever. | "t”termagant." Dictionary.com Unabridged. Random House, Inc. 17 Jul. 2014. <Dictionary.com http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/termagant>. | It out herods Herod (III,ii,14) | This allusion is from the bible, and specifically King Herod. King Herod was a ruthless king, who did anything and everything he could to get what he wanted, so this passage is alluding to, if the actor screws up, he would have out did King Herod, and that is not easy to achieve, as...
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