Insanity In Shakespeare's Hamlet

Laertes also brings revenge and betrayal out of Hamlet. Though an enemy, Laertes is a foil to Hamlet. Laertes helps in the development of Hamlet through the similarities they share. These include anger over the death of their fathers, and desire to exact revenge. Betrayal is also relevant because Laertes betrays Claudius in the end, revealing his plan to kill Hamlet. Hamlet betrays his father by verbally abusing his mother, against the wishes of his father. The differences between the two men are very strong. Hamlet would not kill Claudius in the church because he was praying. Laertes, however stated that he would kill Hamlet in a church, praying or not. Another difference is that Hamlet cannot be a man of action and a man of thought at the same time. He does not use his mind when he acts. He just acts. When he is pondering something, he is unable to act out his thoughts, and keeps quiet. Laertes, however, is able to act while thinking. He finds out that Hamlet killed his father and immediately devises a plan to kill him. This flaw makes Hamlet dangerous to himself, and is ultimately his downfall.

Laertes is determined to get revenge on Hamlet now since the cause of his fathers death, by Hamlet. They plot to kill Hamlet in the final scene, Laertes, and Claudius are the ones plotting the revenge.

Hamlet is Shakespeare’s most famous work of tragedy. Throughout the play the title character, Hamlet, tends to seek revenge for his father’s death. Shakespeare achieved his work in Hamlet through his brilliant depiction of the hero’s struggle with two opposing forces that hunt Hamlet throughout the play: moral integrity and the need to avenge his father’s murder. When Hamlet sets his mind to revenge his fathers’ death, he is faced with many challenges that delay him from committing murder to his uncle Claudius, who killed Hamlets’ father, the former king. During this delay, he harms others with his actions by acting irrationally, threatening Gertrude, his mother, and by killing Polonius which led into the madness and death of Ophelia.

Laertes is mourning the loss of his sister, yet Hamlet immediately tries to turn the attention to himself as he claims he loved Ophelia more and would do anything to prove it. After Laertes and Hamlet have a physical fight in Ophelia’s grave, over her body, Hamlet begins attacking Laertes with words.

Along with Revenge comes Hamlet’s streak of Madness, He feigns madness almost like a tool at his disposal. Hamlet first uses the illusion of his madness as a way of proving Claudius’s guiltiness. His madness acts as an excuse so that he can get away with strange behavior, and he won’t be held accountable for his actions. He feigns madness for so long that his depression over his father’s death and his mother’s remarriage pushes him into a madness which is not faked but rather quite real. He goes as far as to consider suicide. “To be or not to be, that is the question: Whether ‘tis nobler in the mind to suffer the slings and

On the other hand, Laertes wants to revenge his father’s death. Therefore this mistake murder leads Hamlet to his downfall as Claudius and Laertes want to kill him.

Hamlet is a young man who has become crazy from his trials and tribulations in life. He lost his father due to his uncle murdering them and then had to watch his mother marry the killer. Hamlets insanity can be demonstrated by his crude language and disregard for the well being of his mother. It can also be shown by his depression, which causes him to second guess everything including his life and finally his love, Ophelia helps to justify his absurdness by acting as a mirror. His foolish behavior worries many in the kingdom and creates a hostile and paranoid environment for those around. While some in the castle may believe that Hamlet is putting on an act, he proves that he is mad through his violet actions, his mental health and Ophelia.

In Shakespeare's Hamlet, there is a constant theme of madness, which stems from unholy desires. The sinful desire of seeking revenge through killing another brought madness upon Hamlet. Ophelia’s unholy desire to be with Hamlet caused Ophelia to go mad. The madness seen in the characters of Hamlet is created from the overall unholy and sinful desires within the characters.

Laertes loses his family because of Hamlet’s actions. His father is killed by him and his sister kills herself because of her grief. Laertes and King Claudius begin to plot Hamlet’s murder, planning to poison him, by drink or wound, whichever comes first. However, the plan backfires on the both of them and Laertes dies from his own blade, but not before saying “The King, the King’s to blame.”

In Hamlet by William Shakespeare, many of the characters can be considered mad or crazy by the end of the play. King Claudius, Hamlet’s uncle, supposedly killed his brother to take over the throne and rule over Denmark himself, which is itself grounds for being insane. Hamlet’s mother, Gertrude, marries Claudius, also grounds for being insane. Though using madness as an excuse to get revenge for his father’s death and being surrounded by madness, Hamlet becomes insane over the course of the play and ends up hurting himself and his family. Hamlet plots to destroy his uncle’s reputation as king by exposing his role in the death of Hamlet’s father.

The concept of insanity is driven by absolute vengeance and the act to avenge a loved one throughout the play, therefore, causing several characters to act out. For example, Hamlet used Ophelia at times to express his certain feelings throughout the play. While Hamlet was essentially not mad, but mad in craft, Hamlet’s harsh and vicious words caused Ophelia's insanity. Not to mention, when Hamlet clearly displayed his insanity to his mother after the disastrous, truth telling play and killed Polonius accidently. As the play went on, Ophelia loses her father and essentially Hamlet. Laertes, loses his sister to insanity and his father to murder and is set on avenging his beloved family. Both Laertes and King Claudius act on terms of vengeance and decide to kill Hamlet for various reasons. Hamlet still has his own vengeful plans up his sleeve and the characters continue their own silent battle against each

Madness. Webster’s Ninth New Collegiate Dictionary assigns four aspects to madness, (1) insanity, (2) extreme folly , (3) rage, or (4) ecstasy and enthusiasm (“Folly”, “Madness”). The question being addressed here is if Hamlet’s appearance of madness helps him enact revenge on Claudius, and how madness has impacted Hamlet’s identity as a character. To answer this question, a more fundamental question must be answered: Is Hamlet mad, and if so, which of the four aspects of madness does he exemplify? The impact on Hamlet’s character is different depending on the definition of madness.

Hamlet’s thoughts slowly become increasingly incoherent as his ideas of revenge for his father and his love for his own mother (Gertrude) and lover (Ophelia) become unclear. After pushing the murder of Claudius away for the whole play Hamlet finally snaps and fights Claudius killing him and dying in the process. Hamlet’s tragic flaw prevails above his attempts to maintain his sanity and righteousness. When Hamlet finally gets to a point where he can kill him, Claudius is aware of Hamlet and plans with Laertes to poison the tip of a sword and a cup of wine to kill Hamlet. In the final scene while Hamlet successfully kills Claudius he himself also

“Don't waste your time on revenge those that hurt you, will eventually face their own karma.” in this quote it's explaining by saying that people should just stop the revenge and just move on with their lives and forget it. In Hamlet, Shakespeare uses revenge as a major theme present throughout the work. Revenge plays a crucial role in the development of Fortinbras, Prince of Norway, Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, and Laertes, son of Polonius,ophelia. These men were all searching for revenge for their fathers.

Polonius had suggested that talking to Gertrude, Hamlet might be able to tell her what is wrong with his behaviour and why he is acting that way. While Hamlet and Gertrude talk, Polonius eavesdrops on their conversation by listening from behind the curtain. Polonius screams for help, and Hamlet thinks that it is Claudius so he stabs the