Was Hamlet Really Mad Research Paper

There is a distinct division of opinion among the other characters of the play about Hamlet's sanity and the split is along gender lines. Ophelia and Gertrude both state that Hamlet has gone mad, but the major male characters, on the other hand, like Polonius think that there is "method" in Hamlet's "madness," that his insanity is a surface mask to shield him as he plans the darker purpose of revenge. Since Hamlet is disturbed by the sudden death of his father and his mother's marriage to his uncle, King Claudius, the abnormality of his behavior to some extent is also understandable. Hamlet is naturally withdrawn, dark, and passive in the wake of those traumatic events. He also shows this when he constantly releases his anger with lines like "How (weary), stale, flat, and unprofitable seems to me all the uses of this world!" His self-exile and his self-reproach are essentially normal reactions to a series of events that he must avenge at his dead father's command but without further direction against a powerful chain of power within the guilty King.

Hamlet is understandably distraught. He may not be mad, but he likely is close to the edge of sanity during many of the most intense moments in the play” (Sparknotes).

Can you imagine acting like a whole different person? Throughout the play, the bizarre Hamlet claims to pretend to be insane. Many people believe that Hamlet is not acting psychotic but others believe that he is actually out of this world psychotic. There are many reasons that prove that Hamlet is going mad. Firstly, because he is acting crazy in front of many people, he may even be crazy. Also, it would be normal for him to go mad because of how his life is going. For instance, his world turned upside down the second his father died. Secondly, what he does makes him seem more like he is delirious. A time that made Hamlet seen more insane is when he was talking to Ophelia as if he didn't love her. Thirdly, Hamlet telling us his thoughts make

I disagree with Gertrude's statement that Hamlet is mad. I ask you what the definition of madness, the relatively permanent disorder of the mind, a state of mind characterized by the inability to distinguish right from wrong. Indeed Hamlet only acts mad in front of certain people such as his mother, Polonius, Ophelia, Claudius, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern who he knows are spying on him.

Hamlet is far too on top of things to be mad. Hamlet’s intellectual brilliance is first brought out in Act I, scene V when he plans on acting mad to confuse his enemies. Hamlet is also quick to figure out who his enemies and who are his real friends. “I know the good King and Queen have sent for you” (I.iv.37). Hamlet instantly knows that Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are not paying a social visit to Hamlet, but were in fact sent as spies for the former King of Denmark to find out the cause of his sudden madness. Hamlet immediately knows that he cannot trust his former school friends, and that he must take caution in what he says when is around the both of them. Rosencrantz and Guildenstern talk with Hamlet, but "with a crafty madness [Hamlet] keeps aloof" (I.iv.37), and they are unable to find the cause for his odd behavior. Hamlet’s true intellect is brought out in Act III, scene II when he plans on putting on a play. "If his occulted guilt do not itself unkennel in one speech, / it is a damned ghost that we have seen, and my /imaginations are as foul as Vulcan’s stithy" (III.ii.84). When Hamlet comes up with a brilliant plan to put on a play about someone killing a King, he determines whether or not Claudius is guilty of murder, or if the ghost is really his dead father or an evil spirit whose setting him up to kill an innocent man. Hamlet coming up with a successful plan to prove

Was Hamlet insane? Scholars have debated this question ever since Shakespeare presented this play to the public. Although I am not a scholar, I believe that there is enough evidence in the play to suggest Hamlet had been sane. He may have been depressed and angry however this was due to the treachery and betrayal contaminating Denmark. The insanity act had been an instrument to allow Hamlet the freedom to achieve his goal of revenge.

The play Hamlet by William Shakespeare can be interpreted in many different ways due to its ambiguous nature. This causes for conflicting arguments and theories to be held throughout the play. One argument is whether or not Prince Hamlet is overwhelmed with madness or he uses it as a persona in order to give others a false perception of him.

Are Hamlet’s actions justified? Hamlet was involved both directly, and indirectly with the deaths of Ophelia, Claudius Queen Gertrude, Polonius, Laertes, Rosencrantz, and Guildenstern.(McKeown, Retold by Adam., and Illustrated by Sally Wern Comport. The Young Reader's Shakespeare: Hamlet. Sterling Publishing Co., Inc, 2003.) As soon as Queen Gertrude remarried, Hamlet started scheming against Claudius and wasn’t thinking father’s murderer, Claudius, but he unjustly killed royalty and should be prosecuted as such no matter his social status/rank. (McKeown, Retold by Adam., and Illustrated by Sally Wern Comport. The Young Reader's Shakespeare: Hamlet. Sterling Publishing Co., Inc, 2003.)The protagonist of Hamlet is Prince Hamlet of Denmark, (despite that fact that he has murderous tendencies) son of the recently deceased King Hamlet, and nephew of King Claudius, his father’s brother and

While it is true that Hamlet was merely playing the role of someone who had gone mad, many people may say that Hamlet’s madness was brought upon himself simply by the fact that he was trying to fulfill the orders from his dead father yet couldn’t because of his lack of acting upon a plan. It is strongly possible that Hamlet became extremely frustrated because every chance he got to expose Claudius and capture him in this enormous secret, he failed to do so. Therefore, Hamlet’s madness could be judged as reasonable but most likely for different reasons than one may think. Rather than going mad over the concrete facts that his father died and his mother remarried his uncle less than two months afterwards, he drove himself mad over his own flaws. Hamlet’s tragic flaw absolutely led to his tragic downfall as a

There is however evidence that Hamlet is actually mad. For example, Hamlet sees the ghost of his father when others do not, but this could also be seen as evidence to prove that he is not mad because there are others who did see the ghost as well. By using examples such as this, Shakespeare makes it difficult for the reader to distinguish Hamlet's actually insanity and feign of insanity if there even is one or

After this scene Hamlet acts insane and he often criticizes his mother for remarrying and even insults her, but gets away with his actions because at this point those around him are starting to believe there is something wrong with Hamlet. Hamlet is not crazy but if he were truly crazy then he would not internally realize that he is mad, a crazy person usually doesn't realize they are going crazy, but it is others who realize because of his or her actions. In Hamlet's case, Hamlet knows he is "crazy" and his acting is beneficial for him because he is able to talk freely without having to hold anything back. If Hamlet were truly insane it would have caused him his own death, because usually when an individual is insane they are unaware of what they are saying and their actions are usually always made hastily, a quality that Hamlet does not seem to have.

In Hamlet, he seems to be mad, but there is a question that everyone asks when reading or watching this play “was it, or was it not true that Hamlet was faking his insanity, really suffering, or maybe even both.” First, this is what insanity is: insanity is acting crazy, but not knowing that they’re acting crazy. Also, it’s going through a lot of stress at the same time causing you to act stranger then a normal person. Hamlet was not totally insane. It doesn’t fit.

Throughout Shakespeare’s play Hamlet, we questioned Hamlet’s sanity. Did Hamlet have a mental illness or was it all an act? Was he really that great of an actor or was he really losing his mind slowly? Did Hamlet father’s death caused his insanity or was it his motivation? One part of the play, you would think he is not insane, and has out smarted everyone. Then in others scenes, you would think he had completely lost it. He often toyed with the idea of killing himself, and plays with the idea of killing others. It seem as he is swinging both ways. Some parts of the play, Hamlet seem as an unstable human people who feel as he no longer wants to live anymore. On other parts Hamlet seems like he is a sneaky manipulative intelligent person who is play with the minds of others for entertainment.

In conclusion, Hamlet is not mad; everything he does has a purpose. He is out to avenge his father’s murder. He proves this by telling Horatio that he is going to fake madness, and admitting to his mother that he is not crazy. He also only acts mad in front of Polonius, Claudius, Gertrude, Ophelia, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern. When Hamlet is with a trusted friend he is rational and symptom free, however when someone he wants to

The antic disposition scene is often used to argue that Hamlet was not mad. Researchers like Rahman and Abbad study communication in literature. In their paper, the state that Hamlet was flouting the maxim when he said that he was going to put on an antic disposition. They state that Hamlet is basically saying that he is going to fake his madness though he is doing so indirectly (Rahman & Abbas, 55). However, it may be possible that Hamlet was not mad in this scene or his madness may not have been as intense. Tenney suggests that Hamlet’s madness may not have been as intense in the beginning of the play, but it intensified as the play progressed (Tenney, 632). It becomes clearer that Hamlet is truly mad as the play progresses because his madness begins to affect some of his most valuable relationships.