Hamlet is considered to be the greatest play ever written.
Hamlet is considered to be the greatest play ever written. The themes of the tragedy are death, madness, murder and revenge. The protagonist, Hamlet, like all tragic heroes, dies due to a combination of circumstances.
The revenging son Hamlet is grieving his father's death. Hamlet, the Prince of Denmark, starts of as an admired and noble young man. However, fate and the turn of events lead the tragic hero to the depths of his fortunes. The tragedy starts with the death of the heroic King Hamlet. His brother, Claudius is the successor as King of Denmark and married the protagonist's mother. When a ghost of the late King Hamlet appears, Hamlet downfall begins. The ghost demands Hamlet to kill his uncle, Claudius, in order to avenge the late king's demise. Hamlet puts on an antic disposition to act insane so that he to will not be murdered. King Claudius senses something suspicious about Hamlet and sends for Hamlets two friends, Rozencrantz and Guildenstern to spy on his behalf. When a team of actors come to perform a play, Hamlet tells the players to perform a murder scene just like the one of his fathers. Meanwhile, the Claudius and Polonius force Ophelia, Hamlets recent ex-lover, to talk to Hamlet so that they can listen to what is said. When the conversation ends. In a soliloquy Claudius's suspicion of Hamlet grows and decides to send him to England (to be executed). When the play is performed, the King rises and the play breaks up. Hamlet goes to his mother's room. As the tension rises, Gertrude calls for help. When a voice, from behind the curtain, joins Gertrude's plea for help, Hamlet takes his sword out in rage and kills the man, thinking it was Claudius. To Hamlets utter surprise it turns out to be the prime minister, Polonius.
Hamlet tells his mother about the murder. Gertrude is shocked and promises that she knew nothing of it, she promises to be true to Hamlet and pulls away from Claudius. Whilst Hamlet leaves Denmark, Laertes returns to seek revenge for the murder of his father, only to learn that his sister, Ophelia has gone mad. Laertes and Claudius arrange to kill Hamlet, Gertrude interrupts with the poignant news that Ophelia has died. Hamlet has escaped from the ship to England and is faced with a fencing match with Laertes. Although he senses something shady, he agrees. The play ends with the death of the protagonist and other characters, leaving Horatio to tell the story and Young Fortinbras to be king in Denmark.
In Hamlet, Shakespeare has a theme of madness. Shakespeare's tragic hero, Hamlet and his sanity are still discussed. Many parts of the play support the loss of control in his actions, while other parts suggest the belief of an 'antic disposition.' Whether Hamlet is ever mad, ever pretending to be mad, or is considered mad by people at certain times is something which the audience argue long and hard. It is difficult to ponder the thought of whether all of Hamlet's insanity is an 'antic disposition.' The case would have been much more simple if Hamlet did not ...
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In Hamlet, Shakespeare has a theme of madness. Shakespeare's tragic hero, Hamlet and his sanity are still discussed. Many parts of the play support the loss of control in his actions, while other parts suggest the belief of an 'antic disposition.' Whether Hamlet is ever mad, ever pretending to be mad, or is considered mad by people at certain times is something which the audience argue long and hard. It is difficult to ponder the thought of whether all of Hamlet's insanity is an 'antic disposition.' The case would have been much more simple if Hamlet did not tell Laertes that he really is mad in Act 5, scene 2. In this essay, I am going to discuss the state of Hamlet's mind; whether he is putting on an 'antic disposition', or whether he is actually mad.
Hamlet in seen to be mad, but each definition of mad is altered.
He is mad of the fact that he cannot talk to his mother without somebody listening into the conversation.
Gertrude - "What wilt thou do? Thou wilt not murder me? Help, help, ho!"
Polonius (behind curtain) - "What ho! Help, help, help!"
Hamlet - "How now a rat? Dead for a ducat, dead"
At this point Hamlet is mad with anger. The prince Hamlet slays Polonius mistakenly, as he thought it was the king (Claudius) and could have avenged his father's death.
Ophelia is another person who the protagonist is mad towards; this madness is a one of love.
"I loved Ophelia; forty thousand brothers could not with all their quantity of love make up my sum".
This was at her funeral and shows how much he cared for her. He doesn't know how to show her because of his antic disposition as well as she is frail, in the sense that could tell Claudius. She is sent as a spy for Claudius and Polonius (so that they can discover whether Hamlet is mad or not)
Polonius - " I hear him coming. Let's withdraw my lord"
Hamlet knew about this and didn't give anything away. From this point he doesn't trust her and wont show his feelings towards her.
The 'mad Hamlet' doesn't care about the world and will only act mad with people he doesn't trust.
Hamlet could have been sane throughout the play. He is seen to be mad only with the people he doesn't trust.e.g. Polonius, Claudius, Ophelia, Rosencrantz, Guildenstern and Osric
After meeting the ghost he made Horatio and Marcellus promise not to tell anyone if he were acting strange.
" How strange or odd some'er I bear my self, to put an antic disposition on"
This was the only way that he would not be killed, at the time, if there were a mad person they wouldn't bother about them; they would just let them be.
The 'sane' Hamlet talks about his mother's injudicious marriage to Claudius, he feels that this is incest; in addition he always talks about her sex life
"Oh most wicked speed, to post, with such dexterity to incestuous sheets"
When the protagonist is himself, he cannot cope with the world so the madness is a second personality, were he can express any of his feelings. If Hamlet were himself throughout the play, the noble prince would have been killed earlier or committed suicide.
"O that this too too solid flesh would melt"
Here the valiant prince is pondering suicide.
Hamlet begins to wonder whether he has become insane but not only that so has his mother. She is really defensive of any criticism made of her son and argues with Claudius about her son's sanity, however, when Hamlet begins his conversation with the ghost she too begins to question his sanity.
"Alas, how is't with you,
That you do bend your eye on vacancy,
And wih th' incorporal air do hold discourse?
Forth at your eyes your spirits widly peep;
And, as the sleeping soldiers in th' alarm,
Your bedded hairs like life in excrements
Start and stand to an end. O gentle son,
Upon the heat and flame of thy distemper
Sprinkle cool patience! Whereon do you look?" (Act 3, scene 4)
Throughout the play, in his soliloquies Hamlet seems to be stable and talks about how he should act and what he can and can't do.
Hamlet does commit some unforgivable things during the play but I do not think at any he point he is insane. His flaw is that he is too much of a perfectionist and doesn't like doing things wrong. For the duration of the play Hamlet was his own biggest critic.
"Why, what an ass am I!"
He calls himself a coward for not being able to avenge the death of his father.
He is a procrastinator; he tries to delay the killing of Claudius for as long as possible.
Hamlet is unstable throughout the play, he has no control of his emotions as he confides to Horatio. When he believes that Ophelia is acting on behalf of Polonius he responds by denying that he ever loved her.
"You should have believed me, for virtue cannot so
Inoculate our old stock, but we shall relish of it. I loved
You not" (Act 3, Scene 1)
Later, at Ophelia's funeral the prince jumps into the grave with Laertes.
"I loved Ophelia, forty thousand brothers
Could not with all their quantity of love
Make up my sum." (Act 5, Scene 1)
Hamlets judgment about his mother changes many times. He once believed in his mother's goodness and purity but in time feels a great deal of resent towards his mother. He seems to have incestuous feelings about his mother.
"Nay, but to live
In the rank sweat of an enseamed bed,
Stew'd in corruption, honeying and making love
Over the nasty sty!" (Act 3, scene 4)
The protagonist always uses powerful language, using words such as 'corruption' and 'enseamed', he believes his mother is a whore. These mood swings may be a result of anger. The mood swings prove that Hamlet could not keep sufficient control of his emotions. Hamlet admires the one 'judicious person in the audience whose censure...must o'erwiegh a whole theatre of others' (Act 3, Scene 2). If to be honest is to be "one man picked out of ten thousand" (Act 2, Scene 2). His anger guides him to murder several people.
After the players have performed Hamlets play and he finds out that it was Claudius. Here is when Hamlet is more focused but still waiting for the perfect opportunity (perfectionist).
" Now a is a-praying"
He doesn't kill Claudius at this moment as the king is wiped of all sins and will go to heaven.
Horatio's obituary of Hamlet as 'a sweet prince', in many ways is correct. The tragic hero murders the villain, king Claudius and loses his own life in the pursuit of his aim.
Polonius (Act 2 Scene 2) - "Before you visit him, to make inquire of his behaviour".
Polonius (Act 2 Scene 2) - "Inquire me first what Danskers ar in Paris".
Polonius does not trust his own son and send Reynaldo to spy on him in Paris, where Laertes was studying.
Also the protagonists kills Laertes as he is no longer pure, he with Claudius plot the murder of Hamlet. Hamlets only victim was Ophelia, as she didn't do anything evil, having said that, she was used by her father to spy on Hamlet.
Horatio may call Hamlet a sweet prince, as he seen that Hamlet was trying to get rid of all the poison (evil) in Denmark.
Ophelia parallels Hamlet in the sense that she looses her sanity through losing the one she loves. Hamlet thinks he has lost his mother who is his real love, for Ophelia, she loses Hamlet, her real love. Ophelia is like the feminine mirror of Hamlet. Her unquestionable insanity puts Hamlet's very questionable madness in a more favourable light. In Act 4 Scene 5 she is quite obviously mad, unlike Hamlet there seems to be no method to her madness. All Ophelia can do after learning of her father's death is sing. Indeed, Hamlet's utter rejection of her combined with this is too much for her, and she doesn't sing a mourning song at the beginning of act 4 scene 5, but rather a happy love song. Ophelia's insanity against Hamlet's madness, there is instead a clear definitiveness in Ophelia's condition and a clear uncertainty in Hamlet's madness. Obviously, Hamlet's character offers more evidence, while Ophelia's breakdown is quick, but more conclusive. Shakespeare offers clear evidence pointing to Hamlet's sanity beginning with the first scene of the play. Ophelia's breakdown into madness and inability to deal with her father's death and Hamlet's rejection is dealt with neatly and punctually. There is little evidence against her madness, compared to Hamlet's intelligent plotting and use of witnesses to his actions.
The climax of the play makes it what it is renowned for. Hamlet couldn't be the successor to the throne and had to die, as the play is a tragedy. As well as the protagonist through out the play was a young noble prince until he committed the crime of killing Polonius, therefore not being pure anymore.
Tragic heroes have a flaw in their character and Hamlet was no different. Hamlet was too much of a perfectionist. This is a faultless ending is because it signifies the character of Fortinbras, a prince, comparable to Hamlet, trying to avenge the death of his father. Fortinbras succeeds in avenging the death of his father because he does not commit any sins in order to succeed.
In any part of this play I do not think that Hamlet ever turned insane, even though throughout the play he was 'mad' (different terms).