Horatio:“My Lord I came to see your Father’s funeral,”
Hamlet: “I prithee do not mock me, fellow student. I think it was to
see my Mother’s wedding.”
Horatio: “Indeed my Lord, it followed hard upon.”
Hamlet demonstrates his bitterness of how soon his Mother and Uncle married after his Father’s death. By accusing Horatio of returning for the wedding and not the funeral shows he does feel alone in his mourning, not only that but he is also aware that Claudius had murdered his Father.
Hamlet’s isolation in being the only one moral and loyal to his Father is likely to cause madness of some kind. For example his grief in mourning for his Father in itself makes people prone to madness, as we later see from Ophelia’s reaction to Polonius’ death. However Hamlet has also got to deal with the betrayal of his Mother for marrying his Uncle, and the huge betrayal of his Uncle who not only has murdered his Father but also then hastily took his position as King and husband to Gertrude.
Hamlet is also having to keep the treacherous secret of his Father’s death to himself while he attempts to plot revenge. Overall Hamlet whether genuinely mad or not certainly has enough to be so angry and confused about that madness would certainly be warranted.
This is supported by Gertrude’s admission to her Husband in Act two, scene two, (line 57), that Hamlet’s, ‘distemper’, is most likely the result of:
“His Father’s death,
and (their) o’er hasty marriage.”
Gertrude’s clear affection for Hamlet and genuine concern for him suggests she has nothing to do with the murder of the late King Hamlet and that the whole plot is Claudius’ doing alone.
There are points in the play where Shakespeare seems to imply that Hamlet’s madness is not genuine, for example in Act five, scene five, we see Shakespeare’s presentation of ‘pure madness’ through Ophelia, which is clearly different to Hamlet’s behaviour suggesting Hamlet’s ‘madness’ is false. When Claudius sees Ophelia behaving this way he says:
“Poor Ophelia,’
‘divided from herself and her fair judgement,
Without the which we are pictures or mere
Beasts’’
(Lines 86-87)
Here Claudius sees Ophelia’s madness and suggests her mind is separated from her judgement and her actions, certainly appearing a more genuine case of madness than Hamlet’s.
Similarly to Claudius’ description of madness Hamlet describes his own feelings when he describes his own madness to Laertes:
“If Hamlet from himself be ta’en away,
And when he’s not himself does wrong
Laertes,
Then Hamlet does it not. Hamlet denies it
Who does it then? His madness.”
However this confession to Laertes cannot be reliable even though it is similar to Claudius’ description of Ophelia’s behaviour. If Hamlet is genuinely mad then it is not likely he would be able to evaluate his madness in such a way, it is possible that he would be more likely to say this if he was “putting his ‘madness’ on”, as he would have to have some understanding of how madness can make people act to make his ‘false madness’ believable anyway.
In Act 2, Scene 4, Hamlet again implies he isn’t genuinely mad by demonstrating his sanity to his Mother:
“A bloody deed- almost as bad, good mother,
As kill a King and marry with his brother”
Shakespeare uses imagery to present the corruption of Gertrude’s and Claudius’ incestuous relationship:
“ In the rank of an enseaméd bed,
Stewed in corruption, honeying
And making love, over the nasty
Sty.”
Hamlet appears to be in complete control of what he says, offends his Mother and tells her what he thinks of her, again showing he is not afraid of defending his morals.
The powerful language he uses really creates the image of corruption and sin, the words he uses are all imagery of disease and filth, the word ‘rank’ gives an image of a really disgusting smell revolving around sin. ‘Stewed in corruption’,’ honeying’, ‘nasty’ and ‘sty’ all create images of real dishonesty, corrupting disease. A sty is an infection and the word ‘honeying’ almost creates an image of ‘infected puss’ oozing out of a wound.
In this scene Hamlet does seem mad with anger and jealousy perhaps a more accurate description of his behaviour.
However in Act 5, scene 1, the Queen knowing it’s not true pretends her son is truly mad,
“This is mere madness,”
(Line 280)
The Queen does this either to excuse what he did to Polonius or because she doesn’t want anyone to believe what Hamlet said about Claudius murdering her late husband, king Hamlet. Claudius also suggests Hamlet is mad in this scene:
“O, he is mad Laertes”
(Line 268)
Claudius does this to protect himself, he knows Hamlet is a threat to him and also uses Hamlet’s behaviour as a front by insisting it is true madness.
Hamlet’s situation in the play concerning family and love for Ophelia is obviously going to affect him, however the term madness has been questioned as too dramatic and perhaps a more accurate condition to describe Hamlet’s behaviour is melancholic behaviour. Melancholic behaviour is a condition causing emotional insanity accompanied by extreme depression. Many incidents and speeches of Hamlet are similar to melancholic behaviour:
King: “ Was not like madness. There’s something in his soul,
O’er which his melancholy sits on brood.”
(Act 3, Scene 1)
Although this term is not commonly used these days, in the past and still in Shakespeare’s period melancholic behaviour was a recognised condition.
Further support that melancholic behaviour was commonly termed in the 16th century comes from Timothy Bright’s: ‘Treatise of Melancholy’ (1586):
“ The perturbations of melancholy are for the most part sad and fearful…as distrust, doubt, diffidence or despair sometimes furious and sometimes merry in appearance, through a kind of sardonic and false laughter as the humour is disposed that procureth these diversions.”
Therefore not only would Shakespeare be familiar with this behaviour but the audience of the time would also identify it.
This condition could be identified by symptoms Hamlet shows for example, Hamlet with good reason displays suits of woe, he sighs and his:
‘dejected ‘haviour of the visage’
(Act 1, scene 2)
In particular after Hamlet has spoken to his father’s ghost he begins to feel paranoid, he even distrusts the ghost at first not only that but the purity of Ophelia and his own inability to act.
Other relevant symptoms include the fury towards his Mother because of her marriage and his sardonic joking with the players from ‘The Murder of Gonzago’ and Rosencrantz and Guildenstern.
The theory of melancholic behaviour is suggestible and rational especially as it was a recognised condition at the time the play was written, however, it doesn’t explain enough of Hamlet’s behaviour or the language, which is used to portray it.
In some parts of the play Hamlet talks to other characters and appears to be ‘mad’ when he is obviously not. For example in Act 2, scene 2 Hamlet seems to patronize Polonius by answering his questions in a way he is clearly in control of:
Polonius: “Do you know me my Lord?”
Hamlet: “Excellent well, you are a fishmonger,”
Hamlet obviously knows Polonius, but as Polonius has asked him this question as if he were mad Hamlet answers as if he were mad, but clearly just to humour him. This is supported by Hamlet’s statement as Polonius leaves the room:
“These tedious old fools”
(Line 219)
Hamlet also taunts Rosencrantz and Guildenstern and leads them astray by what they realise as, “Crafty madness”. To add to this the way in which Hamlet expresses his feelings to his Mother all suggest his behaviour and the way he talks to people isn’t madness but excuse to act how he feels and speak his mind in a court where no one speaks the truth.
This style of Hamlet’s is allusively presented in his language which also through his ‘madness’ is allowed to be more rich and creative rather than aristocratic like the other characters. Hamlet uses many proverbial sayings and puns in the play.
The authenticity of Hamlet’s madness is a mystery that cannot be solved, this is perhaps why the play is enjoyed by the audience so much, the huge sense of mystery and uncertainty surrounding Hamlet’s madness is a main attraction of the play. It is possible that Hamlet is suffering from madness of some sort as my essay suggests perhaps ‘melancholic behaviour’, or the anger and jealousy Hamlet feels is just too much for him to conceal. However it is also possible that Hamlet’s behaviour is ‘madness’ put on by himself, there is evidence to support this theory as everyone in the play who states that Hamlet is mad has like himself got reason to imply this.
Hamlet has stated that he would consider putting on an ‘antic disposition’ as a disguise to conceal his revenge plot against Claudius.
It is also a very significant point that the play of Hamlet is not a true story and consequently Hamlet is not a real character/personality in real life, therefore Shakespeare was able to present him and make him seem however, he wished to. It is possible and likely that Shakespeare intended to present Hamlet’s madness in this ambiguous way giving almost equal reason for Hamlet to be genuinely mad as there is for him to be ‘acting mad.’
