Madness in Prince

Is Hamlet insane? Literary scholars have debated that question for more than 400 years. Still People wonder. Throughout the play, there are questions of whether Hamlet is sane or not. His moods change abruptly throughout the play.

Hamlet is not crazy at all. He is very depressed because of his father's death. And especially because of his mother's hasty marriage to his Uncle Claudius, one month after his father's death. Hamlet is still in mourning. His mother should be also. He doesn't understand why she isn't in mourning. Upset by his mother's unfaithfulness to his father, Hamlet scorns his mother saying, "frailty, thy name is woman" (I.2.46).

A point I would like to make is in act I, we learn that his father's ghost has appeared to Horatio, Marcellus and Bernardo. These three people give credibility to the ghost's existence. If Hamlet was the only one who saw the ghost, then we could assume that he was mad. The three men witness the ghost before even notifying Hamlet. Horatio states "Before my God, I might not this believe Without the sensible and true avouch Of mine own eyes." (I.1.56-8) All three men are witnesses to the ghost demanding that Hamlet speak alone to it. And all three swear upon Hamlet's sword to keep it secret.

Besides being depressed, he is acting like a madman to conceal his motive, revenge for his father's murder. He gets the idea of his insanity plea from Horatio's warning when he meets with his father's spirit. "What if it tempts you toward the flood, my lord, Or to the dreadful summit of the cliff That beetles o'er his base into the sea, And there assume some other horrible form Which might deprive your sovereignty of reason, And draw you into madness?" (I.4.69-74) When he comes back from meeting with the spirit, he reveals to the three men that everything is wonderful and that they have nothing to worry about. Putting his plan into motion, he tells Horatio that if he's acting crazy to just ignore it and pretend that you're confused too.

"How strange or odd soe'er I bear myself, As I perchance hereafter shall think meet To put an antic disposition on, That you, at such times seeing me, never shall, With arms encumb'red thus, or this head shake, Or by pronouncing of some doubtful phrase, As "Well, well, we know," or "We could, and if we would," or "If we list to speak," or "There be, an if they might" Or such ambiguous giving out, to not That you know aught of me: this not to do." (II.1.170-179)

Another point I would like to make is although Hamlets behavior toward Ophelia is inconsistent, I truly believed he loved her. Hamlet barges into Ophelia's room and grabs her by the wrists, without saying a word, sighs and leaves. In my opinion, it's an act to divert suspicion away from Hamlet's true purpose of wanting to kill Claudius, his father's murderer. Ophelia's father, Polonius, believes that Ophelia's rejection of Hamlets desire has caused Hamlet to go insane. Then when Hamlet sees Ophelia at the play, he's hurt because she's rejected him, by giving him back his personal belongings and letters that he's written her. He tells her he's never loved her. He wants to hurt her back by talking nasty to her. "That's a fair thought to lie between maids' legs." (III.2.100) He has no use for women right now. He feels that women are fickle. Ophelia can turn her feelings off for him. His mother can love Claudius and marry him one month after Kings Hamlet's death. However, during Ophelia's funeral, Hamlet jumps into Ophelia's grave, and fights with Laertes. During the fight, Hamlet professes how much he loved her when he says "Forty thousand brothers could not, with all their quantity of love, make up my sum." (V.1.272-274).

Another way I can tell that Hamlet is acting, is his strange behavior toward Polonius. He is playing Polonius by telling him he's a fishmonger and acting like he doesn't know him, because Polonius is a weasel and would go back and tell the king. Hamlet might as well give Polonius something to talk about. Hamlets sets in motion his insane behavior.

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