Hamlet Theme Of Madness

Hamlet is a play centered around a main theme of madness. A huge question has gone unanswered for centuries: Is Hamlet mad? He says it is all just pretend, but his actions say otherwise. Although Hamlet denies it, he displays the characteristics of a mad man. The loss of a loved one can be devastating enough to push someone over the edge mentally. Hamlet displays this grieving case when he states, “My fate cries out / And makes each petty artery in this body / As hardy as the Nemean lion’s nerve / Still I am called — Unhand me, gentlemen” (Act 1, Scene 4). Hamlet proceeds to draw his sword and threatens to kill anyone who gets in his way of speaking with this spirit. Hamlet is upset about the death of his father and believes he has nothing to lose by going off to talking with the spirit that may or may not be his father. His state of grief is so severe that he longer values life and is willing to throw his away. This event and possible death wish tips off the probability that Hamlet is not completely stable in the mind.
In Hamlet’s case, Ophelia is one of the closets people to Hamlet, and she worries about his mental stability. She makes her thoughts known to Hamlet when he comes to visit her in a disheveled mess, stating “Pale as his shirt, his knees knocking each other / And with a look so piteous in purport / As if he had been loosed out of hell / To speak of horrors—he comes before me” (Act 2, Scene 1). Hamlet sudden, and disorderly, appearance has spooked Ophelia because he looks like an insane man wearing the face of her beloved. The man before her is not the same Hamlet he once new. The effects of his father death are taking toll on his mental state, allowing his “craziness” to creep to the surface. Someone close to Hamlet, such as Ophelia, has enough credibility to know when there is something “off” about him and establishes more evidence to the fact the Hamlet is