Madness And Suicide In Hamlet Research Paper
Brown 1
Morgan Brown
Coach Simmons
Pre-AP British Literature
May 9, 2012
Shakespeare’s Hamlet Research into Madness, and Suicide
In Shakespeare’s play, Hamlet, Hamlet is said to be “mad.” Because his father, King Hamlet, was killed be Claudius, he spiraled down into a state of heartbreak and grief, which caused him to become mad. Many people debate over whether Hamlet faked his madness, or it was real.
“Hamlet is of the faction that is wronged; His madness is poor Hamlet’s enemy.”/ Laertes
5.2.252. This quote is saying that Hamlet’s madness is his downfall and struggle in life. “How strange or odd soe 'er I bear myself, as I perchance hereafter shall think meet to put an antic disposition on.”/Hamlet (1.5.58). …show more content…
In this quote hamlet is telling his friends he’s going to “put an antic disposition on.” Antic means clownish.
This quote is the quote that makes people wonder is he really is mad. If he says he was going to put a clownish disposition, then that would mean he was pretending he was insane.
Whether Hamlet is faking his madness or not, he becomes so obsessed with revenge, that in a way he really does become insane with the obsession of seeking revenge on King Claudius .This obsession, or insanity makes him become emotionally unstable. He becomes unpredictable in his actions, and words. “He knew me not at first; he said I was a fishmonger: he is far gone, far gone: and truly in my youth I suffered much extremity for love; very near this.”/Polonius (2.2.8). In this quote, Polonius is saying how Hamlet did not even recognize him at first, and he thought that
Polonius was someone else.
Some people think that Hamlet imagined the Ghost of his farther, King Hamlet. This would support the idea that Hamlet is insane. Although a couple other characters reported seeing the …show more content…
ghost,
Hamlet is the only one to ever have any dialogue, and he was the only one able to see and hear the ghost when he visited Queen Gertrude and him in her chambers. Hamlets madness fuels thoughts of suicide. From the very beginning, to the very end of the play, Hamlet has had a strange fascination for death He is extremely depressed and grieves over his father’s death. “How weary, stale, flat, and un formidable seem to me all the uses of this world.”/Hamlet 133-7. Hamlet is expressing how it seems to him that there is no purpose for the world.
Hamlet often contemplates his own suicide. The most famous quote in all of theatrical and
Shakespearian history is Hamlet contemplating his death. “To be, or not to be, that is the question:
Whether 'tis Nobler in the mind to suffer The Slings and Arrows of outrageous Fortune, or to take Arms against a Sea of troubles, And by opposing end them: to die, to sleep No more; and by a sleep, to say we end The heart-ache, and the thousand Natural shocks That Flesh is heir to? 'Tis a consummation
Devoutly to be wished. To die to sleep, To sleep, perchance to Dream; Ay, there 's the rub, For in that sleep of death, what dreams may come, When we have shuffled off this mortal coil, Must give us pause.” /Hamlet Act 3, scene 1. This famous quote is Hamlet contemplating his own suicide. He is questioning whether it is better for to suffer through life, and bear all the weight, or better just to end his own life, and end the suffering. In the same way, as Hamlet, Ophelia is grief stricken. Her father, Polonius, was murdered while spying on Hamlet and the Queen’s conversation.
Hamlet thought it was King Claudius who was spying on them, and he attacked the man, and stabbed him to death. After her father dies, Ophelia falls prey to insanity, and becomes mentally unstable. When she speaks she does not make sense. In one scene she hallucinates and thinks that she is in a field of flowers. She is actually inside the castle as she pretends to pick flowers from the meadow. "There 's rosemary, that 's for remembrance; pray, love, remember: and there is pansies. that 's for thoughts. There 's fennel for you, and columbines: there 's rue for you; and here 's some for me: we may call it herb-grace o ' Sundays: O you must wear your rue with a difference. There 's a daisy: I would give you some violets, but they withered all when my father died: they say he made a good end.”/Ophelia Act 4 Scene 5. The grief became too much for poor Ophelia to bear. She committed suicide by drowning herself in a pond. Because committing suicide was considered a sin, Ophelia did not receive a proper burial. She was buried at night out of eyes and ears of the public. The play, Hamlet, is the most popular play and story write of all time, and arguably the
most popular play by the world renowned, William Shakespeare.
Work Cited
Shmoop Editorial Team. "Hamlet Theme of Madness" Shmoop.com. Shmoop University, Inc., 11 Nov. 2008. Web. 9 May 2012. http://www.shmoop.com/hamlet/madness-quotes.html
Shmoop Editorial Team. "Hamlet Madness Quotes Page 2" Shmoop.com. Shmoop University, Inc., 11 Nov. 2008. Web. 9 May 2012. < http://www.shmoop.com/hamlet/madness-quotes-2.html>
Shmoop Editorial Team. "Hamlet in Hamlet" Shmoop.com. Shmoop University, Inc., 11 Nov. 2008. Web. 9 May 2012. < http://www.shmoop.com/hamlet/hamlet-character.html>
Shmoop Editorial Team. "Ophelia in Hamlet" Shmoop.com. Shmoop University, Inc., 11 Nov. 2008. Web. 9 May 2012. < http://www.shmoop.com/hamlet/ophelia.html>
Shakespeare, William. Hamlet. 1603.
Morgan Brown
Coach Simmons
Pre-AP British Literature
May 9, 2012
Shakespeare’s Hamlet Research into Madness, and Suicide
In Shakespeare’s play, Hamlet, Hamlet is said to be “mad.” Because his father, King Hamlet, was killed be Claudius, he spiraled down into a state of heartbreak and grief, which caused him to become mad. Many people debate over whether Hamlet faked his madness, or it was real.
“Hamlet is of the faction that is wronged; His madness is poor Hamlet’s enemy.”/ Laertes
5.2.252. This quote is saying that Hamlet’s madness is his downfall and struggle in life. “How strange or odd soe 'er I bear myself, as I perchance hereafter shall think meet to put an antic disposition on.”/Hamlet (1.5.58). …show more content…
In this quote hamlet is telling his friends he’s going to “put an antic disposition on.” Antic means clownish.
This quote is the quote that makes people wonder is he really is mad. If he says he was going to put a clownish disposition, then that would mean he was pretending he was insane.
Whether Hamlet is faking his madness or not, he becomes so obsessed with revenge, that in a way he really does become insane with the obsession of seeking revenge on King Claudius .This obsession, or insanity makes him become emotionally unstable. He becomes unpredictable in his actions, and words. “He knew me not at first; he said I was a fishmonger: he is far gone, far gone: and truly in my youth I suffered much extremity for love; very near this.”/Polonius (2.2.8). In this quote, Polonius is saying how Hamlet did not even recognize him at first, and he thought that
Polonius was someone else.
Some people think that Hamlet imagined the Ghost of his farther, King Hamlet. This would support the idea that Hamlet is insane. Although a couple other characters reported seeing the …show more content…
ghost,
Hamlet is the only one to ever have any dialogue, and he was the only one able to see and hear the ghost when he visited Queen Gertrude and him in her chambers. Hamlets madness fuels thoughts of suicide. From the very beginning, to the very end of the play, Hamlet has had a strange fascination for death He is extremely depressed and grieves over his father’s death. “How weary, stale, flat, and un formidable seem to me all the uses of this world.”/Hamlet 133-7. Hamlet is expressing how it seems to him that there is no purpose for the world.
Hamlet often contemplates his own suicide. The most famous quote in all of theatrical and
Shakespearian history is Hamlet contemplating his death. “To be, or not to be, that is the question:
Whether 'tis Nobler in the mind to suffer The Slings and Arrows of outrageous Fortune, or to take Arms against a Sea of troubles, And by opposing end them: to die, to sleep No more; and by a sleep, to say we end The heart-ache, and the thousand Natural shocks That Flesh is heir to? 'Tis a consummation
Devoutly to be wished. To die to sleep, To sleep, perchance to Dream; Ay, there 's the rub, For in that sleep of death, what dreams may come, When we have shuffled off this mortal coil, Must give us pause.” /Hamlet Act 3, scene 1. This famous quote is Hamlet contemplating his own suicide. He is questioning whether it is better for to suffer through life, and bear all the weight, or better just to end his own life, and end the suffering. In the same way, as Hamlet, Ophelia is grief stricken. Her father, Polonius, was murdered while spying on Hamlet and the Queen’s conversation.
Hamlet thought it was King Claudius who was spying on them, and he attacked the man, and stabbed him to death. After her father dies, Ophelia falls prey to insanity, and becomes mentally unstable. When she speaks she does not make sense. In one scene she hallucinates and thinks that she is in a field of flowers. She is actually inside the castle as she pretends to pick flowers from the meadow. "There 's rosemary, that 's for remembrance; pray, love, remember: and there is pansies. that 's for thoughts. There 's fennel for you, and columbines: there 's rue for you; and here 's some for me: we may call it herb-grace o ' Sundays: O you must wear your rue with a difference. There 's a daisy: I would give you some violets, but they withered all when my father died: they say he made a good end.”/Ophelia Act 4 Scene 5. The grief became too much for poor Ophelia to bear. She committed suicide by drowning herself in a pond. Because committing suicide was considered a sin, Ophelia did not receive a proper burial. She was buried at night out of eyes and ears of the public. The play, Hamlet, is the most popular play and story write of all time, and arguably the
most popular play by the world renowned, William Shakespeare.
Work Cited
Shmoop Editorial Team. "Hamlet Theme of Madness" Shmoop.com. Shmoop University, Inc., 11 Nov. 2008. Web. 9 May 2012. http://www.shmoop.com/hamlet/madness-quotes.html
Shmoop Editorial Team. "Hamlet Madness Quotes Page 2" Shmoop.com. Shmoop University, Inc., 11 Nov. 2008. Web. 9 May 2012. < http://www.shmoop.com/hamlet/madness-quotes-2.html>
Shmoop Editorial Team. "Hamlet in Hamlet" Shmoop.com. Shmoop University, Inc., 11 Nov. 2008. Web. 9 May 2012. < http://www.shmoop.com/hamlet/hamlet-character.html>
Shmoop Editorial Team. "Ophelia in Hamlet" Shmoop.com. Shmoop University, Inc., 11 Nov. 2008. Web. 9 May 2012. < http://www.shmoop.com/hamlet/ophelia.html>
Shakespeare, William. Hamlet. 1603.