Madness In Hamlet

Hamlet is a piece of literature that transcends time. Pieces that have this kind of status survive because of the themes they yield. Revenge, death, and madness are three overarching subjects that have helped Hamlet stay relevant as time progresses. Revenge is introduced to the reader in the very first act of Hamlet. As Hamlet Jr. is conversing with the ghost of his father, the ghost tells Hamlet, “Revenge his foul and most unnatural murder.” For the next four acts, the plot revolves around Hamlet attempting to kill and expose Claudius. Hamlet even makes sure that Claudius does not have the slightest hope of reaching heaven. In act III, scene III, Hamlet is about to kill his father’s murderer, but Hamlet thinks the scoundrel is praying. Hamlet
then spares Claudius for the time being, because if he was killed while praying, he might go to heaven. Although Hamlet’s revenge was successful in that Claudius died, Gertrude, Laertes, and Hamlet himself ended up dying in the process. As revenge promulgates itself, death is soon to follow. Whether Hamlet is contemplating death or inflicting it upon another character, death is omnipresent in this play. In Hamlet’s soliloquy in Act III, Scene I, Hamlet really contemplates death and suicide and why many people do not commit it since life is so difficult. He says, “For who would bear the whips and scorns of time…but that the dread of something after death, the undiscovered country….” Hamlet explains how people suffer through life, but resolve not to kill themselves, because they are afraid that the after life might be worse than life itself. Death in general is the main theme of the play, because if Hamlet Sr. had not been killed, then there would be no plot. Death triggers emotions in Hamlet that had not been there previously. There was no inclination that led the reader to believe that Hamlet was a violent or murderous person before his father’s death, but death evidently breeds madness. A large portion of the beginning acts focus on others attempting to figure out why Hamlet became crazy.
As Hamlet conspires to kill Claudius, he puts on the facade that he is mentally unstable so that no one will suspect any malice in him. In reality, Hamlet drives himself insane after faking it for so long. In Act II, Scene II, Hamlet says to Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, “I am but mad north-north-west. When the wind is southerly, I know a hawk from a handsaw.” The King and Queen sent Rosencrantz and Guildenstern to spy and Hamlet, so when they try to talk and deceive Hamlet, Hamlet tells them that he can still recognize who are his friends and enemies even though he is mad. Through Hamlet’s wit, the reader can clearly see that Hamlet is not mad here, but in the next act, his madness changes from fiction to fact. In act I, Horatio, Marcellus, and Hamlet Jr. see the ghost of Hamlet Sr., but in act III, Scene IV, Hamlet sees the ghost of his father, and his mother does not. After Hamlet talks aloud with the ghost, Gertrude says, “Alas, he’s mad.” It is highly debated whether or not Hamlet actually went mad or not, because when he was acting crazy in the beginning of the play, he retained his wit, but as the play developed, it seemed as if Hamlet was really just trying to kill Claudius no matter what else went on around him. The
madness Hamlet will continue to be read for hundreds of years, because of the many themes that are made known in the play. Three of the themes in particular are revenge, death, and madness. When these themes are revealed, the masterpiece is complete.