Madness In Hamlet
Crossing The Line: Method into Madness Insanity is a difficult diagnosis to make, as it covers such a broad spectrum of problems. Much debate still occurs over where to draw the line between sanity and madness. The occurrence of insanity in Shakespeare’s Hamlet is one of the most discussed cases of mental illness in English literature. Over the course of the play, Prince Hamlet’s feigned madness becomes reality as those around him grow continually less sympathetic with him and his own emotions overcome reason. Hamlet’s mental state and relationship with reality deteriorates throughout the play, beginning with a plot to catch the guilty king by faking madness.
In the beginning of the play, Hamlet displays signs of clear thought, logical …show more content…
processing, and behavior typically associated with extreme grief, not madness. The Prince witnesses the alleged ghost of his father King Hamlet in the beginning of the play. Not only Hamlet but three people in the scene witness the apparition, proving it is not a hallucination of the Prince. The young Hamlet also displays logical processing of events in the following scene in that he does not immediately trust what the ghost tells him. He tests the ghost’s theory with the play before taking any action that could possibly be unwarranted. After this encounter with the apparition, Prince Hamlet says to his friends that he may see it appropriate to “put an antic disposition on” and fake being crazy in order to catch King Claudius (I.iv.174). Hamlet knows he cannot attempt catch the king under normal conditions without his plan being foiled, so “the ‘madness’ of Hamlet was feigned in order to escape suspicion, and successfully,” (23 Eliot). At this point in time, he still distinguishes between reality and imagination, therefore, still maintaining his sanity.
Prince Hamlet experiences strange and extreme changes in mood as well as seclusion from the rest of the characters as he deeply contemplates his own life, his moral values, the afterlife, and more. However, this is characterized as a temporary state of melancholy resulting from extreme grief and deep thought rather than madness. Bridget Gellert deems melancholy the “temperament of people [with]…unusual gifts of contemplation, but these were inextricably bound up with…their alienation,” (59). Hamlet does change moods very quickly and sometimes acts rashly. Critic Arthur Kirsch claims that Hamlet displays symptoms of “what we today recognize as manic-depressive or bipolar disorder…Hamlet himself admits his own distractedness,” (18 Kirsch). Although Hamlet is moody and becomes angry often, this is characterized as a temperament related to grief, not bipolar disorder. These inconsistencies indicate that Hamlet is “inclined to nervous instability, to rapid and perhaps extreme changes of feeling and mood, and that he was…for the time, absorbed in the feeling or mood that possessed him…” (14 Bradley). However, “…This temperament the Elizabethans would have called melancholic,” (14 Bradley). As for Hamlet’s confession, he admits he feels upset and distracted, but this does not necessarily constitute admitting madness; he may simply be referring to being overwhelmed by all that is going on, or to his melancholy. While Hamlet sometimes acts impulsively in relation to minor choices, he often hesitates when making more critical decisions.
Hamlet frequently hesitates before committing to major decisions throughout the play, but uncertainty and conflict cause this delay as opposed to madness.
In one of his famous soliloquies, the young prince contemplates taking his own life yet he cannot commit to the act. His uncertainty about the afterlife leads to his indecision: “The plain issue was, Does God exist or not? [Hamlet] does not know and cannot find out,” (43 James). Hamlet realizes he lacks the knowledge or insight to make a confident decision, and therefore he cannot commit to one course of action. He also hesitates in his decision to murder his uncle, King Claudius. Hamlet’s inconsistency and hesitation in his plan to avenge his father’s death are not caused by a weak or crazed mind, but rather by moral conflict. The matter hopelessly confuses Hamlet because, “conscience requires that we do what is right; but then, what is right or wrong in these circumstances?” (44 James). He cared deeply for his father and, therefore, wants to bring justice to his murderer, but his conscience also tells him that killing Claudius is wrong. This internal conflict over killing Claudius shows that Hamlet still feels sympathetic with other humans and has not lost all sense of morality. Hamlet always very thoroughly contemplates his decision-making process and tries to consider all possibilities. When he sees the alleged ghost of his father, he ponders the possibility of the apparition being a demon or other evil presence sent …show more content…
to tempt him into committing some malevolent act to damn him. He investigates the ghost’s claims, through means of the play, before taking action. His hesitation may be a result of true uncertainty, but many of the other behaviors he displays which are sometimes mistaken for insanity are in reality Hamlet’s acting skills at work.
Hamlet fakes madness in order to escape suspicion from several parties and allow him freedom of expression. Prince Hamlet attempts to prove Claudius’s guilt in the most clandestine way possible. If he acts sane and tries to prove the accusations, Hamlet fears that the King may catch onto him. However, if he acts insane, he might be able to make covert suggestions about the crime and make these statements seem like nothing more than inane babbling. This way, he can escape the suspicious eye of Claudius and pursue his revenge plot unremitted.
Much of Hamlet’s feigned madness may also be tied to his relationship with Ophelia. Hamlet has feelings for Ophelia of which her father Polonius does not approve. The Prince may act mad so as to be able to express his feelings for Ophelia openly. While he fakes madness, Hamlet makes blatantly sexual remarks towards Ophelia: “It would cost you a groaning [sexual intercourse] to take off my edge [sexual appetite],” (III.ii.234). If he pretends to be crazy, he can express these feelings for Ophelia without being asked to explain or being reprimanded for his behavior, as people will simply think he cannot control what thoughts he does or does not verbalize. He may also wish that such remarks toward Ophelia be regarded as totally insane rather than just improper so as to avoid suspicion of his romantic feelings altogether because Ophelia is his Achilles’ heel, and he does not want Claudius to use that weakness against him to stop him from carrying out the revenge plan. Although Hamlet does initially fake madness, he eventually begins to truly lose his mind.
The myriad of possible triggers of Hamlet’s madness include forced suppression of his emotions, rejection, and loss of hope in humanity. Hamlet feels both sorrow and a need for vengeance in the play, but Gertrude and Claudius try to stop his grieving. Although he uses “conventional Elizabethan forms of mourning [to] express his hostility to an unfeeling court,” (84 Knight), the Prince’s family members do not properly recognize his feelings. Lack of validation of his emotions may have led Hamlet to become more violent, as violence and grief have a strong connection in the revenge play genre, and he already felt upset toward both Gertrude and Claudius over their hasty marriage. Hamlet’s madness may also have roots in his relationship with Ophelia, much like his feigned insanity may have been provoked by their affiliation. Ophelia’s rejection of Hamlet and later her death clearly upset the young prince who already experiences great emotional stress. While everyone else seemed to fully believe Hamlet was going mad when he first began to act strange, he may have looked to Ophelia as his last hope, his sanity’s only advocate. However, when she begins to ignore him under Polonius’ orders, “repelling his letters and refusing to see him…[it] synchronizes unmercifully with the terrible burden of…the revelation of the ghost,” (84 Knight). When she later dies, Hamlet recognizes that he has no one left to support him and he begins to go crazy. Hamlet does not seem to believe life is worth living and often expresses disapproval of the actions of other characters. The idea that the world lacks merit and virtue as much as his own mind sets the stage for his deteriorating mental state. G. Wilson Knight says in his critical essay that the “horror of humanity doomed to death and decay has disintegrated Hamlet’s mind,” (84). The death of his father and the decay of Claudius’ and Gertrude’s moral standards incite Hamlet’s melancholy temperament, which progresses into madness as fortune worsens. Combined with the dissolving morals of his peers, the demands of the ghost, and his loyalty to his father, the grief Prince Hamlet feels leads to the dismissal of his own morality and, with it, his sanity. In his soliloquy performed as Claudius prays, Hamlet confesses that he will not kill the king while he prays because that might allow him to fare better than he should in the afterlife. He not only has decided he will kill his uncle, but wants him to have the worst fate possible. When he finally does kill Claudius, his feelings of rage overcome his sensibility and he both stabs and poisons the king. All of these factors culminate into Hamlet’s final state of insanity.
Despite evidence of Hamlet’s sanity in the first few acts of the play, his mental state deteriorates as the play progresses, indicated by the content of his soliloquies and his interactions with others. The last time the ghost appears, only Hamlet can see it. This scene occurs after considerable tragedy and emotional stress on the Prince have transpired, so this appears to be a hallucination, one of the first clear indicators of his new mental state. Another clue to his deteriorating mentality appears when Hamlet arranges for the deaths of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, two close friends, and shows no signs of remorse. He says that they are, “not near [his] conscience. Their defeat does by their own insinuation grow,” (V.ii.62-63). He places the blame on the victims to avoid feelings of guilt or regret, and this loss of emotional connection with others indicates insanity.
In the final scene of the play, Hamlet claims that his madness, not he, wronged Laertes. This is the final confirmation that Hamlet has gone crazy. He causes a great deal of violent entropy and shows no remorse; he has become “a mentally disturbed troublemaker,” (82 Knight). He no longer distinguishes his supposedly faked madness from reality as he uses this mental instability to account for his crimes. He separates his mind into two distinct entities: Hamlet the man and Hamlet’s madness. Such separation is not actually possible, as these two are one and the same person, and therefore, this represents Hamlet’s complete loss of a handle on reality. Hamlet slowly devolves into madness as his life unravels around him.
While there is evidence of clear thought in the beginning of the play, suppression of grief and his overwhelming emotions cause him to lose his morality and his hold on reality. Madness can have a wide variety of causes and effects, making it very difficult to diagnose and also easy to debate.
Word count (just body): 1,857
Works Cited
Bradley, A.C. “Shakespeare’s Tragic Period- Hamlet.” Twentieth Century Interpretations of Hamlet. David Bevington. Engelwood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice Hall, 1968. 13-21. Print.
Eliot, T.S. “Hamlet and His Problems.” Twentieth Century Interpretations of Hamlet. David Bevington. Engelwood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice Hall, 1968. 23. Print.
Gellert, Bridget. “The Iconography of Melancholy in the Graveyard Scene of ‘Hamlet’.” Studies in Philology Vol 67. No 1 (1970): 57-66. JSTOR. Web. 7 March 2014.
James, D.G. “The New Doubt.” Twentieth Century Interpretations of Hamlet. David Bevington. Engelwood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice Hall, 1968. 43-46. Print
Kirsch, Arthur. “Hamlet’s Grief.” ELH Vol 48. No 1 (1981): 17-36. JSTOR. Web. 7 March 2014.
Knight, G. Wilson. “Hamlet is Corrupt, Not Claudius.” Corruption in William Shakespeare’s Hamlet. Vernon Elso Johnson. London: Greenhaven, 2010. 83-85. Print.
Shakespeare, William. Hamlet. New York: Dover Publications, 1992.
Print.
In the beginning of the play, Hamlet displays signs of clear thought, logical …show more content…
processing, and behavior typically associated with extreme grief, not madness. The Prince witnesses the alleged ghost of his father King Hamlet in the beginning of the play. Not only Hamlet but three people in the scene witness the apparition, proving it is not a hallucination of the Prince. The young Hamlet also displays logical processing of events in the following scene in that he does not immediately trust what the ghost tells him. He tests the ghost’s theory with the play before taking any action that could possibly be unwarranted. After this encounter with the apparition, Prince Hamlet says to his friends that he may see it appropriate to “put an antic disposition on” and fake being crazy in order to catch King Claudius (I.iv.174). Hamlet knows he cannot attempt catch the king under normal conditions without his plan being foiled, so “the ‘madness’ of Hamlet was feigned in order to escape suspicion, and successfully,” (23 Eliot). At this point in time, he still distinguishes between reality and imagination, therefore, still maintaining his sanity.
Prince Hamlet experiences strange and extreme changes in mood as well as seclusion from the rest of the characters as he deeply contemplates his own life, his moral values, the afterlife, and more. However, this is characterized as a temporary state of melancholy resulting from extreme grief and deep thought rather than madness. Bridget Gellert deems melancholy the “temperament of people [with]…unusual gifts of contemplation, but these were inextricably bound up with…their alienation,” (59). Hamlet does change moods very quickly and sometimes acts rashly. Critic Arthur Kirsch claims that Hamlet displays symptoms of “what we today recognize as manic-depressive or bipolar disorder…Hamlet himself admits his own distractedness,” (18 Kirsch). Although Hamlet is moody and becomes angry often, this is characterized as a temperament related to grief, not bipolar disorder. These inconsistencies indicate that Hamlet is “inclined to nervous instability, to rapid and perhaps extreme changes of feeling and mood, and that he was…for the time, absorbed in the feeling or mood that possessed him…” (14 Bradley). However, “…This temperament the Elizabethans would have called melancholic,” (14 Bradley). As for Hamlet’s confession, he admits he feels upset and distracted, but this does not necessarily constitute admitting madness; he may simply be referring to being overwhelmed by all that is going on, or to his melancholy. While Hamlet sometimes acts impulsively in relation to minor choices, he often hesitates when making more critical decisions.
Hamlet frequently hesitates before committing to major decisions throughout the play, but uncertainty and conflict cause this delay as opposed to madness.
In one of his famous soliloquies, the young prince contemplates taking his own life yet he cannot commit to the act. His uncertainty about the afterlife leads to his indecision: “The plain issue was, Does God exist or not? [Hamlet] does not know and cannot find out,” (43 James). Hamlet realizes he lacks the knowledge or insight to make a confident decision, and therefore he cannot commit to one course of action. He also hesitates in his decision to murder his uncle, King Claudius. Hamlet’s inconsistency and hesitation in his plan to avenge his father’s death are not caused by a weak or crazed mind, but rather by moral conflict. The matter hopelessly confuses Hamlet because, “conscience requires that we do what is right; but then, what is right or wrong in these circumstances?” (44 James). He cared deeply for his father and, therefore, wants to bring justice to his murderer, but his conscience also tells him that killing Claudius is wrong. This internal conflict over killing Claudius shows that Hamlet still feels sympathetic with other humans and has not lost all sense of morality. Hamlet always very thoroughly contemplates his decision-making process and tries to consider all possibilities. When he sees the alleged ghost of his father, he ponders the possibility of the apparition being a demon or other evil presence sent …show more content…
to tempt him into committing some malevolent act to damn him. He investigates the ghost’s claims, through means of the play, before taking action. His hesitation may be a result of true uncertainty, but many of the other behaviors he displays which are sometimes mistaken for insanity are in reality Hamlet’s acting skills at work.
Hamlet fakes madness in order to escape suspicion from several parties and allow him freedom of expression. Prince Hamlet attempts to prove Claudius’s guilt in the most clandestine way possible. If he acts sane and tries to prove the accusations, Hamlet fears that the King may catch onto him. However, if he acts insane, he might be able to make covert suggestions about the crime and make these statements seem like nothing more than inane babbling. This way, he can escape the suspicious eye of Claudius and pursue his revenge plot unremitted.
Much of Hamlet’s feigned madness may also be tied to his relationship with Ophelia. Hamlet has feelings for Ophelia of which her father Polonius does not approve. The Prince may act mad so as to be able to express his feelings for Ophelia openly. While he fakes madness, Hamlet makes blatantly sexual remarks towards Ophelia: “It would cost you a groaning [sexual intercourse] to take off my edge [sexual appetite],” (III.ii.234). If he pretends to be crazy, he can express these feelings for Ophelia without being asked to explain or being reprimanded for his behavior, as people will simply think he cannot control what thoughts he does or does not verbalize. He may also wish that such remarks toward Ophelia be regarded as totally insane rather than just improper so as to avoid suspicion of his romantic feelings altogether because Ophelia is his Achilles’ heel, and he does not want Claudius to use that weakness against him to stop him from carrying out the revenge plan. Although Hamlet does initially fake madness, he eventually begins to truly lose his mind.
The myriad of possible triggers of Hamlet’s madness include forced suppression of his emotions, rejection, and loss of hope in humanity. Hamlet feels both sorrow and a need for vengeance in the play, but Gertrude and Claudius try to stop his grieving. Although he uses “conventional Elizabethan forms of mourning [to] express his hostility to an unfeeling court,” (84 Knight), the Prince’s family members do not properly recognize his feelings. Lack of validation of his emotions may have led Hamlet to become more violent, as violence and grief have a strong connection in the revenge play genre, and he already felt upset toward both Gertrude and Claudius over their hasty marriage. Hamlet’s madness may also have roots in his relationship with Ophelia, much like his feigned insanity may have been provoked by their affiliation. Ophelia’s rejection of Hamlet and later her death clearly upset the young prince who already experiences great emotional stress. While everyone else seemed to fully believe Hamlet was going mad when he first began to act strange, he may have looked to Ophelia as his last hope, his sanity’s only advocate. However, when she begins to ignore him under Polonius’ orders, “repelling his letters and refusing to see him…[it] synchronizes unmercifully with the terrible burden of…the revelation of the ghost,” (84 Knight). When she later dies, Hamlet recognizes that he has no one left to support him and he begins to go crazy. Hamlet does not seem to believe life is worth living and often expresses disapproval of the actions of other characters. The idea that the world lacks merit and virtue as much as his own mind sets the stage for his deteriorating mental state. G. Wilson Knight says in his critical essay that the “horror of humanity doomed to death and decay has disintegrated Hamlet’s mind,” (84). The death of his father and the decay of Claudius’ and Gertrude’s moral standards incite Hamlet’s melancholy temperament, which progresses into madness as fortune worsens. Combined with the dissolving morals of his peers, the demands of the ghost, and his loyalty to his father, the grief Prince Hamlet feels leads to the dismissal of his own morality and, with it, his sanity. In his soliloquy performed as Claudius prays, Hamlet confesses that he will not kill the king while he prays because that might allow him to fare better than he should in the afterlife. He not only has decided he will kill his uncle, but wants him to have the worst fate possible. When he finally does kill Claudius, his feelings of rage overcome his sensibility and he both stabs and poisons the king. All of these factors culminate into Hamlet’s final state of insanity.
Despite evidence of Hamlet’s sanity in the first few acts of the play, his mental state deteriorates as the play progresses, indicated by the content of his soliloquies and his interactions with others. The last time the ghost appears, only Hamlet can see it. This scene occurs after considerable tragedy and emotional stress on the Prince have transpired, so this appears to be a hallucination, one of the first clear indicators of his new mental state. Another clue to his deteriorating mentality appears when Hamlet arranges for the deaths of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, two close friends, and shows no signs of remorse. He says that they are, “not near [his] conscience. Their defeat does by their own insinuation grow,” (V.ii.62-63). He places the blame on the victims to avoid feelings of guilt or regret, and this loss of emotional connection with others indicates insanity.
In the final scene of the play, Hamlet claims that his madness, not he, wronged Laertes. This is the final confirmation that Hamlet has gone crazy. He causes a great deal of violent entropy and shows no remorse; he has become “a mentally disturbed troublemaker,” (82 Knight). He no longer distinguishes his supposedly faked madness from reality as he uses this mental instability to account for his crimes. He separates his mind into two distinct entities: Hamlet the man and Hamlet’s madness. Such separation is not actually possible, as these two are one and the same person, and therefore, this represents Hamlet’s complete loss of a handle on reality. Hamlet slowly devolves into madness as his life unravels around him.
While there is evidence of clear thought in the beginning of the play, suppression of grief and his overwhelming emotions cause him to lose his morality and his hold on reality. Madness can have a wide variety of causes and effects, making it very difficult to diagnose and also easy to debate.
Word count (just body): 1,857
Works Cited
Bradley, A.C. “Shakespeare’s Tragic Period- Hamlet.” Twentieth Century Interpretations of Hamlet. David Bevington. Engelwood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice Hall, 1968. 13-21. Print.
Eliot, T.S. “Hamlet and His Problems.” Twentieth Century Interpretations of Hamlet. David Bevington. Engelwood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice Hall, 1968. 23. Print.
Gellert, Bridget. “The Iconography of Melancholy in the Graveyard Scene of ‘Hamlet’.” Studies in Philology Vol 67. No 1 (1970): 57-66. JSTOR. Web. 7 March 2014.
James, D.G. “The New Doubt.” Twentieth Century Interpretations of Hamlet. David Bevington. Engelwood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice Hall, 1968. 43-46. Print
Kirsch, Arthur. “Hamlet’s Grief.” ELH Vol 48. No 1 (1981): 17-36. JSTOR. Web. 7 March 2014.
Knight, G. Wilson. “Hamlet is Corrupt, Not Claudius.” Corruption in William Shakespeare’s Hamlet. Vernon Elso Johnson. London: Greenhaven, 2010. 83-85. Print.
Shakespeare, William. Hamlet. New York: Dover Publications, 1992.
Print.