Theme Of Madness In Hamlet

Madness is an element of society that cannot be classified as black or white, right or wrong; it is an aspect where the frontiers of science and medicine are blurred. Whether it be an athlete trying to reach his goal of setting a new record, a student trying to perform well on an exam, a man wholeheartedly in love with his wife or a son wanting to avenge his father’s death, madness reigns when one starts to get consumed by the hunger of ambition. It is the addiction of the thrill that causes one to surrender control over his emotions and act illogically. In Shakespeare’s Hamlet and “If You Forget Me” by Pablo Neruda, both authors commemorate successfully a common theme of madness as each protagonist goes through his own personal battles. Both
The author utilizes several elements in nature as he paints a beautiful setting of a cozy room with a fireplace, impalpable ash, wrinkled log, a window that looks upon a slow autumn of red branches and a crystal moon. These elements are purposefully used as they are symbolic to the speaker’s relationship with his partner. The crystal moon can represent his spiritual attachment to the woman he is in love with as crystals are often seen as symbols of spiritual connection and enlightenment, the crystal moon can also represent the woman as being beautiful yet fragile as crystals are extremely delicate. The utilization of the moon can also be denoted as the distance that is present between the man and woman; he can only see her from afar as it is impossible to reach her. The slow passing of autumn mentioned in the poem is symbolic of the fundamental aspect of letting go in a relationship and the start of a new beginning as the leaves start to shed in welcome of a new season. This is mirrored in the speaker’s life as his old lover has left him and moved past the relationship they previously shared to start a new life apart from him. The fire, impalpable ash and wrinkled log represent a dualistic arrangement as there is fire that represents passion and the
Hamlet’s insanity is explicitly evident as he says: “ Haste me to know ’t, that I, with wings as swift/ As meditation or the thoughts of love,/ May sweep to my revenge”(1.5.29-31). In the same manner as the speaker of the poem, Hamlet also expresses an urgency of getting even and settling the score as he ushers the Ghost to inform him of the murderer quickly so he can take revenge faster than one falls in love, putting in perspective that he is quite eager to defend his father’s honour. This suggests that Hamlet is not a mature adult and reveals that he is a hasty child who is so quick to act on his anger and demand revenge. Analogously as in the poem, this quotation draws emphasis to the concept of time, as Hamlet compares his urgency to that of the impulsiveness of falling in love. Taking these character traits into consideration, it is suitable to affirm that Hamlet is indeed mad due to his hunger for revenge. In contrast to the speaker of the poem by Pablo Neruda, Hamlet does not make explicit remarks revealing his true intentions to his opponent, instead he takes a back route by creating a false image of himself in the eyes of Claudius so he can get close enough to him to kill him. The speaker in the poem however, threatens the woman he is supposedly in love with as he uses diction such as “If” and “forgotten