Causes Of Madness In Hamlet

William Shakespeare tells the tale of a troubled man in his masterpiece, Hamlet. Imagine your beloved father dying and your mother marrying his brother shortly after. You are left to grieve on your own. Instead of consoling you, your mother and uncle have a wedding and begin to share the same bed. This is what Hamlet suffers through in the play. He is depressed and suicidal as indicated in his infamous quote, “To be, or not to be: that is the question.” (3.1.57). Yet, while many may choose to carry on after the death of a loved one, Hamlet chose to hold on to his sorrow. He pretended to be insane so he can know the truth behind his father’s death. Hamlet’s tragic life is not the cause for his madness. Hamlet drives himself to the brink of insanity

He does this to see whether Claudius is guilty of his father’s murder or not. When the prologue actor enters, Hamlet says, “We shall know by this fellow. The players cannot keep counsel. They’ll tell all.”(3.2.130-131). Hamlet says that actors cannot keep secrets. They tell everything they know without thinking it over. Hamlet cannot be an actor because he is secretive. He is witty enough to know what to tell and what to keep to himself. In the past scene, he made Horatio swear to keep his secret. He did not want anyone knowing about his encounter with his father’s ghost. This shows that Hamlet can not be acting mad. He believes that one should not perform a role, but actually become the person they are pretending to be. This shows in his stunt when instead of pretending to be mad, he becomes mad in all

O gentle son, Upon the heat and flame of thy distemper Sprinkle cool patience. Whereon do you look? HAMLET: On him, on him! Look you, how pale he glares! His form and cause conjoined, preaching to stones, Would make them capable. (to GHOST) Do not look upon me, Lest with this piteous action you convert My stern effects. Then what I have to do Will want true color—tears perchance for blood. GERTRUDE: To whom do you speak this? HAMLET: Do you see nothing there? GERTRUDE:Nothing at all, yet all that is I see. HAMLET: Nor did you nothing hear? GERTRUDE: No, nothing but ourselves” (3.4.132-153). In the midst of Hamlet’s confrontation with his mother, the ghost appears and stares at him. Hamlet breaks down and begs the ghost to stop looking at him that way. While this happens, Gertrude holds to the belief that her son has gone mad as she watches him talk to himself. Gertrude can not see or hear the ghost. Earlier in the play, Horatio and the castle guards were able to see the ghost, but in this scene, only Hamlet can see it. This is because the ghost became a part of Hamlet’s imagination. Hamlet is struggling to let go of the death of his father and for this, his father’s spirit is haunting him. In this scene, Hamlet was not acting mad. It shows in his frustration that he believes that his father's ghost is alive and that Hamlet is responsible for getting the ghost’s