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Examples Of Insanity In Hamlet

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Introduction At this point in Shakespeare’s Hamlet, he uses insanity to express one’s feelings when they’re in distress. Ophelia shows the most insanity throughout the play. In this scene, she is expressing her sadness to the Queen and King after her father just died. The Queen isn’t looking forward to speaking with Ophelia after Polonius. Ophelia’s opinion is overlooked and they don’t take it into consideration. They’re talking about what Ophelia is going through after her father was accidentally murdered. Ophelia is starting to show her insanity through singing. The gentleman explains that Ophelia is going crazy and wants to talk to the Queen. He wants to listen to what Ophelia is saying because she could make the situation worse for them if they don’t let her …show more content…

It makes everyone start being against Ophelia and not believing her since they all perceive her as crazy. The King and Queen start to be envious of Ophelia. They aren’t looking at her as normal or as someone with any sanity, so they ignore her and don’t consider her feelings. The Queen uses the words ‘artless jealousy is guilt’ to talk about how she’s avoiding Ophelia and that the guilt remains ambiguous. The family starts to turn on Ophelia, so by the time Laertes comes into town he sides with the King and Queen and tries to take power. He convinces the others that he would be a good King. He hasn’t gone insane like Ophelia but is trying to take advantage of the situation by leading the followers. He tries to prove to them that he would be fit for King. He is worried about what Ophelia's mind has become and wants vengeance on Hamlet for killing Polonius. Laertes’ mindset throughout this scene is anger. He’s taking his grief out on revenge and he has no control over his own emotions. He takes his anger out on Hamlet by killing him later on in the play, but in this scene, he is still searching for

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After the death of his father, Laertes becomes consumed with anger and willing to do whatever it takes to avenge his father's death. He bargains with Claudius, hoping to use his loyalty to gain the power to take revenge. Laertes falls into depression as he realizes the consequences of his actions, ultimately leading to his tragic end. Laertes' story shows how grief can drive individuals to extremes as they seek justice for their loss. "Exchange forgiveness with me, noble Hamlet; Mine and my father's death come not upon thee, Nor thine on me."

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After losing her father Ophelia ends up losing herself with him as well. Shakespeare utilizes the characterization of Ophelia to comment on patriarchal influences on women and the effects that occur because of these

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As the innocent victim of Hamlet’s feigned madness, Ophelia’s insanity is a product of her inability to cope with Hamlet and her father’s death. Her songs show hidden grief and sorrow; her flowers represent the fact that beneath the innocent exterior, there is a weakness or flaw in everyone. Hamlet was able to look past his grief for his father’s death, but he caused someone he loves to be in pain. Whether it is the frailty of women, sorrow, or death, anything, including love, can appear to be pleasant, but can be the ultimate cause of a person’s

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When Laertes arrives back from Paris, he confront Claudius at the castle, only to have Ophelia interrupt him. Upon hearing her song, he remarks, “This nothing’s more than matter” (4.5.173). The reason that these meaningless words mean more than words with meaning is because they are in fact not meaningless. Ophelia is still very much conscious and perceptive as before, except unlike before, she is verbalizing her thoughts and observations. Although she still retains some gender appropriate behaviors in this enlightened state--like encrypting her intent in song form instead of blurting them out--her assertive tone, unabashedness, and willingness to take action all contradict her previous teachings.

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This can be presented through the events with Laertes, In the scene showing the burial of Ophelia they both jump in the coffin and start fighting. Hamlet pulls out from the fight first, giving us a hint of his Maturity growth. We see that with all the trouble Hamlet has experience, his become a bigger person and realizes that Laertes also lost his father and sympathizes with him. He comes clean and admits his wrongdoings saying “give me pardon sir…. I have done you wrong”.

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Meanwhile, he receives support from many citizens while Hamlet just has about one or two loyal people who try to help him. The actions of Laertes reveal that he is calm because he doesn’t kill Claudius right away even though he hears many rumors before on the way to Denmark. Another similar point between these two people is that they both love Ophelia, but in different ways. Laertes loves Ophelia as a brother, so he gives many suggestions to Ophelia when he knows that Hamlet shows affection toward Ophelia; he keeps telling her that Hamlet is a young prince that his affection is not permanently, which alludes that he is really concerned about the future if Ophelia agrees to be with Hamlet. Hamlet loves Ophelia as a man since he writes a long letter showing his feelings toward Ophelia.

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He blames everything on Claudius because he is the one that killed Hamlet’s father and now his mother. This give Hamlet peace about all of the events that have lead to this moment. We should learn from this that revenge in haste can be chaotic and unsuccessful. Revenge may not always be the answer, but if that is what you choose, then it needs to be well thought out and tested for flaws. I think that Laertes got the revenge that he wanted and even though it resulted in his own death as well, he got some closure that he needed.

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By verbally harassing Ophelia and estranging himself from her, Hamlet provides the apparent image of losing his prior care without a great amount of consideration. Additionally, Hamlet further displays his anger for his father’s death through this display. By dissolving his relationship with Ophelia, Hamlet furthers his image of insanity to further illustrate himself as incapable within Claudius’s eyes while still communicating distaste for his loss of his father. With Hamlet’s intentionally swift change of heart for Ophelia, Hamlet’s procedure warrants a certain level of sanity. Regardless of the sudden nature, Hamlet’s continual barring from Ophelia possesses procedure which causes further doubt of Hamlet’s mental instability from the audience of the

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When Ophelia returns all his letters and gifts he tells her that he has never loved her and that she should “get thyself to a nunnery.” This is one example how his mood changes throughout the play. Then after all this her father, Polinous, is murdered by Hamlet. The Hamlet is sent away to England All of these actions result in her feeling such stress that she becomes insane in the end.

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In the exposition, Laertes is introduced as the brother to the beautiful Ophelia, the girl to whom Hamlet secretly loves. As a “loving” friend and relative, they both share a common bond in wanting to care for Ophelia, but the future shows differently than what they intended. When Ophelia died towards the end, that common bond they shared for her grew stronger and added to the fire that ultimately drew them to go against one another. Hamlet became rejectful of the news and anger soon took over. When confronted by Laertes and challenged by his feeling for

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Hamlet decides the best course of action is to act like he has gone mad, so that nobody will be suspicious with his actions with investigating the cause of his father’s passing. “Here, as before, never, so help you mercy, / How strange or odd soe’er I bear myself, / As I perchance hereafter shall think meet / To put an antic disposition on,” (1, 5, 170-173). Hamlet does not want to just go out and commit a crime against his uncle as this would just lead to more family trouble and drama that is not needed. The reason this is important in the play to isolate this part of the scene is because it leads to the basis of whether Hamlet himself is mad or not. Hamlet talks of how he will be pretending to have gone insane, and this is a key role to him in finding out who killed his father.

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He is depressed and suicidal as indicated in his infamous quote, “To be, or not to be: that is the question.” (3.1.57). However, while many may choose to carry on after the death of a loved one, Hamlet chose to hold on to his sorrow and pretended to be mad 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

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In Act 4, Scene 5, Ophelia’s speech is disjointed, incomprehensible, and illogical; she chants songs about death and a heartbreak that confuses the King and Queen of Denmark. Laertes, upon

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Ophelia is grieving the loss of her father after Hamlet kills him. Ophelia doesn't know that Hamlet killed her father. But Ophelia has gone mad from learning about her father's death. Also, after Hamlet telling Ophelia that she needs to go to a nunnery, Ophelia is a little bit discouraged. She is discouraged because Hamlet had told her before that if Ophelia would sleep with him that they would get married.

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Insanity is an idea that has been examined for a long time in numerous mediums such as films, music, plays, and even works of literature. William Shakespeare’s “Hamlet” is no exception to that rule. Hamlet is one of Shakespeare’s most complex characters, and many scholars have been debating for centuries whether or not Hamlet is truly insane, or whether there is a particular reason for his odd behavior. In Shakespeare’s Hamlet, Hamlet merely pretends to be mad but in reality is sane.

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