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Hamlet Crazy Quotes Analysis

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Would one be able to live a full prosperous life acting insane? The play Hamlet, written by William Shakespeare, is about a young prince who lost his father and has many issues dealing with his sanity and his family. Hamlet is not crazy because he says he is faking it, he may have severe depression, and he wants to avenge his father. Hamlet is faking being insane for his own sake. Hamlet is talking to Rosencrantz and Guildenstern and he is basically telling them that he is acting delusional. “I am but mad north-north-west. When the wind is/ southerly I know a hawk from a handsaw” (Shakespeare II. ii. 351-351). Hamlet says that he can act like he is crazy when he wants to, and then be perfectly fine when he so chooses. When he says this quote he is talking about the wind but that is a symbol for how he is choosing to act, so he uses this to communicate with people that he wants to know when he will be acting crazy. Acquaintance's of Hamlet believe that he Is crazy because of how great he is acting. Polonius is telling Gertrude how he believes that Hamlet is crazy and he wants her to take action about it. “Mad call I it, for, to define true madness,/ What is ‘t but to be nothing else but mad?/ But let that go”(Shakespeare II. ii 95-97). Polonius is speaking about how crazy Hamlet is being and he keeps telling Gertrude that she needs to do something about …show more content…

When Hamlet was faking being insane it proved that he really was not crazy because he knew what to do to make it seem crazy. Severe depression can lead people to have thoughts that would not benefit anyone and that is different from being crazy because you can not control how you feel at the time. Wanting to get revenge on a death is not crazy, it is putting your mind to do something so it sets things in the right. Who is the determining factor if one is crazy or sane if they themselves are

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960 Words | 4 Pages

The topic of insanity commonly arises on many occasions, particularly in the law. The term “insanity” is defined as the “unsoundness of mind sufficient in the judgment of a civil court to render a person unfit to maintain a contractual or other legal relationship or to warrant commitment to a mental health facility” (Document A). In terms of the law, there exists an insanity defense, which is a plea that defendants are not guilty because they lack the mental capacity to realize that they committed a crime (Document C). This concept arises in several of Shakespeare's plays as well. In Hamlet, many readers claim that Prince Hamlet was actually mad, his actions guided by the grief he experienced when his father was murdered by his uncle King Claudius.

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645 Words | 3 Pages

One definition of madness is “mental delusion of the eccentric behavior arising from it.” However, as Emily Dickinson once wrote, “Much madness is divinest Sense/ To a discerning Eye.” In Shakespeare’s play, Hamlet, the main character, Prince Hamlet, shows apparent madness which proves to serve an important role throughout the story. This erratic behavior consists of his seemingly senseless dialogues, his loss of care for Ophelia, and his increasingly aggressive nature. Such behavior often proves justified by the play’s audience due to its convincing nature despite Hamlet’s predisposition towards insanity.

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1154 Words | 5 Pages

Polonius explains Hamlet 's madness to Claudius and Gertrude, “Mad call I it, for, to define true madness. What it 't but to be nothing else but mad? But let that go (Act 2, Scene 2, lines 93-94). Polonius then goes on to describe his ides of the stages of Hamlet 's madness and his inability to sleep, “And he, repelled-a short tale to make- Fell into a sadness, then into a fast, Thence to a watch, thence into a weakness, Thence to a lightness, and by this declension Into the madness wherein now he raves, And all we mourn for” (Act 2, Scene 2, lines 146-151).

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1392 Words | 6 Pages

While he did claim to be putting on act and only pretending to be psychotic, part of me strongly believes that someone of 100% mental stability would not be able to pull off a psychotic act without a little mental illness helping lead the charge. I feel it is only fair to diagnose Hamlet with Bipolar Disorder. Online health blog, WebMD, defines Bipolar Disorder as a mental illness that brings severe high and

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1457 Words | 6 Pages

There are many examples of times where Hamlet seems truly insane. We have the time when he is talking with Polonius in the castle, after the King, the Queen, and Polonius were discussing the love letter that Hamlet wrote to Ophelia. Hamlet walks in reading a book, and Polonius asks “What do you read, my lord?” Hamlet replies with “Words, words, words.” “What is the matter, my lord” “Between who?”

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1514 Words | 7 Pages

An overwhelming amount of evidence shows that Hamlet faked his insanity to confuse the king and his accomplices. Often revered for their emotional complexities, William Shakespeare’s tragic characters display various signs of mental illness. Sylvia Morris notes “Hamlet contains Shakespeare’s most fully-developed study of mental illness, and has always intrigued commentators on the play.” (“Shakespeare’s Minds Diseased: Mental Illness and its Treatment”). When looking at the play, one can infer that Shakespeare makes the relationship between sanity and insanity undistinguishable from one another.

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1581 Words | 7 Pages

An insane person would not be able to think about the consequences of their actions or do not even know that they are insane themselves. At the end of the play when Hamlet murdered Claudius it is justified as an action of a sane person. The first reason is when his own mother, Gertrude, pointed out that “the drink” is “poisoned” and Claudius was the only person that told her to not drink it, which shows that Claudius knew something about the drink. Another strong piece of evidence to justify Hamlet’s action to murder Claudius is when Laertes points out that Hamlet’s “mother’s poisoned” and that “the king’s to blame”(V.ii.315-316). At the end of the play Hamlet had every reasons to kill Claudius and avenge his father’s death because Hamlet found a letter by Claudius to the king of England to execute Hamlet when he steps in England, and the most crucial evidence is from Gertrude and Laertes

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1544 Words | 7 Pages

He uses his deception of madness to make this sound like mad ramblings to everyone else, but he is truly asking these questions and wondering about the ins and outs of how life truly works, and what it all means. So Hamlet basically acts insane to cover up the seriousness of these questions he is seeking the answers to. “But in a fiction, in a dream of passion,/Could force his soul so to his own conceit,/That from her working all his visage wann’d,/ Tears in his eyes, distraction in’s aspect,/ A broken voice, and his

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542 Words | 3 Pages

When the play first began Hamlet did not seem crazy but more depressed and suicidal after his father’s death, he did not begin to act crazy until learning about his father’s murder. ”How strange or odd soe’er I bear myself, to put an antic disposition on...”, here Hamlet tells Horatio that he will start to act crazy but for them to just ignore it. After this when Hamlet only acts mad around thoses who he does not trust but when

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801 Words | 4 Pages

There are plenty of examples of Hamlet appearing mad, but there are just as many examples of Hamlet appearing sane, even intelligent. Hamlet is even aware of his madness, which can be seen in the quote, “What I have done that might your nature, honor, and exception roughly awake, I here proclaim was madness… It ‘t be so, Hamlet is of the faction that is wronged; His madness is poor Hamlet’s enemy” (273). Hamlet is clearly aware of his own madness, but this does not necessarily invoke his sanity. Hamlet still appears insane,

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451 Words | 2 Pages

Although, later Polonius questions Hamlet’s true insanity. “Though this be madness, yet there is method / in’t.” (II.ii.216-217) He begins to think about it and realizes that it could be madness but there is some kind of a pattern involved in

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1004 Words | 5 Pages

A select few scholars believe that Hamlet is not pretending to be mad, but in reality is insane. Hamlet reveals his insanity through his strange behavior toward others. Dr. Simon A. Blackmore claims, “The Real or Assumed Madness of Hamlet” in Shakespearean Online that Hamlet is insane because of the fact that he is able to see a ghost while others cannot (215). Dr. Blackmore in The Real or Assumed... also asserts that in Act III, scene IV, the instance when Hamlet is in Gertrude chamber and Hamlet states to Gertrude that he see a ghost.

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1053 Words | 5 Pages

In the play, Shakespeare portrays Hamlet as a dynamic character to cause a mental state conundrum among the audience and explore the themes of suicide, spying, friendship, madness, providence, love, hate and humour. Furthermore, by utilising literary devices such as soliloquy, characterisation, dialogue, personification, metaphor, dramatic and situational irony Shakespeare exploits these themes and questions Hamlet’s sanity. In the beginning, Hamlet is portrayed as an overthinking person, claiming to act an antic disposition. However, as the play advances his manic rage and irrational acts such as Polonius’s murder and

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718 Words | 3 Pages

He calls him a murderous villain, heartless, disloyal, and lustful. Hamlet’s insanity can be seen in this soliloquy because his mind is so caught up with everything and anything. He is so distressed with insignificant things as well as his desire for revenge. Hamlet’s mind is racing and he is filled with several emotions which he feels one after another, from distress and confusion to self-pity

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742 Words | 3 Pages

In the play, Hamlet tells Horatio and Marcellous that “(As I perchance hereafter shall think to meet to put an antic disposition on…)” saying that he will act unlike himself (Shakespeare 1.5 191-192). In the song, the narrator tells “(But) you were wrong and I’m laughing right in your face” not caring how their actions come off as. Besides this, Hamlet also demonstrates madness when he says “I am but mad north-north west. When the wind is southerly, I know a hawk from a handsaw…” as he is saying he can turn this madness on and off (Shakespeare 2.2 402-403). The False Pretense narrator tells “So play the game until you run out/ And play the game into my hand.”

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