Hamlet's Insanity

Hamlet, the play written by William Shakespeare, is the story of a young adult struggling with not only the recent death of his father, but also his mother’s quick marriage to his uncle and all of the other complications that come with the bizarre situation taking place in the throne of Denmark. Hamlet is a very dynamic character as he himself isn’t really sure how he feels about the conflicts of the plot, which eventually lead to the death of much of the royal family. Hamlet copes with his problems by showing others his suicidal contemplations and insane thoughts. The way Hamlet handles his issues is triggered by previous encounterings and affects the eventual outcome of the play.

In the exposition of the play Hamlet tells his only true friend,

Claudius quickly catches on to Hamlet’s potential insanity and becomes worried about what could happen; telling Polonius: “That’s how we’ll do it, then. When important people start to show signs of insanity, you have to watch them closely” (3.1.188-189). Claudius’ fear of Hamlet is the eventual cause of Hamlet being sent away to England, which causes the entire play to spin out of control. After Hamlet is sent to England, Ophelia drowns herself, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are executed in England, and Hamlet returns to finally avenge his father’s death; but not without also being involved in the death of Laertes, Gertrude, and himself. Additionally, characters in the play fear Hamlet’s insanity because of is his suicidal comments made throughout the

In his To be or not to be speech, Hamlet discusses the good and bad that accompanies suicide asking, “Who would choose to grunt and sweat through an exhausting life” but also stating: “in death’s sleep who knows what kind of dreams might come… That’s certainly something to worry about” (3.1.57-91). Hamlet’s contemplations and indecision about suicide cause him to be indifferent about the worth of his life. Although he does not want to end his own life, he does not particularly mind if another character takes his life. By putting no value on his life, other characters are easily able to get Hamlet into dangerous situations that can lead to many other deaths, such as the fencing scene at the end of the play. Hamlet is aware that he is being placed in a trap, but also knows that there is no way around it, agreeing to walk into not only his death, but the death of many other people in the Denmark