Insanity In Shakespeare's Hamlet

In interpreting William Shakespeare’s, The Tragedy of Hamlet from the perspective of the sanity of Hamlet, himself, it is possible to interpret nearly every line spoken by the young price as commentary upon the nature of the sane and the insane. As a plot device, Shakespeare uses the concept of Hamlet’s feigned madness as not only a means by which to advance the action within the play, but also as a means for Hamlet to function as a character that acts without consequence while maintaining his virtue and the empathy of the audience. If one imagines the play where Hamlet carries out the actions and atrocities he does by any method other than under the guise of the madness he has assumed, he would instantly become viler and more detestable than

It would be easy to categorize these actions as an element in the all-encompassing need for revenge as set forth by his father’s ghost, or perhaps even the grief in having one’s world turned inside out by the loss of a father, the betrayal of a mother and the addition of an unwanted paternal substitute. It can even be surmised that the rejection of Hamlet by Ophelia’s family could have been the catalyst to prompt Hamlet to display such behaviors as an escape mechanism to the reality of his crumbling life. Unfortunately, none of these ideas make as much sense as that of the most obvious scenario of all. Madness allows Hamlet to get away with doing and saying what he pleases to whom he pleases and functions as the scapegoat for these behaviors. Essentially, Hamlet has invoked the right to be a bastard through most of the play and still come out clean on the other end. When Hamlet suddenly turns upon Ophelia asking her “Are you fair?” (3.1.115), it is not due to a bout of his madness, but that he has detected Ophelia’s purpose in the meeting, to attempt to succeed where other’s had failed and unearth the source of his behavior. Hamlet seizes the opportunity to enhance the subterfuge of his madness by seeming to lose control in his assault upon Ophelia, but truthfully, he asks of her the same of what she is attempting to find of him. Realizing her intentions, he tells her: “Ay, truly, for the power of beauty will sooner transform honesty from what it is to a bawd than the force of honesty can translate beauty into his likeness. This was sometime a paradox, but now the time gives it proof” (3.1.121-25). Though Ophelia is an innocent in this matter, being sent to Hamlet through the orchestrations of her father, she truly is there out of concern for Hamlet’s well-being. His accusation that she is hiding her purpose behind her beauty is just one of a great many discourtesies that Hamlet