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Madness Of Love In Hamlet

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The Madness of Love Does love possess the power to drive someone mad? In the play, “Hamlet,” the King of Denmark illustrates the theme that love is dangerous. Before his death, King Hamlet was adored by his family and the entire country of Denmark. Consequently it wasn’t until jealousy overruled his brother, Claudius, that the King was murdered. The murder portrayed the Domino Theory. The Domino Theory is defined by: a cumulative effect produced when one event initiates a succession of similar events. After the death of King Hamlet, the leaders of the Elsinore castle began to fall. Counsellor, Polonius, was the victim of Hamlet’s sword. His daughter, Ophelia, drowned herself in a nearby river. Hamlet’s friends, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern …show more content…

Ophelia and Hamlet were in love which in turn made it burdensome for her to forgive him for killing her father. Similarly to Hamlet, Ophelia went “mad” when her father was killed. Specifically, Gertrude said, “Her clothes spread wide, And, mermaid-like awhile they bore her up, Which time she chanted snatches of old lauds, As one incapable of her own distress Or like a creature native and endued Unto that element” (Hamlet 4.7.172-175). Ophelia had to be bored up because she couldn’t handle the distress that she was feeling. Ophelia’s madness was easily seen with her actions and appearance. Her madness stemmed from Hamlet’s killing of her father, and Hamlet’s madness came from the death of his father. When Ophelia found out about Polonius’s death, she sang, “He is dead and gone, lady, He is dead and gone, At his head a grass-green turf, At his heels a stone. Oh, ho!” (Hamlet 4.5.25-26). Ophelia’s insane tune convinced the King and Queen that she was mad. Simultaneously, Ophelia was thrusting the ground and running around the castle. She had gone mad and it was all because of Hamlet’s madness caused from King Hamlet’s death. She loved Hamlet and Polonius, so their troubles caused her to go

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