Sanity Vs Insanity In Hamlet

“Man pleaded innocent by reason of insanity for the murder of his mother”(Gross). Although the case of the man murdering his mother is not entirely similar to what Hamlet does they do share some similarities. In William Shakespeare’s Hamlet , Shakespeare uses the idea of a someone murdering one of their own family members in his play. In Hamlet the once ruler of Denmark ,king Hamlet, is long dead before the play begins with everyone thinking his cause of death was from the bite of a snake This is proven to be a lie however, when Ghost of king Hamlet visits his son Hamlet and reveals to him that his true killer is Hamlet’s uncle ,the new king of Denmark, Claudius. The play then follows Hamlet as he tries to take revenge for his father’s death.

Hamlet, after being left alone in the hall, begins to argue with himself about whether “To be or not to be?”(III.i.57). Hamlet discusses the topic on whether he should end his life or keep on living. Throughout Hamlet’s soliloquy he comes up with reasons to support each side of his argument. Hamlet’s sanity is still intact at the moment because if someone who had lost their sanity began to contemplate killing themselves they would commit the act right away without even thinking. In addition, Hamlet manages to list reasons on whether he should go through with killing himself or not which an insane person would not do. To add on to Hamlet’s stress is the possibility that something might lie “after death”(III.i.79). The fear that whatever comes after death is unknown is one of the many reasons Hamlet does not want to kill himself. Hamlet is sane because some people today still have a fear about how what comes after death is unknown. Hamlet’s behavior begins to change when they prepare to show the play that Hamlet wrote to everyone in the castle. Hamlet acts disrespectful towards his mother once again declining the seat she offered him and sitting next to Ophelia instead. He talks about how his mother looked cheerful within “two hours” of his father 's death clearly still angered from his mother’s speedy marriage

In act five of the play Hamlet, Hamlet’s mental state is sane and becomes temporarily insane at the end of the act. Hamlet as he arrives at Ophelia’s grave begins to talk to Laertes telling him that he will “fight with him” over who loves Ophelia more (V.i.252). Hamlet is sane because he talks about how he is willing to fight Laertes over who loves her more saying that he will not back down until all his strength is depleted. As Hamlet and Laertes are pulled apart by Claudius, Hamlet shouts at Laertes how even “forty thousand brothers” with their love towards Ophelia would not be able to match Hamlet’s love for her (V.i.255). Hamlet is sane because he talks about how he had truly loved Ophelia and that his own love for her would be unmatched. Hamlet before his duel with Laertes begins to tell Laertes that at the time when he insulted Laertes and fought him it was due to his own mental illness which Hamlet proclaims was “madness” (V.ii.217-219). Hamlet 's mental state is sane because he tells Laertes that the reason for is actions back then was because he had become temporarily insane. Hamlet must be sane in order to identify whether he had gone insane because if someone was insane they would not care about the actions they had done. Hamlet’s actions are not those of sane person when he murders Claudius.When Hamlet realizes it was Claudius, who was at fault for his mother’s death, he becomes enraged and stabs him with the sword that had been poisoned at the tip. Hamlet