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The Mask Of Insanity In Shakespeare's Hamlet

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Throughout Shakespeare's Hamlet the main protagonist is on a steady decline straight for insanity, or so it seems. There is a constant unknown on the subject of Hamlet’s mental health and stability. Given every literary piece of evidence, Hamlet’s insanity was clearly an act that he was willing to portray. Starting as early as the first scene of the play there is sufficient evidence in favor of this claim. Hamlet is known to be highly intelligent and is favored by the common people. So when he was informed of his father’s death followed with the new of his mother marrying her brother-in-law it didn't take the prince a long time to connect them to each other and start making conclusions. Horatio and Marcellus are the first to hear the plan he managed to come up with. In the scene he urges his accomplices not to be concerned with his craziness, or as he refers to it, “antic-disposition” (1.5). Hamlet had decided to use his knowledge of the dramatic arts and put up a mask of insanity. By acting insane he would be able to blame uncommon acts on that mindset and use it for his advantage in obtaining probable cause against his uncle, Claudius. By advising his friends about his false behavior ahead of time Hamlet is openly acknowledging it …show more content…

In scene 420 he stumbles upon the King alone in prayer. This was the perfect opportunity for him to avenge his late father seeing that Claudius had murdered him. Hamlet draws and raises his sword but he starts to contemplate the circumstances of this situation. He takes note that Claudius is in the middle of player and realizes that if he was to kill the king at that moment his souls wouldn't go to hell. Not wanting the murderer to spend eternity in heaven, Hamlet opts to wait for another time and doesn't continue with his actions. This shows that he is able to control his mindset and able to switch from his normal disposition to his

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In the play Hamlet by William Shakespeare, the delusion of madness and irrational behavior contributes largely to the development of the character Hamlet. Following the death of his father, Hamlet decides to inspect how his father passed away. The clearest way to processed is to act helplessly insane. With numerous events of deranged encounters, Hamlet portrays this as a reasonable behavior. The first case of Hamlet’s impersonation as a madman begins when he races to see his previous girlfriend, Ophelia.

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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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One of Shakespeare’s most infamous plays, Hamlet, has left many questioning one thing. Was Hamlet truly insane? There are several very convincing reasons for both sides of this debate, but there is more evidence proving that Hamlet was indeed insane. At the beginning of the play, the readers learn that he was grieving the death of his father, which was the stepping stone that paved his eventual madness. A few reasons Hamlet is actually insane are as follows, he becomes very misogynistic toward the two people left that he loves, he becomes obsessed with proving Claudius’ guilt, and lastly he pushes everyone around him away.

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Contrasting his attitudes with the moments that the king walks in, his behavior towards Polonius while the play is preparing, and his actions to Ophelia during the play, Hamlet is sporadic, when alone with Horatio, he is calm and collected, then again the sudden resumption to his “antic disposition” when Rosencrantz and Guildenstern enter. There is a long break in which we don’t sense any insanity from Hamlet, this is due to the fact that he has no need to assume his disguise. When we find Hamlet with the players, he is giving them directions for the play. With the players, Hamlet acts normal and of sound mind because the players are not likely to betray him, they don’t have the opportunity or the wish to do so.

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His father’s ghost says, “Revenge his foul and most unnatural murder. ”(1.5.29). Hamlet was very obedient to his father when he was alive and Hamlet’s obedience is without question when he receives one last set of orders from his deceased Father. Because King Hamlet is stuck in purgatory, Prince Hamlet doesn’t want to kill Claudius when he has a chance of going to heaven. When Hamlet finds Claudius praying, He believes killing him would send him to heaven, doing no justice to his father and using up his one, last chance to fulfill his fathers orders.

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Hamlet has a negative fear about telling the truth to everyone because he doesn’t want to think about the unfavorable things that has been happening around him, he doesn’t want to be involved in that situation.

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Throughout the play Hamlet by William Shakespeare, the insane and sane Hamlet occasionally changed between the realms of insanity and sanity. When madness suits Hamlet’s purpose he puts on a “antic disposition” (1.5.173). On the other side, when sanity is worthy, Hamlets reverts back to being logical. He claims he is “mad north-north-west” (2.2.376), which means he is mad sometimes and sane others. Therefore, to accomplish his short-term goals, Hamlet changes between insanity and sanity, which also slows his goal of revenge.

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He had planned to reveal that Claudius murdered the previous king. He wanted to show that through a play. He had asked for some actors to add a scene to hopefully gain some evidence that it was Claudius. He was able to get a reaction and was able to gain the evidence he needs to hopefully frame Claudius with the murder of his father. "Though this be madness, yet there is method in 't." (2.2.129-133) Hamlet had told the queen.

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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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His actions of insanity are a distraction to trap the king into revealing his guilt to eliminating Hamlet’s father. He has clearly thought of this plan and is acting it out intricately proving he is thinking and not acting on an impulse. Hamlet then creates a play, The Murder of Gonzago, in order to catch the attention of his father’s murderer. Hamlet’s claim is “the play’s the thing wherein I’ll catch the conscience of the king”(II.ii.632-634). He has written out how Claudius actually killed the king in hopes to stir discomfort within the Claudius’ conscience to show everyone that Claudius is a cold blooded killer.

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Insanity is an idea that has been examined for a long time in numerous mediums such as films, music, plays, and even works of literature. William Shakespeare’s “Hamlet” is no exception to that rule. Hamlet is one of Shakespeare’s most complex characters, and many scholars have been debating for centuries whether or not Hamlet is truly insane, or whether there is a particular reason for his odd behavior. In Shakespeare’s Hamlet, Hamlet merely pretends to be mad but in reality is sane.

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