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The Theme Of Madness In Hamlet

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Madness was crucial theme in Hamlet, but not all of it was necessarily true. Throughout the story, Shakespeare depicts the idea of “madness” in various ways in his characters. Some characters reacted to the “madness” differently, and this all drove the plot and led up to the final scene. The significance that is put on “madness” allows Shakespeare to truly massive difference between true insanity and the “madness” that Hamlet was going through at times. Two characters, Hamlet and Ophelia, both went “mad” at one point in the story, but they acted very differently. This “madness” is truly what drove Hamlet and its characters towards their deaths. All of the actions of Hamlet and Ophelia impacted all of the characters of Hamlet in some …show more content…

Hamlet is thought to have gone mad over the death of his fath, Hamlet Sr. He is depressed over his father’s death and furious that his mother,Gertrude, married his uncle, Claudius, so soon after her husband’s death. He truly had fallen under serious grief, even contemplating suicide. It is not until he learns from his father’s ghost that his father had been poisoned by Claudius that this begins to change. Hamlet was plotting his uncle’s murder, something the majority of people would view as completely insane, but it is how he plotted this murder that makes it clear that he is not mad. He deceives his friends and family into thinking he has gone completely mad, but it is his actions that prove to the reader that he may not be as mad as the king and queen believe. His unwillingness to kill Claudius because “he is a-praying.. And so he goes to heaven; And so I am revenged: And so he is scanned:” (III/iii/76-79) proves that he still has some reason and has put some thought into this murder. Also, it is how Hamlet acts towards his love, Ophelia, that proves that he may not truly be mad, especially in Act 5 during her funeral when he returns and states “I loved Ophelia. Forty thousand brothers could not with all their love make up my sum.”(V/i/262-264) Hamlet attempts to deceive the entire kingdom into labelling him as mad so that they would think nothing of him. Once was ready he

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