After reading your post, I can see you have a firm grasp on Hamlet and the scenes in the play where he feigns madness. You used the same three scene I used to illustrate the effectiveness of Hamlet’s concocted insanity. In 1.5, before he even divulges his plans to his two friends, Horatio notes, “these are but wild and whirling words, my lord” (136). This indicates that Hamlet had already started getting into character by acting to people who knew him well. I also used 2.1 as an example of Hamlet’s method acting. Even though the audience doesn’t get to participate in the scene firsthand, we hear Ophelia explain to her father Polonius that Hamlet might be “mad for thy love (85). This is a perfect example of Hamlet rehearsing his insanity when he comes into her room “as if he had been loosèd out of hell/ to speak of horrors—he comes before me (83-84). You brought up an interesting question about 3.4 which was why Queen Gertrude can’t see the ghost of her dead husband, Hamlet Sr. My theory to this question is that Hamlet has not yet come to terms with his fathers’ death but Gertrude has. By Hamlet being able to see his dead father, it’s a sign that he is still mourning for him and that he can’t let go …show more content…
He appears to Hamlet in 3.4 because he has not yet fulfilled his request. Hamlet acknowledges this by saying, “do you not come your tardy son to chide, that, lapsed in time and passion, lets go by/ the important acting of your dread command” (108-110). The ghost also made it very clear early on that he didn’t want Hamlet to involve Queen Gertrude in any way. Instead, the ghost said to “leave her to heaven/ and to those thorns that in her bosom lodge/ to prick and sting her (I, v, 86-88). And in 3.4, the ghost once again tells Hamlet to, “step between her and her fighting soul. Conceit in weakest bodies strongest works” (III, iv,
In the following paragraphs I 'm going to talk about my opinion on the matter, why I think it Hamlet is not just acting and the evidence I can gather from either side of the argument. On the other hand, I also feel like Hamlet is just merely acting the part, that he is actually not insane, and just showing it. In the story of Hamlet, Hamlet has the feeling
This happens because of how mentally unstable Hamlet has become and is seen as a dangerous threat in Elsinore, Denmark. Hamlet takes all his anger caused by Gertrude out on Ophelia. He tells Ophelia to "get thee to a nunnery" and compares her to Queen Gertrude, his mother. Hamlet 's behavior confuses Ophelia and she begins to believe that Hamlet has gone mad. She cannot conclude whether Hamlet loves her or not.
Hamlet was role playing all throughout the book. He was acting crazy the entire time so that he could avenge his father's death. When Hamlet told his friends not to tell anyone if he acted a little weird after he saw the ghost. That was Hamlet's way of expressing that he was going to be acting crazy in order to avenge King Hamlet's death. So, basically, it's important to him because he needs to act insane in order to avenge his father's death.
Throughout the play, Hamlet claims to be feigning madness, but his portrayal of a madman is so intense and so convincing that many readers believe that Hamlet actually slips into insanity at certain moments in the play. Do you think this is true, or is Hamlet merely playacting insanity? What evidence can you cite for either claim? In William Shakespeare’s classic, Hamlet, the question concerning Hamlet’s underlying sanity is a major element in the interpretation of the text.
Although many people unfortunately encounter insanity, many feign it in order to achieve their goals. Shakespeare’s Hamlet, heir to the throne of Denmark, deals with a prince that must fake insanity in order to take revenge on the person who murdered his father. Hamlet’s fake madness has many purposes behind it that require thorough ways of thinking. Insanity can be defined as the condition of being mentally unstable or ill. Hamlet is truly not mad because he has supreme intelligence, sensible words, and secretive witnesses.
It is or is it not true that Hamlet was faking his insanity? I’m not saying Hamlet was faking the whole thing. The meaning for insanity on Dictionary.com is “a permanent disorder of the mind.” I don 't think Hamlet had a permanent disorder of the mind he knew what he was doing and even planned the majority of the events that happened. Most of the time anyway.
In Hamlet, Shakespeare uses many references to sanity and insanity. Throughout the play, Hamlet goes back and forth between sanity and insanity, whether pretending to be insane just to mess with those he does not like or to save himself from getting in trouble. Hamlet is actually one of the smartest characters in the play, which is why he can pull off acting crazy so well. Shakespeare uses this idea of sanity and insanity to help the plot change and take a different directions. One of the most discussed topics of the Hamlet is whether Hamlet is insane or if he was just pretending the whole time.
There are many examples of times where Hamlet seems truly insane. We have the time when he is talking with Polonius in the castle, after the King, the Queen, and Polonius were discussing the love letter that Hamlet wrote to Ophelia. Hamlet walks in reading a book, and Polonius asks “What do you read, my lord?” Hamlet replies with “Words, words, words.” “What is the matter, my lord” “Between who?”
Hamlet was talking to the ghost of his father, he claims. Gertrude started to see her son was crazy, Hamlet
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.
Allen states, “Either Hamlet was “not himself” at this time, or else he was beginning to play the part of a madman” (435). Hamlet reveals to Horatio know from the start that he is going to fake his madness. Hamlet then goes on in Act Three with faking his madness states that, “I must be idle” (3.2.92).
An overwhelming amount of evidence shows that Hamlet faked his insanity to confuse the king and his accomplices. Often revered for their emotional complexities, William Shakespeare’s tragic characters display various signs of mental illness. Sylvia Morris notes “Hamlet contains Shakespeare’s most fully-developed study of mental illness, and has always intrigued commentators on the play.” (“Shakespeare’s Minds Diseased: Mental Illness and its Treatment”). When looking at the play, one can infer that Shakespeare makes the relationship between sanity and insanity undistinguishable from one another.
King Hamlet’s ghost in Hamlet plays a very significant role in Shakespeare’s play even though he only appears briefly in the very beginning and two other times throughout the play. King Hamlet’s ghost furthers the play in many ways. He affects action by setting the play in motion, he affects the theme of revenge, and he helps develop other characters, specifically his son, Hamlet. He sets the play in motion by causing the wheels to spin inside of Prince Hamlet’s head, the ghost is the whole reason for Hamlet trying to extract revenge upon his murderous Uncle Claudius who is now the King of Denmark. The ghost affects the theme of revenge by causing Young Hamlet to be seized by vengeance, the whole play turns into a story of Prince Hamlet trying to avenge his father’s wrongful death.
Hamlet played the insanity, when said the girl should go to the nunnery or advised her: “marry a fool; for wise men know well enough what monsters you make of them” (Shakespeare 65). The prince turns to a normal man again during the discussion of the future play with actors or the dialogue with Horatio. “And after we will both our judgments join In censure of his seeming” (Shakespeare 69), this phrase suggest Hamlet is still capable of adequate actions. There can be some level of insanity, as the plan with actors look too convoluted for a normal man. But it was an adequate decision for prince’s conditions, as he could not directly accuse Claudius of murder with the existent evidential base.
In Shakespeare’s tragedy, Hamlet, there are a series of events that causes Hamlet to act abnormally. He has to deal with his father’s death, mother’s remarriage, and his lover Ophelia. However, it is often argued whether Hamlet’s madness is real or fake. Throughout the tragedy, he is over-exaggerating his madness for his plan of revenge.