Hamlet: Was Hamlet Insane
In Shakespeare’s Hamlet, the question of whether Hamlet is insane or just pretending to be insane is a central dilemma. The readers of the play as well as critics who look at the different aspects have to consider both sides. One way that this can be examined is seeing Hamlet as two people or having a split personality. On one hand he is a sensitive young man with a thirst for knowledge and an idealist. He seems to be a “sweet prince” (internet, Hamlet, pg. 1) who expresses himself with poetry and who is dedicated to truth. The second is a barbaric Hamlet who treats Ophelia cruelly, kills Polonius, and then sends Rosencrantz and Guildenstern to their deaths by changing the letter sent ...
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These characters would be Polonius, Claudius, Gertrude, Ophelia, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern. His “madness” doesn’t come out around Horatio, Bernardo, Francisco, the players or the gravediggers. At one point Claudius himself admits that Hamlet’s “actions although strange, do not appear to stem from madness” (internet, Hamlet, pg. 1-2). Polonius also admits that Hamlet’s actions and works have a “method” (internet, Hamlet, pg. 2) to them and they are of logical nature. Hamlet tells his mother that he is not really mad, “but mad in craft” (internet, Hamlet, pg. 2). This suggests that he does really know what he is doing, and is not really insane as he is sometimes made out to be.
On the flip side of this argument, Hamlet could very easily be taken for insane. He speaks “wild and whirling words” (internet, Hamlet, pg. 1) when he hears of his father’s murder. This is before he decides to pretend to be crazy. His behavior, especially towards Ophelia, is constantly ...
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"Hamlet: Was Hamlet Insane." Essayworld.com. October 8, 2004. Accessed April 19, 2024. http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Hamlet-Was-Hamlet-Insane/15585.
"Hamlet: Was Hamlet Insane." Essayworld.com. October 8, 2004. Accessed April 19, 2024. http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Hamlet-Was-Hamlet-Insane/15585.
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