Hamlet and Ophelia’s Madness
“We often hear it said, perhaps with truth, that every great work of art has a mystery at the heart, but the mystery of Hamlet is something else” (Mack 1). One mystery in Hamlet is Shakespeare’s intentions as to the authenticity of Hamlet’s and Ophelia’s madness. Marnard Mack perceives Hamlet’s madness as both authentic and feigned. August Wilhelm von Schlegel, on the other hand, looks at Hamlet’s madness as entirely shammed. Ophelia’s madness however, isn’t questioned as fake for obvious reasons. Instead, critics question the reason she became insane and killed herself. C.R. Resetarits compares Ophelia to an, emotional sponge, and say the cause of her madness was the years of being ...
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brief and foolish interpretation of the play.
According to Maynard Mack, Hamlet’s madness is not entirely an act, but rather something that consumes his throughout the story. “We have a character that is not only mad in himself but a cause that madness can seize on the rest of us” (Mack 1). Hamlet’s original intentions were to act mad so people would speak freely in front of him so Claudius wouldn’t become suspicious of him. “How strange or odd som’er I bear myself as I perchance hereafter shall think meet to put an antie disposition on” (Hamlet 37). Hamet’s plan immediately involved putting on a madness mask, but sane or not, Hamlet’s had a lot on his mind (Mack 1). From the beginning of the play, Hamlet begins to reveal that his craziness is as much a reality as an act, O, that this too too solid flesh would melt, thaw and resolve itself into a dew! Or that the everlasting had not fixed his canon ‘against self-slaughter! O God! God! How weary, stale flat and ...
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as he is very potent with such spirits, abuses me to damn me (Hamlet 2,2.58)
The presence of a ghost at any point in the play suggests Hamlet’s insanity. Hamlet even goes as far to question if the ghost is really his rather, or the devil tricking him into killing his uncle without good reason. Although Hamlet is going crazy, his act of craziness has fooled everyone, proven when Polonius says, “He said I was a fishmonger, he is far gone, far gone” (2, 2.8)
Carroll Camden blames Hamlet for Ophelia’s sudden loss of reason and sanity. From the beginning of the play, when Laertes prepares to go off to school, he warns Ophelia about Hamlet and tells her that she should look at his ...
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"Hamlet and Ophelia’s Madness." Essayworld.com. March 27, 2011. Accessed December 23, 2024. http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Hamlet-and-Ophelias-Madness/96899.
"Hamlet and Ophelia’s Madness." Essayworld.com. March 27, 2011. Accessed December 23, 2024. http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Hamlet-and-Ophelias-Madness/96899.
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