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Madness In Macbeth And Hamlet - Paper

Madness In Macbeth And Hamlet

Did you ever ask yourself, have we all gone mad? It seems that in our time confusion, disorder, and madness seem to reign chaotically throughout the world. Then, we seem to look at ourselves and wonder, who really is mad? The people around us are so diverse that we sometimes forget what normal is and we falsely accuse others of being insane. The presence of madness is also a very integral part of some great literary works. Shakespeare, for example, used several "mad" characters in his brilliant plays Hamlet and Macbeth. In the writings, the reader has to decide who really is mad and how far "off the deep end" did they go. The use of madness illustrates to the reader that even in ...

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person would be the daughter of Polonius, Ophilia. She puts on quite a display for
the reader when she comes into the castle and appears very upset and as
many would say, "mad". She enters into the room and begins to sing and respond to everyone with a different verse. Then she sings, "You must sing "A-down a-down, and you call him a-down-a." O' how the wheel becomes it!" (H4.5.170-171) This display of childish singing shows that Ophilia is distressed because of her fathers death and she can not handle the shock. She leaves the scene and the play by saying, "And of all Christian souls, I pray God. God bye you." (H4.5.198) Then Ophilia makes her way to a brook where she commits suicide. Another situation of madness is in the play of Macbeth. The once stable and bossy Lady Macbeth starts to "loose her cookies" when she is distressed over a death similar to Ophilia. Only this death was a murder that her husband Macbeth committed. The reader finds that she has become mad ...

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Madness In Macbeth And Hamlet. (2006, July 26). Retrieved January 10, 2026, from http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Madness-In-Macbeth-And-Hamlet/49746

"Madness In Macbeth And Hamlet." Essayworld.com. Essayworld.com, 26 Jul. 2006. Web. 10 Jan. 2026. <http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Madness-In-Macbeth-And-Hamlet/49746>

"Madness In Macbeth And Hamlet." Essayworld.com. July 26, 2006. Accessed January 10, 2026. http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Madness-In-Macbeth-And-Hamlet/49746.

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PAPER DETAILS

Added: 7/26/2006 05:03:12 PM
Category: English
Type: Premium Paper
Words: 915
Pages: 4

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