Hamlet Madness Analyzed Essay Example
Hamlet Madness Analyzed Essay Example

Hamlet Madness Analyzed Essay Example

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  • Pages: 2 (524 words)
  • Published: May 9, 2017
  • Type: Analysis
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Do not merely summarize the plot. It is safe to say that many of Shakespeare’s plays have some sort of madness intertwined in the plot which plays an important role in the story. In the play, Hamlet, the madness as a whole and within the main character himself, Hamlet, plays a vital role. At the start of the play, the main character, Hamlet encounters the ghost of his recently murdered father, King Hamlet. Hamlet learns that the new King Claudius, who is the deceased King’s brother, is the one who murdered King Hamlet. Claudius also married his deceased brother’s wife, who is also Hamlet’s mother, Gertrude.

The mere plot of the story is an obvious reason to why Hamlet behaved the irrational way that he did. However, while some may say that the con

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crete events that went on in the play such as talking to his dead father’s ghost and his mother remarrying so quickly to his uncle drove him mad, some also argue that his madness was merely an act. The ghost of King Hamlet simply tells Hamlet to pass on the truth and get revenge on Claudius without hurting or involving Gertrude. For Hamlet to do so, he decides to put on an act that he has gone mad to divert anyone from truly understand what his plan was for justice.

While this method did work at first for Hamlet, his act of madness soon became a reality. This is illustrated in his relationship with Ophelia, his apparent love. While Hamlet tried to keep his sanity and figure out a way to trick Claudius into confession or to even murder him for what he ha

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done, his walls came down around Ophelia and he truly showed that he had gone mad. It was no longer an act. Ophelia was warned by her father, Polonius and her brother, Laertes to stay away from Hamlet, however, she denied their warnings.

There were many attempts for Ophelia to get away from Hamlet, yet none of them worked and Ophelia wound up dying, most likely as a suicide. Hamlet’s madness drove Ophelia mad as well and it became the downfall of her as well as many other characters in the play. While it is true that Hamlet was merely playing the role of someone who had gone mad, many people may say that Hamlet’s madness was brought upon himself simply by the fact that he was trying to fulfill the orders from his dead father yet couldn’t because of his lack of acting upon a plan.

It is strongly possible that Hamlet became extremely frustrated because every chance he got to expose Claudius and capture him in this enormous secret, he failed to do so. Therefore, Hamlet’s madness could be judged as reasonable but most likely for different reasons than one may think. Rather than going mad over the concrete facts that his father died and his mother remarried his uncle less than two months afterwards, he drove himself mad over his own flaws. Hamlet’s tragic flaw absolutely led to his tragic downfall as a character.

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