Реферат: Is Hamlet Loony Essay Research Paper Throughout

Is Hamlet Loony? Essay, Research Paper

Throughout Shakespeare s play Hamlet , Hamlet is described as ‘mad’ by the other

characters: as he encounters the ghost of his father in Act I, as he kills Polonius and

confronts his mother in Act III, and ultimately when he confronts Laertes and Claudius in

the final scene. But this ‘madness’ is a broad term used by the characters, and Shakespeare,

to refer to the actions taken by Hamlet while he is in this state of mind. With all things

taken into account, this lunacy can actually be seen to be a facade put on by him, a type of

feigned madness meant to deceive and entrap Claudius.

Some of the most obvious evidence of Hamlet s mental confidence and lack of

insanity is when he is talking to himself . Shakespeare uses his soliloquies and asides to

demonstrate this to the audience, but his appearance of confusion, indecision and

nervousness leads the other characters to label him ‘mad’. This is established quite early in

the play, and much of the following action revolves around Hamlet’s scheming under the

disguise of ‘madness’. Shakespeare shows that madness can be used describe something

as trivial as Hamlet s first signs of lunacy, as well as true insanity as we see in Ophelia.

Also included in the definition is the passion and obsession that Hamlet displays in later

Acts in the pursuit of his revenge.

At the start of the play, Hamlet is shown to be mourning his father s death. As the

queen encourages him to look to the future, he responds angrily to her suggestion that he

appears to be grieving: “But I have within which passeth show; these but the trappings and

the suits of woe.”. We see immediately the kind of strained relationship that Hamlet has

with Claudius, and the his attempts to win over Hamlet, or at least to control him.

From the outset, then, we see that Hamlet is not entirely at peace with himself, and is

prone to emotional outbursts at those around who do not understand him. His soliloquy in

Act I Sc. ii explains some of the reasons for his distraction: the death of his father, the

remarriage of his mother to his evil brother; all these have shaken Hamlet’s faith in the

world. This passage is also a prediction for the course of the rest of the play, as he

struggles between passion and reserve in order to enact revenge for his father. But at this

point, Hamlet is perhaps at his most ‘mad’ – he is tormented with grief, but has not yet

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