Hamlet Essay -- essays research papers

During Shakespeare’s play Hamlet, the main character Hamlet has to deal with the responsibility of revenging his father’s murder. He learns of his tragic death when the ghost of King Hamlet comes to him and tells him the truth of his murder: he was killed by his brother Claudius, for his crown and his wife. Hamlet decides that the best plan of action is to fake madness to attain his father’s vengeance by murdering Claudius. As the play develops, Hamlets act of being a madman becomes more and more believable, and his friends and family react as you’d expect someone who is discovering that their loved one is slowly turning insane would. As we read the play and begin to understand Hamlet’s mentality, his inner thoughts, and the reasons for his actions, it becomes clear to the reader that Hamlet is, in fact, totally and healthily sane. It becomes evident that he is simply simulating insanity so that it is easier to fulfill his duties to his father, and that Claudius’s murder doesn’t rest so guiltily on his conscience. Hamlet only feigns madness because it allows him to do and say things that he otherwise could not say without severe repercussions and suspicion being held against him. It also prevents people from blaming him for his ridiculous antics, and from taking him seriously. We first see Hamlet’s initial plan of faking insanity falling into place when he is talking to Horatio and Marcellus, telling them not to comment to anyone about his â€Å"antic disposition (Shakespeare, 75).† Hamlet’s supposed madness allows him to talk to his friends, family, and especially to Ophelia in a manner that is totally unsuitable for a human being to act, especially a prince. He is completely disrespectful and insulting in his remarks, and although his antic disposition backfires while he is talking to his mother, it allows him to severely reprimand her actions and criticize her for her disloyalty to her deceased husband because Gertrude thinks he is insane. She therefore is very passive in her response to Hamlet, being very dismissive of his actions and harsh words because of his supposed insanity. Throughout the play, Hamlet also makes some very sexually inappropriate remarks to Ophelia such as â€Å"That’s a fair thought to lie between a maids` legs (Shakespeare, 157).† He can inappropriately vent his anger toward Ophelia for her abandonment in any way he pleases, being emotion... ...the play sane, normal, healthy, loving, but with the discovery of his father’s murder and his mother’s remarriage, he dies selfish, distraught, and cold-hearted. His feigned madness is maintained throughout the entire play because it allows him to follow through with his plans, which makes Hamlet not only completely sane, but truly genius. Maybe Hamlet thought too much, but he thought (and acted) as only a sane man could. He commits no actions whatsoever without much thought and reason, and he is far too organized, particular, and articulate to be proclaimed insane. His one downfall is also responsible of his many successes: his intelligence. Hamlet thinks far too much and has too much of a conscience to behave as a madman would, and going on a murdering rampage to kill Claudius. His hesitation in doing so is the main key that allows the reader to realize that Hamlet’s insanity is a complete farce, used to help Hamlet to maximize his father’s revenge a gainst Claudius in the most efficient and effective way possible, leaving few repercussions for Hamlet. Hamlet’s portrayal of a mad man is also very complicated because it not only gets his point made, but in a believably insane way.