An analysis of madness in the tragedy of hamlet
Is Hamlet mad? This is the most asked question regarding The Tragedy of Hamlet. His words are so cleverly constructed that others will perceive him asmad. It is this consistent cleverness that is the ultimate evidence of his complete sanity. Can a mad person be so clever? No, a mad person cannot. Hamlet is sane and brilliant. Thus, Hamlet’sinsanity is a sham.
There are many valid reasons to justify that Hamlet is insane, but more examples of Hamlet's sanity could be found. Therefore, Hamlet is mad, but only in contemporary terms.Of the numerous examples of rationality, there are three most convincing; the reasoning of Hamlet's crazy appearance, Hamlet's alternating soundness around the different characters, and Hamlet’smadness compared to true madness.
From the very beginning of the play, Hamlet could be perceived as a maverick. The reasoning to this is due to an incident involving his mother, Queen Gertrude,and his uncle, King Claudius. During the play’s opening, an apparition of Hamlet’s father, Old Hamlet, confronts Prince Hamlet with a description of its death as a mortal. In its explanation, therecently dead king’s ghost appoints King Claudius as the murderer.
After the ghost leaves, Hamlet asks Horatio (his bestfriend) and Marcellus, who were the witnesses to the appearance of the ghost, to swear that they will not tell the ghost's secret. "Never make known what you have seen tonight." "Upon my sword." saysHamlet. "My lord, we will not." Claim Horatio and Marcellus.
Consequently, Hamlet decides that the best way to learn the truth, without being fully criticized by others, would be by actingillogically while announcing statements that would confirm King Claudius’s actions. Polonius realizes it when he is in the middle seeing for himself whether the Prince really was crazy, or if there...
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