The Insanity of Hamlet - Essay Example

The Insanity of Hamlet William Shakespeare’s Hamlet clearly describes how Hamlet shows an antic disposition that results to his mind breakdown. His ability to reason well and make sober decisions is greatly affected by his antic disposition. He manages to act crazy and he is believed to be actually crazy. Antic disposition is a way of acting mad and making it believable. This works for Hamlet so well that even his relationship is destroyed. His antic disposition goes on through the whole play, combined with his temper and the strong urge for revenge. His tempers during the play make him so bitter and emotional making him do and say things without thinking of the consequences. Hamlet’s father’s death is the reason behind him acting all crazy and angry. He is planning to revenge for the death of his father, so his acting crazy is actually part of the plan. However, his antic disposition leads him into making very insane decisions, which may prevent him from administering his initial plan. As he is making sure he makes it believable that he is mad, some of his actions mess up his plans, and he has to work towards making it possible. After the death of King Hamlet, his father, he immediately starts acting all crazy. This was also powered by the fact that Hamlet did not get a chance to mourn his father. He was supposed to accept the news and carry on with life. Hamlet could not come into terms with the fact that his father was dead, and it seemed so fine. He was actually not allowed to mourn at all. His mother and uncle would say heartbreaking things to him, and this would make him feel so bad. His Uncle Claudius then married his mother and they carried on with life so well like nothing had happened. These events happen so fast and Hamlet cannot really understand why his father died, and why his mother moved on so fast with no pain of loss. He is therefore distracted from that moment and starts his antic disposition. His mind gets lost in thoughts and imaginations that make him look insane. A ghost in the form and image of Hamlet’s father comes to him in the middle of the night and leads him far away from the people around. Hamlet gets even crazier and follows the ghost thinking that it is fate leading him there. He is determined to grasp every word the ghost says to get the information he needs. He even threatens Marcellus and Horatio that he will kill them if they do not let him go. They finally agree to let him leave but follow him closely. The ghost seen by Hamlet is the first thing that proves his insanity through his antic disposition. Hamlet decides to follow the ghost to wherever he will be led to; ignoring the fact that he can be exposing himself to great danger. Hamlet’s antic disposition starts to practically control his mind when he decides to follow the ghost. He does not realize that he is risking his life by doing that, and this shows that he is actually going mad. It could be impossible for Hamlet to follow the ghost without realizing the risk if he was sane. This action thus marks the beginning of a series of events that are controlled by his antic disposition, which could lead to actual insanity. According to Marcellus, the appearance of the ghost meant that there was something very wrong with the state of Denmark. It meant that the worst was about to happen. Hamlet’s antic disposition would not allow his mind to think straight and figure out why the ghost was there. Instead, he was so curious, anxious and eager to finding out what the ghost had to say. In that case, Hamlet did not prepare himself for what would become of the ghost’s visit. A lady by the name Ophelia was the love target for Hamlet. He showed love to her and spent as much time with her as he could. He would assure her of his love towards her and give her promises. Ophelia was so excited by the fact that the prince of Denmark loved her. She was always there for him, to listen to and make him happy. She was fully convinced that Hamlet was in love with her, but later her father and brother told her that Hamlet was never in love with her. They told her that she should stop seeing him. Her brother and father believed that once Hamlet became king, he would stop loving her and dedicate his time to his throne. Ophelia obeyed her father as expected, and started avoiding Hamlet. This powered Hamlet’s insanity even more. He could not come into terms with Ophelia’s change and rejection. Hamlet’s antic disposition got worse after he was rejected by Ophelia, especially when she stopped replying his letters and spending time with him. His situation troubled his uncle Claudius and he decided to find out whether it was love that was driving him insane. However, Polonius understood that it was the rejection and not love, that was making him act so crazy. As a way of defense or fear of shame, Hamlet denied that he was in love with Ophelia. He did this out of the anger and rage he felt inside him. All this things created more anger and insanity inside Hamlet’s mind, and affected his judgment. He could not share what he felt deep down in his heart, so he allowed all the hatred and anger fill his heart, and the result was insanity. Hamlet’s antic disposition continued controlling his mind until he could not think well any more. He continued making crazy decisions and everyone around him got more and more convinced that he was really insane. He acted with emotions and everything he did was out of anger and search for revenge. His antic dispositions lead him to worse situations where he found himself between life and death. The pain he was going through was so much that it reached a time when he started thinking of taking his own life. He had not come into terms with his father’s death and then Ophelia rejected him. Life became so unfair and painful for him that he couldn’t handle any more pain. According to Hamlet, death seemed much better than life full of pain. He thought death as just sleep and rest forever with no pressure and pain. He thought that if he died, then he would feel no more pain or anger in his heart. At the same time, he was also so scared of death. He did not know what would come after death. These thoughts run through his mind, making him a crazy man. He could not agree even with himself. He began thinking about the world of the dead, and it scared him. It was a world he knew nothing about and if he went there, he could not come back into the world of the living. Hamlet is said to have known what he doing all this time, but some of his actions clearly show that he was insane. He murdered Polonius without looking if anyone saw him. He could not have done that if he was really sane. He made such judgments that proved his insanity. His father’s death affected him so much and it is possible that he lost his mind at the moment he found out. His denial about loving Ophelia is another decision he made, that could have been out of his insanity. He could not destroy all he had worked for, if he was not insane. He had also thought about murdering Claudius, another sign that he could have been insane. Murder was a very dangerous thing for anyone to do, unless he/she was out of their mind. Eventually, Hamlet was able to revenge his father’s death. That gave him the satisfaction that he wanted, but it had repercussions. His antic disposition controlled him and he destroyed his relationship, as well as creating the belief that he was an insane man. His actions, led him into becoming insane, although initially it was a plan to help him execute his revenge. The judgments and decisions he made were responsible for losing his mind. Work cited The Insanity of Hamlet: December 2013 Read More