Unlocking Shakespeares Language: Hamlets Madness - Essay Example

Unlocking Shakespeare’s Language: Hamlet’s Madness ‘Hamlet’ is a play written by Shakespeare and was set in the republic of Denmark. The whole play centers around prince Hamlet and the quest for vengeance for the death of his late father who was killed by his uncle , the now king Claudius. Claudius is a selfish and ambitious king who does not care about the justice of the people he rules but rather maintaining his own influence and averting political danger for his good. In the play, Hamlet is the prince surviving the recently deceased king of Denmark. When Horatio and the watchmen bring to his attention the news of his father’s ghost, he seeks out to find pout the cause of his father’s death only to discover that he was killed by his uncle Claudius. Hamlet faces psychological crisis without knowledge of the next course of action. He is further disturbed by the fact that his mother has married King Claudius immediately his father died. He is very angry at his mother as he views it as betrayal and instead thinks that his mother Gertrude should be sensitive to his feelings and mourn king Hamlet, he says, “O, most wicked speed, to post/With such dexterity to incestuous sheets! “(I.ii 156-157). Hamlet is faced with the distress of making the wrong decision to avenge with death as he will be shedding blood, but then cannot rest and not give justice to his father’s death, he wonders, “Thus conscience does make cowards o us all; /And thus the native hue of resolution /Is sicklied o‟er with the pale cast of thought (Act III, Scene 1, lines 83-85). Hamlet therefore decides to establish the guilt of Claudius by feigning madness so as to ascertain that he killed the king and avenge his death. Hamlet pretends to be mad in order to establish the guilt of king Claudius in the murder of his father. He does this in plot which will enable him revenge his father’s death. He views that he could not kill Claudius without his confession since he only had the information given to him by his father’s ghost. While he thinks that there will be sufficient information from his uncle Claudius when he sees that he is mad, he is very disappointed in this quest since it becomes very hard for him to get the information out of Claudius this way. Madness is also another way to enable him to buy some time for digging into Claudius affairs in order to gather the evidence around him which will help Hamlet establish his guilt. He had been very depressed after his father’s death and both his mother and king Claudius had complained about his extreme sadness. He decided to feigning madness so that they would not suspect his suspicion. Pretending to be mad helps him a lot in masking his suspicions. It also allows his to plan his revenge. Hamlet is aware of Claudius’s power and understands that if he fails to kill the king, he will be executed immediately and Claudius will not pay for his mistakes. He is able to determine the plot of his revenge without allowing him to escape. The act of madness by Hamlet is very effective in establishing the guiltiness of Claudius in the murder of the king. It allows him to get the evidence he needs to proof that Claudius is guilty and sets out to sacrifice his own sanity to avenge his father’s death. It is evident for him that king Claudius sacrificed his father so that he could be the king and inherit his widow in a culture where such practice was not practiced. By feigning madness, Hamlet risks his life as he sets out to kill King Claudius as requested by the ghost of his father. King Hamlet tells him that by poisoning his ear, “the whole ear of Denmark / Is by a forgèd process of my death / Rankly abused” (1.5.36-38), and therefore he should make it clean again by killing king Claudius. Hamlet stages play The Murder of Gonzago, which he uses other characters to identify the guilt of Claudius. This play involves the murder like the one which involved his father. He stages the play in the palace while Claudius watches them perform. Hamlet observes Claudius reaction as the play progresses. He cannot contain himself as he is very disturbed by his conscience. During the poisoning speech, the king could not contain himself and Hamlet was convinced that he was indeed guilty of the accused crime. Hamlet’s madness benefits him a lot in the play. Through his act of madness, he is able to know the people who can be his allies in this plot. His encounter with Ophelia reveals to him that he cannot trust her to be his confidant. This is because she immediately rushed to his father and discloses to him that Hamlet is mad. Polonius rushes to Claudius and tells him about Hamlet’s madness. This shows him that the two cannot be trusted since they will tell Claudius about his plot. He also succeeds in convincing his mother that he is mad and this allows him to plan his revenge. When Gertrude hears of his son’s madness, she remarks, "I doubt it no other but the main,/ His father's death and our o'erhasty marriage" (56-57). She also thinks that her rush marriage to Claudius disturbed Hamlet very much to a point of madness. Claduius is also very convinced of Hamlets madness and views is as a disease. This allows him to carry out his revenge without attracting any attention or suspicion. The act of feigning madness by Hamlet resulted into other negative consequences although it helped him avenge his father. Hamlet is unable to kill King Claudius when the opportunity presents itself. When he finds him praying, he resorts not to kill him as he will exonerate his spirit and he won’t go to hell as he deserves. Although he demonstrates a huge urge to kill Claudius, this scene demonstrates his moral and psychological unpreparedness to take life (p.63). This means that Hamlet forgoes this chance to kill him and waits for another one. This leads to the death of Polonius. In the quest for Claudius life, he sacrifices Polonius life as he did not want to lose another opportunity to kill Claudius. He is devastated to find out it was Polonius, he says, “O cursèd spite / That ever I was born to set it right!” (1.5.189-90). This puts him a very bad situation with his son Laertes who seeks to kill him. The thirst for revenge leads Hamlet to betray Ophelia. Ophelia and Hamlet were in love before Hamlet started the quest to avenge his father’s death. Since Polonius, Ophelia’s father was a Lord Chamberlain of King Claudius’s court, he uses Ophelia to spy on Hamlet but she does not quiet succeed as Hamlet feigns madness and denies her. He suffers when Ophelia dies as a result of his betrayal. Hamlet jumps into the grave side of Ophelia with grief and says,” I loved Ophelia./ Forty thousand brothers Could not/, with all their quantity of love,/Make up my sum …Let Hercules himself do what he may,/The cat will mew, /and dog will have his day. (5.1.238-42, 254-56, 276-77). His quest for revenge ends the lives of all the members of the royal family and Polonius’ family. "To be not to be" is soliloquy where Hamlet complete suicide and questions whether it is worth continuing to live with all his problems. the murder of his father and the marriage of his mother to the same man who killed his mother are issues which are driving him crazier each day publicly while deep inside him, he has gained much courage in death as compared to his fear at the beginning of the play. He questions about the need to be alive and suffer than to commit suicide. He wonders, “Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer”( Act III, scene i 59). He views death as just sleep where one can have the opportunity to dream. This soliloquy presents Hamlet’s moral and logical examination about life and suicide. Although Hamlet does not mention suicide in his soliloquy, his madness, quest for revenge and his confusion on how to get Claudius to confess messes up his life. On the other hand, he has Ophelia who she loves but now he has to pretend not to love her so that his plot is not exposed. His life has become very difficult that he must be contemplating suicide. We can conclude by noting that the request of Hamlet’s father to Hamlet to kill Claudius puts him in a very difficult position. He does not understand why his father would want him to commit the same crime he is punishing. In order to succeed in this plot, he pretends to be mad in order to get Claudius to confess. His plot is very successful as he succeeds in ascertaining that Claudius is guilty as charged. Although he is able to success in his revenge, there are serious consequences resulting from this plot. The entire members of the royal family ends up ends, Ophelia, his father and brother also die in this plot. In my opinion, this revenge was very dangerous as it distracted the lives of many people and killed many innocent people. Works Cited Hellenga, Robert R. "Hamlet in the Classroom." College English 35, 1973: pp. 32-39. Print. Lawrence, William Witherle. The Play Scene in Hamlet. The Journal of English and Germanic Philology. Vol.18. 1 Jan. 1919. Shakespeare Online. 20 Aug. 2013. < http://www.shakespeare-online.com/plays/Hamlet/spokenplayHamlet.html >. Mabillard, Amanda. Deception in Shakespeare's Hamlet. Shakespeare Online. 25 Aug. 2008. < http://www.shakespeare-online.com/playanalysis/deceptioninHamlet.html" > . Robinson, Randal. Unlocking Shakespeare’s Language: Help for the Teacher and Student. Urbana: National Council of Teachers of English, 1989. Print. Sacks, Claire, and Whan, Edgar, eds. Hamlet: Enter Critic. New York: Appleton-Century-Crofts, 1960. Print. William Shakespeare, Hamlet Prince of Denmark, London: oxford university press, 1914. Print. Read More