Is Hamlet Really Crazy - Essay Example

Is Hamlet Really Crazy The idea of whether Hamlet was insane is an issue of individual interpretation. Modern scholars and audience are unable to ascertain the intentions of Shakespeare. Since no one from Shakespeare’s time exists to evaluate and interpret the intentions of Shakespeare’s production. Contemporary audiences and scholars have formed different and unique conclusions of whether Hamlet was insane or not. There is enough evidence from the play that Hamlet pretended to be mad in order to disconcert and confuse his attendants.

Hamlet’s character intentionally shows that Hamlet decided to act in an insane manner on purpose. By seeming insane, he can show his stepfather and mother that he is not out to expose them for their actions. This part in the play intends to show Hamlet appear as if he was insane. However, it is significant to consider what he does. At first, Hamlet sees his dead father perhaps he is delusional. Hamlet thinks of suicide and he is responsible for the death of his friend Ophelia and his uncle or stepfather.

From these behaviors, I think one could discount the killing of his stepfather as accidental but the suicidal acts are signs of insanity. This is because Hamlet is experiencing severe guilt and depression because of the death of his father. His world has been interrupted and turned by the demise of his father. Everything that Hamlet viewed as correct and good in the world like the love he had for Ophelia and his mother, are shuttered. In the end, he murders his stepfather. Can this be acts of revenge or insanity?

Is revenge is part of craziness? Individual who are sane search for other means to access justice that do not involve killing of other people. Hamlet starts as sane but playing as insane, he becomes so. He is depressed and tortured by the demise of his father and feels betrayed by his mother. Later in the play, Hamlet informs us of his craziness in a conversation with Guildenstern and Rosencrantz. He realized that they were spying on him. Therefore, he informs them that he was mad. This implies that Hamlet was not crazy but only playing as insane because he could differentiate between things that resembled each other.

Hamlets insanity can be construed by deeply assessing and evaluating his behaviors. Hamlet’s insanity is defined by different events in the play. However, his craziness never established as real madness. The anger and resentment of his Father’s death is understandable. In real sense, I think Hamlet was mad but he was just playing like crazy in order to avenge the death of his father. Work CitedShakespeare, William. Hamlet. New York: Puffin, 2011. Print.