Insanity in Shakespeare - Essay Example

s the assignment was due Insanity in Shakespeare The human mind is a ‘mine’ of thoughts. That is, the human mind is ‘mined’ with lot of thoughts and memories, which can be extracted and put into action only at appropriate times. If those thoughts are erroneously and imperfectly translated into action and fail to achieve the intended targets, then the mind of the humans will become unstable, leading to insanity in course of time. In some cases, the process of translating the thoughts into action will take only few seconds because of feasibility, while in other cases the ‘translation’ is hindered by various factors, leading to mental imbalance. These real life characteristics are very well reflected in fictional life as well. That is, mental imbalance for the characters could be a crucial hindrance. Even though mental imbalance or madness or insanity is normally a drawback to translate the character’s thoughts into action, it could also be a strategy used intentionally by the characters to prevent failure in a mission. That is, certain characters without revealing to anyone will act like a mad or insane person and will try to achieve their targets. So, even though insanity would create mental blocks, characters in many Shakespeare plays through insanity have reached any actions’ logical conclusion whatever be the repercussions. Likewise, the Shakespearean character Hamlet’s thoughts were on killing his uncle Claudius but lot of factors made him to act like that he had became mentally or insane. So, this paper will focus on insanity in Shakespearean plays, particularly Hamlet. In the Shakespearean play of Hamlet, the central character of Hamlet is a tragic hero who while trying to avenge his father death, ventures into a death trap. A deathtrap was set by his uncle (father’s brother), but tragically all the main characters also fell into that trap. When the play begins in Elsinore in the kingdom of Denmark two guards along with the scholar, Horatio spot supernatural forces at work. That is, they notice the ghost of the dead king, the Old Hamlet. Regarding his death, it is believed among the kingdom’s people that he died of unknown reasons, until it is proved otherwise in the course of the play. But the fact is, the king is dead and his brother Claudius have crowned himself the king, and along with his crowning he maintained the ‘status quo’, by marrying the late king’s wife Gertrude and continued her as the queen of Denmark. In all this developments, the legal heir and son of the late king, Hamlet remains a mute spectator, grieving for his father’s death and grousing at the decision of her mother to marry her uncle, just two months after his father’s death. “O most wicked speed, to post with such dexterity to incestuous sheets!” (1.2.157). So this decision of her mother made him feel for his father and pushed him to find out the truth, and also seek revenge. After grieving in black robes, he follows Horatio to confirm whether his father is only appearing as a ghost. And when he sees him he doesn’t know whether to believe it or not, but was very shocked to hear from him that it was Claudius who actually committed the murder by pouring poison into his ear, when he was fast asleep in the garden. When Hamlet heard this, he was skeptical and was double minded whether to believe it or not. But realizing the gravity of the charge, he seeks to find the truth behind the death. He decides to act insanely, without hesitance so he could make the culprits ‘spills the beans’. That is, by showcasing himself as insane, without a stable thought process, it wants others to believe that any thing can be said to him and he will be unable to follow it. We are led to suppose, I have shown, that Hamlet assumes it in the first place because he feels his mind tottering and wishes to conceal the fact from his friends. We do not doubt, for instance, that he deliberately puts on the disposition when he becomes conscious of the presence of the eavesdroppers at the beginning of the nunnery scene (Wilson 223). "Hamlets lunacy" (2.2.49) may affect his relationship with his lover Ophelia, but he did not hesitate. There is an interesting parallel between Hamlet and Ophelia, where both mirror each other’s behavior and actions. Hamlet works in conspiracy to find his father’s murderer and Ophelia works in secret with her father to find the cause of Hamlet’s madness. Hamlet’s feigned madness is mirrored by Ophelia’s true madness later in the play. His only thoughts were on finding his father’s murderers, and thereby translate into action his thoughts of killing the murderers. So, he is not insane and acted as insane to get what he wants. If we want competent evidence of Hamlets insanity, we must seek it in Shakespeares own contributions to the play; they are Shakespeares comments, so to speak, on his borrowed plot, and they alone can be trusted to declare his mind. Of course they emphatically proclaim Hamlet sane. (Lewis 77) Then he executes another plan to expose Claudius who he thinks could be his father’s murderer, because his father’s ghost said so. So, with Claudius on the front seat, Hamlet stages a play “The Mousetrap” featuring a scene in which a character kills the king by pouring poison into the ear. And when the scene is being acted, Claudius out of guilt forces the play to stop. This act of Claudius is just enough to confirm Hamlet’s suspicions. Hamlet gleefully tells Horatio, "O good Horatio, Ill take the Ghosts word for a thousand pound" (3.2.263-264). Here, Shakespeare’s scene creating skills come to the fore. That is, Shakespeare creates this murder scene in the play (actually play within the play) and brings out the real murder that happened. Hamlet boiling with revengeful mind goes to Claudius room to murder him where Claudius, in a solitude state, admits to killing his brother and laments the fact that he cannot repent his crime. He then started his prayers, mainly to absolve his crime. Hamlet enters behind him and is about to kill his uncle, when he realizes that Claudius has been praying. So, he decides not to kill him because he thinks that if Claudius is killed during prayers, Claudius would be absolved of all his sins. "A villain kills my father, and for that / I, his sole son, do this same villain send to heaven.../ When he is drunk asleep, or in his rage.../ at gaming, swearing, or about some act / That has no relish of salvation int, / And that his soul may be as damned and black / As hell whereto it goes" (3.3.76-78,89,91-92,94-95). Hamlet postpones his killing plan and wishes to make an attempt when he is sure that Claudius will be sent to hell. Here also Hamlet’s hesitance come to the fore, that is even though his mind his full of thoughts of murdering his father’s killer, he could not translate it into action. But he hesitated mainly because of his beliefs in superior power. So here his hesitance has valid reason. But this hesitance is also an inbuilt strategy because if he had killed Claudius in the prayers, it would have created graver consequences. That is, at that moment of the story, Hamlet is viewed as an insane person. So, his act of revenge will be constructed in a wrong way and Claudius original crime could be wiped off. Also there will be no evidence or witness to save him. Hamlet also has no intention of killing Gertrude because old Hamlet wished so.” Gertrude, his mother, is indirectly implicated, but the ghost orders Hamlet to confine his revenge to Claudius”(enotes.com, 0089900187) Claudius as counter measure tries to exile Hamlet to save his life and as a punishment to Hamlet for killing the lord, Polonius. But, Hamlet returns to Denmark, setting the stage for a bloody climax. “The death of Claudius near the end of the homicidal frenzy of 5.2 is the final confrontation” (Usher, 52). Using a fencing match as the setting, Claudius plans to apply Laertes sword with poison, so when it strikes Hamlet in the course of the match, he will die instantly. Even if, Hamlet emerge victorious without getting cut from the poisoned sword, Claudius planned a backup plan to murder Hamlet by giving a poison mixed wine with pearl as a ‘victory drink’ for Hamlet. But in a chain of tragic sequences, Gertrude overjoyed by his son’s exploits in the fencing match, mistakenly drinks the poisoned wine, while Laertes as well as Hamlet get struck by the poisoned sword, with Hamlet also slitting the Claudius’s throat. So the four main characters get killed with Horatio remaining the only witness, who reveals all the truths to the people of the kingdom and paves the way for Hamlet to get the military honors on his death. “The grief of Horatio guides our feeling here as he farewells his friend…as he claims his rights in the kingdom and orders full military honors for the dead Hamlet” (McFarlane, 6261). So in the climax, Hamlet does not hesitate even a bit because he felt his end is nearing, and he will not get another opportunity to seek revenge. Importantly killing his father’s killer has been his only motive or wish after he came to know the truth. So his act of insanity helped him achieve what he wanted, even though it created problems for other characters. Works Cited enotes.com. 2006. Hamlet the Prince of Denmark (Magill book review). April 26, 2008. Lewis, Charlton M. The Genesis of Hamlet. New York: Henry Holt, 1907. Questia. 21 Apr. 2008 . McFarlane, Brian.1997. In Review – William Shakespeare Hamlet. April 26, 2008. Usher, Peter D. 1999. Hamlet’s Transformation. Elizabethan Review. Vol. 7, No. 1, pp. 48-64 Wilson, J. Dover. What Happens in Hamlet. New York: Macmillan, 1935. Questia. 21 Apr. 2008 . Read More

After grieving in black robes, he follows Horatio to confirm whether his father is only appearing as a ghost. And when he sees him he doesn’t know whether to believe it or not, but was very shocked to hear from him that it was Claudius who actually committed the murder by pouring poison into his ear, when he was fast asleep in the garden. When Hamlet heard this, he was skeptical and was double minded whether to believe it or not. But realizing the gravity of the charge, he seeks to find the truth behind the death.

He decides to act insanely, without hesitance so he could make the culprits ‘spills the beans’. That is, by showcasing himself as insane, without a stable thought process, it wants others to believe that any thing can be said to him and he will be unable to follow it. We are led to suppose, I have shown, that Hamlet assumes it in the first place because he feels his mind tottering and wishes to conceal the fact from his friends. We do not doubt, for instance, that he deliberately puts on the disposition when he becomes conscious of the presence of the eavesdroppers at the beginning of the nunnery scene (Wilson 223).

"Hamlets lunacy" (2.2.49) may affect his relationship with his lover Ophelia, but he did not hesitate. There is an interesting parallel between Hamlet and Ophelia, where both mirror each other’s behavior and actions. Hamlet works in conspiracy to find his father’s murderer and Ophelia works in secret with her father to find the cause of Hamlet’s madness. Hamlet’s feigned madness is mirrored by Ophelia’s true madness later in the play. His only thoughts were on finding his father’s murderers, and thereby translate into action his thoughts of killing the murderers.

So, he is not insane and acted as insane to get what he wants. If we want competent evidence of Hamlets insanity, we must seek it in Shakespeares own contributions to the play; they are Shakespeares comments, so to speak, on his borrowed plot, and they alone can be trusted to declare his mind. Of course they emphatically proclaim Hamlet sane. (Lewis 77) Then he executes another plan to expose Claudius who he thinks could be his father’s murderer, because his father’s ghost said so. So, with Claudius on the front seat, Hamlet stages a play “The Mousetrap” featuring a scene in which a character kills the king by pouring poison into the ear.

And when the scene is being acted, Claudius out of guilt forces the play to stop. This act of Claudius is just enough to confirm Hamlet’s suspicions. Hamlet gleefully tells Horatio, "O good Horatio, Ill take the Ghosts word for a thousand pound" (3.2.263-264). Here, Shakespeare’s scene creating skills come to the fore. That is, Shakespeare creates this murder scene in the play (actually play within the play) and brings out the real murder that happened. Hamlet boiling with revengeful mind goes to Claudius room to murder him where Claudius, in a solitude state, admits to killing his brother and laments the fact that he cannot repent his crime.

He then started his prayers, mainly to absolve his crime. Hamlet enters behind him and is about to kill his uncle, when he realizes that Claudius has been praying. So, he decides not to kill him because he thinks that if Claudius is killed during prayers, Claudius would be absolved of all his sins. "A villain kills my father, and for that / I, his sole son, do this same villain send to heaven./ When he is drunk asleep, or in his rage./ at gaming, swearing, or about some act / That has no relish of salvation int, / And that his soul may be as damned and black / As hell whereto it goes" (3.3.76-78,89,91-92,94-95).

Hamlet postpones his killing plan and wishes to make an attempt when he is sure that Claudius will be sent to hell. Here also Hamlet’s hesitance come to the fore, that is even though his mind his full of thoughts of murdering his father’s killer, he could not translate it into action. But he hesitated mainly because of his beliefs in superior power.

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