Madness in Hamlet

While Hamlet’s “mad” behavior starts out as an “antic disposition,” his mental state deteriorates. Does Hamlet truly go “mad,” or is all of his wackiness an act?

Many people have seen Hamlet as a play about uncertainty and about Hamlet's failure to act appropriately. It is very interesting to consider that the play shows many uncertainties that lives are built upon, or how many unknown quantities are taken for granted when people act or when they evaluate one another's actions. Hamlet is an especially intriguing production, both on the set and on the screen because of its uniqueness to be different from what most people expect to be in a revenge themed play. Hamlet's cynicism and insane like behavior cause him to seem indecisive, but in reality he is always judging and contemplating his actions in the back of his mind in order to seek revenge for the murder of

“Mood disorder: although Hamlet worries a lot, he doesn’t avoid situations that cause him to worry. He confronts the ghost of his father as it appears before him. Also, he presents two symptoms namely restlessness or feeling on the edge and irability.” (Character Analysis of Hamlet, Psychological Disorders, Sept. 22, 2012).

     Hamlet, by William Shakespeare, is a complex play, filled with layers of meaning. These are often revealed through the madness of the characters and the theme of madness throughout the play. Although Hamlet and Ophelia are the only characters thought to be so afflicted, the reactions of other characters to this madness mirrors their own preoccupations.

Hamlet’s sanity has made many people question him. “Hamlet certainly displays a high degree of mania and instability throughout much of the play, but his “madness” is perhaps too purposeful and pointed

Throughout the Shakespearian play, Hamlet, the main character is given the overwhelming responsibility of avenging his father’s "foul and most unnatural murder" (I.iv.36). Such a burden can slowly drive a man off the deep end psychologically. Because of this, Hamlet’s disposition is extremely inconsistent and erratic throughout the play. At times he shows signs of uncontrollable insanity. Whenever he interacts with the characters he is wild, crazy, and plays a fool. At other times, he exemplifies intelligence and method in his madness. In instances when he is alone or with Horatio, he is civilized and sane. Hamlet goes through different stages of insanity throughout the story, but his neurotic and skeptical personality amplifies his

There are several reasons why one would suspect Prince Hamlet to have bipolar disorder. Bipolar disorder has five classifications, including: bipolar I, bipolar II, rapid cycling, mixed bipolar, and cyclothymia. It causes mood swings, severe depression, extreme feelings, and/or confusion. Hamlet, said to be about twenty years old, has been through so much more than the typical twenty year old has. In the play, Hamlet’s father had been recently murdered by his uncle, whom his mother has also recently married. These are the main reasons why Hamlet has also shown serious signs of major depressive disorder as well, which can often go hand-in-hand

The insanity of a person can be contributed through the trauma that is caused by a few events in a person’s life, but in the play Hamlet, William Shakespeare wrote the main character prince Hamlet experiences a few dramatic events from the play which his attitude changes throughout. In order to figure out whether hamlet is insane is by figuring out what the characteristics of his insanity. Characters see Hamlet in different shades of gray, each side more or less sane than others. His sanity can be his truth or his lie.

Hamlet's five soliloquies reveal enough about his inner thoughts and reasoning to allow a mental health professional to offer a diagnosis of Hamlet Syndrome. Hamlet Syndrome describes someone in a mental health state that slowly goes crazy and procrastinates. Throughout the whole play, Hamlet is waiting to kill his Stepfather. He is

Furthermore, Hamlet’s madness within the play can be interpreted as a subsequent result of metaphorical poison in the mind. At the beginning of the play when Hamlet gets to know of his father’s death and his uncle re-marrying his mother, immediately it is seen that Hamlet shows traits of a poisoned conscience. He says:

In the play Hamlet, by William Shakespeare madness is a prominent trait that many of the characters in the play come to possess. These characters go through a multitude of troubles throughout the play that makes this madness justifiable. This madness plays an immense role in the outcome of the play and events throughout it. Hamlet and Ophelia show this trait of madness in their actions throughout the play which ultimately have a detrimental effect on themselves and other characters in the play.

Madness is more of a sense of not realizing others are their own self. It is a mental condition that can have paranoia and other psychotic symptoms, however it is more the breaking down of one’s reality. People who are mad tend to not care about what others think and do as they like. It could be a way of coping with a sudden traumatic event, or it could happen slowly over time. In Shakespeare’s Hamlet, even though he had just lost his father, Hamlet does not act as if the world is ending. He mourns, but his reality is not broken. He may be obsessed with his mortality and avenging his father, and “putting on an antic disposition,” but he is not truly mad.

Motivation fuels almost every action that takes place in the world. In William Shakespeare’s “Hamlet”, the main character, Hamlet, has an episode where those around him observe that he is seemingly mad. His reactions and remarks to other characters, however, prove that perhaps his madness is a façade and a way to stay under the radar of King Claudius, his uncle. The interpretations of Hamlet’s mental state can be assessed differently for each reader. This, in turn, causes the story of Prince Hamlet to be individualized to each reader. This effect serves to raise questions about the complexities of the main character.

The tragedy of Hamlet by William Shakespeare is about Hamlet going insane and reveals his madness through his actions and dialogue. Hamlet remains one of the most discussed literary characters of all time. This is most likely due to the complex nature of Hamlet as a character. In one scene, Hamlet appears happy, and then he is angry in another and melancholy in the next. Hamlet’s madness is a result of his father’s death which was supposedly by the hands of his uncle, Claudius. He has also discovered that this same uncle is marrying his mom. It is expected that Hamlet would be suffering from some emotional issues as result of these catastrophes. Shakespeare uses vivid language, metaphors, and imagery to highlight how Hamlet’s madness

Madness is a trait which it is difficult to tell its authenticity. The theme of madness is an essential piece in William Shakespeare’s famous play Hamlet, the protagonist, Hamlet, who just lost his father, and having his uncle, Claudius marrying to his mother, Gertrude weeks after, he is very upset about the events and became very depressed. When Hamlet meets the ghost of his father, he decides to put an antic disposition on and started acting crazy as a part of his plan in order to discover if his father’s been murder or not. From time to time, Hamlet’s act of lunacy gets out of control and eventually caused him to lose his sense of reality and actually go insane, just like when he sees the ghost in his mother’s room, but Gertrude did not see or hear a thing, and he starts to lose his logical sense at the end when he is talking to the Osric and his best friend, Horatio. Finally, Hamlet’s antic disposition overtakes his rationality, controls him, and leads him to his downfall and many others around him.