Sunday, October 13, 2019
Madness and Insanity in Shakespeares Hamlet - From Obsession to Insani
From Obsession to Madness in Hamlet    In Shakespeare's play Hamlet, there are several questions that come to the reader's mind regarding the emotional state of Hamlet. Was Hamlet really suffering from madness, as many of his friends and family thought? Was he mad or just pretending to be mad? Did Hamlet start out pretending to be mad, and his obsession drove him to madness? The reader gets insight into Hamlet's mental status through other characters and through Hamlet himself. If the characters had the information that Hamlet had about the murder of his father, would they have thought differently of his actions and his sanity?            Early in the play, King Claudius and Queen Gertrude show their concern for Hamlet's emotional state. Hamlet had just recently lost his father and his mother had married his father's brother. When Claudius asks Hamlet "How is it that the clouds still hang on you?" (1.2.66), he is attempting to determine why Hamlet is sad or depressed. At this point the reader does not see any signs of madness but is starting to see that Hamlet isn't his usual self.            After Claudius and Gertrude leave there is a chance to see how Hamlet really feels. In talking to himself, Hamlet states:               O that this too too sullied flesh would melt,              Thaw and resolve itself into dew,              Or that the Everlasting had not fix'd              His canon 'gainst self-slaughter. O God! God!              How weary, stale flat, and unprofitable              Seem to me all the uses of this world! (1.2.129-133)  Here you begin to get a glimpse of the turmoil that Hamlet is going through. But at this point there are legi... ...peare. Ed. Gerald Chapman. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1965. Epstein, Norrie. "One of Destiny's Casualties." Readings on Hamlet. Ed. Don Nardo. San Diego: Greenhaven Press, 1999. Rpt. of The Friendly Shakespeare: A Thoroughly Painless to the Best of the Bard. New York: Viking Penguin, 1993. p. 332-34. Gooch, Bryan N. S. "Review of The Shapes of Revenge: Victimization, Vengeance, and Vindictiveness in Shakespeare." Early Modern Literary Studies 4.1 (May, 1998): 5.1-6 http://purl.oclc.org/emls/04-1/rev_goo6.html. Gordon, Edward J. Introduction to Tragedy. Rochelle Park, NJ: Hayden Book Co., Inc., 1973. Jorgensen, Paul A. "Hamlet." William Shakespeare: the Tragedies. Boston: Twayne Publ., 1985. N. pag. http://www.freehomepages.com/hamlet/other/jorg-hamlet.html Shakespeare, William. Hamlet. Ed. T. J. B. Spencer. New York: Penguin, 1996.
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