Hamlets Madness Essay - 1147 Words

Oliver Wendell Holmes once said: â€Å"Insanity is often the logic of an accurate mind overtasked.† Shakespeare’s famous play Hamlet parallels this quote as it portrays his character caught in a mental battle as a result of his madness. When left alone to his thoughts, Hamlet contemplates decisions to the point of obsession, leading him into isolation. He can no longer distinguish fantasy from reality in turn motivating his impulsive behavior and stripping him of his integrity. Shakespeare has Hamlet feign madness however, as a result of his father’s murder, the obsession to plot revenge on Claudius, and the neglected love from the women in his life his behavior is so manic that the audience could assume he is genuinely mad. It is clear that†¦show more content†¦The ghost symbolizes and foreshadows the decay to come, in other words it portrays Hamlets decaying stability from the grief he is living with. Hamlets thoughts are constantly consumed with the i dea of revenge for his father’s murderer, Claudius. Revenge is the initial motivation for Hamlet’s transformation into anger and madness (Bitesize). If â€Å"conscience makes cowards of us all† (3.1. 83), Hamlet shows signs of hypocrisy here as this conscience makes him a coward. Hamlet contemplates whether he should take revenge on Claudius to the point of obsession; his overthinking and continual contradicting leads him to his madness. When given the opportunity to murder Claudius his uncertainty confuses the matter making him incapable and doubtful of the deed. He hesitates considering the Elizabethan belief, if Claudius dies while praying he will go to heaven, which Hamlet does not want. However in act three, Hamlet blindly stabs Polonius to death with absolutely no hesitation, thus, changing his mindset completely where his thoughts are â€Å"bloody or nothing worth†(4.5. 65-66). The dark side to Hamlet has now been identified, and from this point on Hamlet no longer hesitates or questions himself. After the murder of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern he states, â€Å"they are not near my conscience, their defeat does by their own insinuation grow† (5.2. 58-59). Hamlet undoubtedly does not feel guilty and believesShow MoreRelated Hamlets Madness Essay1648 Words   |  7 PagesHamlets Madness Is Hamlet Mad? Not Likely. Madness is a condition of the mind which eliminates all rational thought leaving an individual with no proper conception of what is happening around him/her. Madness typically occurs in the minds of individuals that have experienced an event or series of events that their mind simply cannot cope with and, thus, to avoid their harsh reality, they fall into a state of madness. 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