Madness and Insanity in Shakespeares Hamlet - The Necessary Madness of

The Necessary betise of hamlet village, by William Shakespe be, is a complex play, filled with layers of meaning. These are ofttimes revealed through the afflictiveness of the characters and the theme of tired of(p)ness 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 testify preoccupations. When one refers to madness in Hamlet, virtually would think of Hamlets madness, or at least that that he was pretending to possess. Although Ophelia does go insane and ultimately commits suicide, the central lunacy of the play revolves around Hamlet himself. Hamlets intention to act mad is completely unexplained. It is safe to assume that he is pretending to be mad so he can get away with saying and doing things that would not ordinarily be tolerated. Also, if people think that he was crazy, they would not impart any attention to him in his plot to kill Cl audius and avenge his fathers death. This plan backfires though, because his family and friends bend over backwards to find the cause of his madness. Every chief(prenominal) character in Hamlet seems to pay off their experience conjectures as to wherefore Hamlet is acting so out of character. One obvious fence is the mourning of his fathers death. In addition to this, though, they all have personal ideas of alter merit. Claudius thinks that Hamlet has some kind of secret cause for the sudden potpourri in his personality. Gertrude believes that along with being upset about the death of his father, Hamlet is tormented by the fact that she married Claudius. Rosencrantz and Guildenstern believe that he is hurt, for his ambitions have been squashed. Not only does his uncle... ...thers. Ophelias insanity is very different from Hamlets and quite straightforward. She does not need to ponder very hard before she decidessuicide is a ofttimes better option than life has ever been. The madness in Hamlet sets up nearly all of the play. The main character, Hamlet, is believed to be crazy by all, except Horatio who knows Hamlets reasoning behind the insanity. All of the characters decide on their own guesses as to what is plaguing Hamlet. This is interesting because all of their hypotheses are based on the things that most worried them. Sources Pennington, Michael. Madness as the Only Safe Haven. Readings on Hamlet. Ed. hold out Nardo. San Diego Greenhaven Press, 1999. Rpt. of Hamlet A Users Guide. New York Limelight Editions, 1996. Shakespeare, William. Hamlet. Norton Critical Ed. New York Norton. 1992.