Hamlet As A Madman

Want to read the rest of this paper? Join Essayworld today to view this entire essay and over 50,000 other term papers

and future king, Hamlet would most likely want to avoid a civil war. Even though Claudius is a murderer, and probably not as noble a king as Hamlet Sr. was, he is still a king. Hamlet realizes that Claudius brings order to Denmark and in killing him he will plunge his country into the darkness of chaos.
On top of this dilemma, Hamlet cannot share his feelings with his mother or his girlfriend. While the first is literally sleeping with the enemy, the latter has chosen the side of her father (and Claudius). Ophelia is in a difficult position, being torn between her father and her lover.
All of these things amass a great deal of stress on Hamlet. Even if Hamlet is truly only pretending to be mad after his first encounter with the ghost he is most truly insane by the end of the play. The death of his father and loss of contact with his lover begin driving him to insanity. We can say with some certainty that the ghost is real on its visit to Hamlet because others witness it, ...

Get instant access to over 50,000 essays. Write better papers. Get better grades. Already a member? Login

you. Third, psychotics tend to ramble on and on during which their emotions change rapidly and adversely. The final symptom exhibited by psychotics is illusions of grandeur.
Hamlet hallucinating is very obvious during his visit to his mother after Polonius’ death. Hamlet sees what appears to be the ghost of his dead father. Yet when Hamlet asks his mother if she can see it also, she says she cannot and that he is truly mad. Hamlet is also very paranoid, and not necessarily without cause. He is being spied on and plotted against throughout most of the play. One example of this is when Ophelia is sent to talk to Hamlet while the king and Polonius listen in; Hamlet asks ...

Succeed in your coursework without stepping into a library. Get access to a growing library of notes, book reports, and research papers in 2 minutes or less.

CITE THIS PAGE: