hamlet as a madman
Hamlet is one of Shakespeare's most analysed plays. The Danish prince is developed into a mysterious and fascinating man. A philosopher and a fencer, he is a man disgusted with the rottenness of life around him and is obligated to set things right. Under the guise of madness he attempts to achieve his ends; yet there is much to puzzle over. Was Hamlet really such a good actor that he could fool everyone into believing in his madness or was he truly mad? And, why did he wait so long to carry out his revenge? Hamlet thinks too much and this drove him to an insanity that was not feigned."... and the devil hath power/ To assume a pleasing shape..."The ghost provides Hamlet with a dilemma. Supernatural forces are not always to be trusted. Hamlet does not know whether the ghost is telling the truth or not, which is why he has 'The Mousetrap' performed by the visiting players. If Hamlet had killed Claudius solely on the ghost's advise, he would certainly have been put to death himself. There would probably have been a civil war to choose a new king. Being the humanitarian that he is, and taking account of his responsibilities as a prince and future king, Hamlet would most likely want to avoid a civil wa
Most people simply assume that because he declares that he is merely feigning madness that this must be true. But Hamlet will not let the king go to God's judgement. Not only is he incapable of acting without thinking, he knows this is the case, which makes the burden even heavier. Hamlet resembles a real person more than any other character in the play, which might be another reason why he still remains a subject of discussion. In the play, Claudius is the paragon of decisiveness, of action. Any other character in the play would have taken more drastic measures than Hamlet did (confiding only in his best friend, and even keeping the truth from his mother until the end of Act III). Before the blood has had time to settle the ghost revisits Hamlet, reminding him of his task!. Although not every one of them might have come to killing Claudius, Hamlet seems not to do anything. He makes the first action, the action that sets the machine in motion - the poisoning of Hamlet's father. "Hamlet may be a thinking man; this does not mean he actually likes to think. The final symptom exhibited by psychotics is illusions of grandeur. 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. While the first is literally sleeping with the enemy, the latter has chosen the side of her father (and Claudius). He !accuses his mother, he attacks his mother.
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