Hamlet by William Shakespeare Essay Example for Free

village by William Shakespeare Essay juncture by William Shakespeare is star of the most famous plays of all time. Of the many themes and representation of the human condition in this play, one of the most debated questions among amateurs and lay readers alike is the issue of junctures sanity. While sanity and insanity can be defined in many different ways, many critics point to Hamlets keen observations and gifted manipulations as not insanity besides confused grief in an otherwise extremely intelligent, albeit sensitive, man. Hamlet tells his friends in Act I of his plan to adopt madness.After the ghosts revelation and call to Hamlet to get revenge, Hamlet decides to assume an air of insanity to allow him a wider range of speech communication and actions around the King and Queen. He tells Horatio of his intention to put an antic disposition on (I,v, 177). Individuals who are insane rarely plan their insanity. In fact, Hamlet knows that mint who are groundless are mo re apt to get away with odd words and activities. This proves true, for he is not punished for appearing half refined in Ophelias chamber or for his taunting of Polonius with references to fishmonger and Jepthah.His plan appears to be working. The King and Queen set to finding out the cause of Hamlets lunacy which throws them off the path of his knowledge of the murder. He acts the part of madness with unrivalled power, convincing the persons who are sent to examine into his supposed prejudice of reason merely by telling them unwelcome truths and rallying them with the most caustic wit (Bates 22). His intelligence almost gets him in trouble. His admission to Rosencrantz and Guildenstern that I am only if mad north-northwest.When the wind is southerly, I / know a hawk from a handsaw (II,ii,384-385). While these two do not catch his meaning, the more clever Claudius does. He notes, Nor what he spake, thout it lacked form a little, Was not like madness (III,i,167-168) and Madness in extensive ones must not unwatchedgo (III,i,192). Of course Hamlet is consumed with grief. His choice of dark clothing and brooding countenance is apparent when the reader first meets him. This is understandable upon the death of a father and not something that Hamlet becomes clinically insane about.His depression cannot be compared to psychosis. The mental disturbance which it causes becomes apparent while he thinks aloud, almost as soon as the ghost has disappeared but he is not mad either in the popular or in the physio analytic sense it is merely the mental derangement of a noble, but not an heroic, nature, sinking beneath a burden which it cannot bear and must cast away (Bates 29). Hamlet is depressed, even distraught, after learning of the true fate of his father, but he is not insane.Later, after the play, Hamlet confirms his sanity to his make in order to convince her of Claudius guilt and to implore her to stay away from him. Yes, his Oedipal obsession with his mother is odd for many readers, but coupled with his fathers death and the ghosts appearance, his desire to save her is more in the realm of understandable. He tells her It is not madness/That I have uttered. Bring me to the test,? And I the matter will reword, which madness / Would Gambol from (III,iv, 146-150). He wants her to know that he is not crazy and to choose his side, which she does.This is one of Hamlets goals. Many critics focus on the To Be, or Not To Be soliloquy in which Hamlet considers suicide for the secondly time as being proof of his insanity. Again, a closer look at Hamlets words show this to be false. This soliloquy is an organized, parallel, and logical debate on the issue of suicide. A mad individual would not possess the logic to provide such a point-counterpoint style. He lists all of the vices of the domain and sets them up against all the unknowns of the afterworld and concludes, logically, Thus conscious does make cowards of us all,And thus the native hue of res olution Is sicklied oer with the pale cast of thought, And enterprises of great pitch and moment With this regard their currents turn awry And lose the name of action. (III,i, 84-89). Hamlet carefully weighs the pros and cons of suicide, for him, and concludes that the fear of the unknown keeps him alive. This is not an insane man. In fact, Hamlets supposed insanity can be compared to Ophelias actual insanity. Ophelia, after the death of her father and Hamlets mean treatment of her, has really gone insane.She is singing songs about her dead father and about losing her virginity in front of the entire court. She is handing out flowers to the King and Queen, and eventually she drowns in inches of water. One critic notes how Hamlet differs surprisingly from the pathetic inanities of the gentle Ophelia (Blackmore 59). This contrast further shows Hamlets sanity. The mad role that Hamlet plays to perfection, is certainly a proof of Shakespeares genius, but by no means a surety of the insa nity of the Prince (Blackmore 57).Hamlet is shown to be sane in this play. That is not to say he is not grieving, gaga and depressed at various moments, but textual and critical support show that he is not insane.Works CitedBates, Alfred, ed. The Drama Its History, Literature and Influence on Civilization. Vol. 14. London Historical Publishing Company, 1906. pp. 20-34. Blackmore, Simon Augustine. The Real or Assumed Madness of Hamlet. The Riddles of Hamlet and The Newest Answers. Boston Stratford Company, 1917 Shakespeare, William. Hamlet. Evanston, IL McDougal/Little, 2003.