Was Hamlet Insane
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Qas Hamlet Insane?
Hamlet is undeniably, an intelligent individual, but his sanity is quite often called into question. I will reveal facts from both sides of this common discussion and attempt to come to a conclusion.
One sign that supports the argument that Hamlet is truly insane is the letter Hamlet writes to Ophelia. Hamlet expresses his true love for Ophelia and it sounds as if he is sincere. This is meaningful because it implies that Hamlet was not sane (or at least not in his normal state of mind), when he wrote this letter. It shows us that Hamlet is in love with Ophelia and not thinking rationally. In order for Hamlet to have written the letter without being genuine would require him to have been very deceitful. Because of the love he has displayed to Ophelia, this is unlikely. The only way he could have written the letter without being truly in love, would be if he was extremely deceitful, and its hard to believe he would do this to the women he loves (Walters 128). He was already in love with Ophelia before his meeting the ghost. This rules out the possibility that he faked his love for Ophelia (Phillips 225).
Another sign supporting Hamlets insanity is when he goes to Ophelias room disheveled and not himself. When he enters her room, he is messy, clumsy, and is not making sense when he speaks. Ophelia explained this to her father, Polonius, who felt Hamlet was acting this way because he was in love with her (Lidz). Polonius thought the cause of Hamlets peculiar actions was his love for Ophelia. Knowing the kind of man Hamlet was, Polonius urged his daughter to have nothing to do with him.
Hamlets mentality is much different from that of other people during that time. He has an exceptional imagination, as well a great ability to reason. These characteristics are really brought out when certain events occur in his life, which leads to his insanity. One of these events is when his mother, Gertrude, married her dead husbands brother, Claudius. Hamlet finds it hard to conceive the notion that his mother could go against all her morals, betraying her dead husband, and marrying his brother. Gertrude not only married Hamlets uncle, but she did it so shortly after her husbands death. It must have been painful for Hamlet to see his mother with Claudius while he was grieving his fathers death (Historic Society of Lancashire and Cheshire 124). To make matters worse, Hamlet sees the ghost of his father, which tells him to avenge his death. The ghost says that he was killed by his brother, Claudius, who poured poison into his ear while he slept, and asks Hamlet to get revenge. The fact that Ophelia was forbidden to see him made things even more difficult. This series of events occurring in such a short period of time is enough to drive him to insanity (Lidz).
Another idea which supports this argument is if the benefits of acting insane would outweigh the potential consequences. It is said that he acted crazy in order to deceive others. However, doing so may have led to him being institutionalized. The townspeople could have said that they didnt want this lunatic running amuck, which would have led to him being condemned to an asylum (Snider 210). Hamlet is very intellectual, and must have realized this, so why would he make himself susceptible to such danger?
The most interesting piece of evidence that I found favoring the side of Hamlets insanity is only an insane man would fake being insane to appear sane. Confusing as it sounds, it makes perfect sense. The one thing that an insane person wants to do is appear sane, which is what Hamlet did. He told his Horatio and Marcellus he was going to act insane, when he really wasnt going to do any acting at all. This way, he could be himself, which is insane, but his friends will think hes acting insane (Spear 234).
There is a lot of evidence to lead us to believe that Hamlet was mad, but there is also evidence to convince us otherwise. For example, after speaking to his fathers ghost, Hamlet tells Horatio that he is going to act insane. He begins to dress oddly and speak what appears to be nonsense, but in fact is actually very intellectual. Everybody thinks he is speaking gibberish, but he is actually being very insightful, but nobody catches on and they all think hes crazy. The reason Hamlet puts on this charade is to fool his enemies. There was a superstition during this time period that if you kill an insane person, you will then become insane. Another reason that Hamlet acts crazy is so people dont suspect him of doing anything wrong. He can go around the town and do as he pleases and people wont think anything of it and just ignore the crazy man. The last reason for his acting insane is to throw off and confuse everybody. Everyone discusses his insanity, and the more people notice and talk about it, the more reason they believe its true (The 1-hour guidebook of Hamlet 77).
Hamlets main objective in acting as he does is to find whether the ghost is his father, or if its a something from Hell. He knew that if anyone could catch on to his plot to find out if the