This is apparent through the appearance of his father. The apparition claims that “I am thy [Hamlet’s] father’s spirit” (I.v.14). This shows that the king’s physical body is dead but not his soul. But the king admits that he had done some bad things in his life therefore he is “doomed for a certain term to walk the night” (I.v.15). As hamlet figures it out that the husband of his mother is a murderer—Uncle Claudius—he realizes that his mother is at fault.
Hamlet also knew that he could not tell anyone that Claudius has murdered his father or that he had seen the ghost of his father because no one would believe him. Throughout the play Hamlet expresses his “madness” an example would be when he meets Ophelia in the court. In the beginning of their conversation he tells her that he once loved her but then is also confused saying that he didn’t love her at all. This is due to the fact that he sees woman as deceivers because of his mother’s relationship with his uncle. When Hamlet discovers that Polonius and the King are hiding nearby he explodes in a fit of rage, violently attacking her verbally and physically almost like a mad person would.
Hamlet also expresses the possibilities that the ghost could have been the devil. Although hamlet gets upset with himself he believes that the play he arranged would display Claudius’ guilt and then he will know for sure he killed his father. This reveals to the audience that Hamlet is a procrastinator and he is a coward. In Hamlet’s fifth soliloquy he contemplates the idea of suicide, he suggests that maybe the only reason we choose life is because we know so little about death other than it Is final. After contemplation Hamlet decides not to take his own life.
Madness is a vital plot element in William Shakespeare’s Hamlet. Both young Hamlet and his love Ophelia appear mad throughout the play’s duration, but only Ophelia has a genuine affliction of insanity. Although stricken with grief by his father’s death and the clamorous events that follow, Hamlet does not become truly mad because he is still able to distinguish right form wrong and maneuver logically in his plan to avenge his murdered father. Shakespeare surreptitiously places revelations of Hamlet’s sanity throughout the play. Though his planned maneuver to murder his uncle Claudius, the contrast between his feigned madness and Ophelia’s true madness, and his ability change behavior around different characters that possess his trust, Hamlet’s true, rational condition emerges from beneath his veil of insanity.
Hamlet shows Gertrude that she has lowered her standards by marrying Claudius, When he refers to old Hamlet as, “A combination and a form indeed / Where every god did seem to set his seal” (3.4.55-61). This quotation shows what Hamlet saw in his father and how bitterly disappointed he is in his mother’s choice of lord. Hamlet’s frustration is made bigger due to Claudius’ unsympathetic remarks. Earlier in the play, King Claudius comments on the irrationality of Hamlet’s grief by saying, “That thus hath put him/ So much from th’ understanding of himself, I cannot dream of.” (2.2.8-10) The intensity of Hamlet’s grief may encourage others besides Claudius to be prejudiced towards treating him as insane. In the wake of his father’s death, Hamlet takes actions that other characters perceive as insane.
The ghost informed Hamlet that he had been killed by Sir King Claudius and that Claudius was, in fact, Hamlet's uncle. From there, the ghost only asked for one thing and one thing only, and all the deceased king requested was revenge from his son. Taking in all this information, wanting to avenge his father's death, and wanting to do as his father asks causes Hamlet to do many crazy things, including pretending to have lost his sanity. This causes many deaths in the story during Hamlet's journey to revenge. One of which was Polonious, who was stabbed by Hamlet during Hamlets rant to his mother.
“DOES HAMLET EVER TRULY GO MAD?” 1 “Does Hamlet ever truly go mad?” Jessaca Giles 8/17/12 ENG 1002 – Composition II/Literature Dr. Todd Starkweather South University “DOES HAMLET EVER TRULY GO MAD?” 2 Hamlet becomes upset after learning about the death of his father, former King of Denmark. Further adding to his despondency his uncle, Claudius, marries his mother, Gertrude, Queen of Denmark, and becomes the new King. Hamlet is visited by his father’s ghost who tells him he was murdered by Claudius. The ghost tells Hamlet that he must avenge his death so that he may continue into the after-life. This presents the question “Does Hamlet ever truly go mad?” The leading events would certainly justify madness and his actions and conversations with other characters would indicate a true madman.
Soon after, the young prince is visited by a ghost that resembled the appearance of his dead past father. To increase confusion on Hamlet’s situation even more, the ghost gives details about the truth of King Hamlet’s death; the King was murdered by Claudius while asleep. Because of this and other similar factors, like betrayal, Hamlet began to fall down into a sense of insanity. Throughout William Shakespeare’s play The Tragedy of Hamlet: Prince of Denmark, indication of Prince Hamlet’s true madness is seen in his feelings of abandonment and betrayal from the relationships he has with his family and friends, the unstable emotions and thoughts of avenging his father’s “unnatural” murder, and the unbelievable appearance and meeting of the presumably ghost of former king of Denmark Hamlet’s father, King Hamlet. The character of Hamlet has
Hamlet’s uses antic disposition as a tactic to uncover the truth behind his father’s death which leads the reader into believing that Hamlet is truly insane. However, the truth of it all is that it is an act of foolishness to distract others into believing that he is mentally ill. Through the use of character Hamlet proves himself as a strategic thinker by congregating solid evidence that is pointing towards Claudius being guilty of performing an act of violence. Hamlet begins to question the presence of the ghost as he states, “The spirit that I have seen/ May be the devil: and the devil hath power/ To assume a pleasing shape” (II, ii, 596-597). The act of logical thinking demonstrates that Hamlet did not act hastily and commit a sin after witnessing his father’s spirit.
Prince Hamlet seems keen to avenge his father’s death, but throughout the narrative we see Hamlet hesitate to kill Claudius, he may be finding it hard as Claudius is the King and also a relative. The Ghost says he’s going to suffer in Purgatory until Prince Hamlet avenges his death by killing Claudius, as the way he died he didn’t have a chance to confess his sins, so he would go to heaven. “Doomed for a certain