Theme of Madness in Hamlet

In the play Hamlet, the prince Hamlet pretends to be mad so as to find out the truth
regarding his father's death and the involvement of the new King Claudius.
Polonius falsely considers Hamlet's madness stems from Hamlet's love of Ophelia
and his failure to get her in his life. But in the course of the play, Hamlet's behavior
becomes more unpredictable and ambiguous. His acting madness seems to cause
Hamlet to lose his grip on reality. He cannot control his erratic behavior in the
palace. The circumstances he has to manage emotionally are difficult for him. His
pretense of maddening costs him a lot. The physical violence under extreme stress
shows that Hamlet has deeper-set issues than merely acting mad.
Hamlet by William Shakespeare: Themes
The play Hamlet's major theme is death. It is the death of the King Hamlet that
triggers the events in the play one after another. When the Prince Hamlet hears
about the news of his father's death, he comes back to Denmark. He is shocked at
the early remarriage of his mother with his uncle. He is visited by the ghost of the
king and informs him that the king is murdered by his uncle, Claudius.
He is given a task to kill his uncle and take revenge of the murder of his father.
Throughout the play, prince Hamlet
is thoughtful to kill or not to kill his fathers murderer.
The death of Ophelia and the death of his mother are other deaths that disturb
Hamlet and lead his action to unexpected events. The death of Polonius makes his
son Laertes take revenge on Hamlet. From this point Hamlet the revenger has
become the revenged, hunter becomes the hunted. From the moment Hamlet
knows that his uncle is responsible for the murder of his father, he is planning for
his death. In this way, the whole play focuses on the theme of death in one way or
another.
Madness
In the play Hamlet, the prince Hamlet pretends to be mad so as to find out the truth
regarding his father's death and the involvement of the new King Claudius.
Polonius falsely considers Hamlet's madness stems from Hamlet's love of Ophelia
and his failure to get her in his life. But in the course of the play, Hamlet's behavior
becomes more unpredictable and ambiguous. His acting madness seems to cause
Hamlet to lose his grip on reality. He cannot control his erratic behavior in the
palace. The circumstances he has to manage emotionally are difficult for him. His
pretense of maddening costs him a lot. The physical violence under extreme stress
shows that Hamlet has deeper-set issues than merely acting mad.
Women
There are only two female characters Gertrude, Hamlet's mother and Ophelia to
whom Hamlet dearly loves. They both are linked to the life of Hamlet in one way
or another. Both have very important value in his life, but these two female
characters lose the importance when there is turning point in Hamlet's life. Hamlet
is found agitated whenever he talks to them. When Hamlet comes to Denmark to
attain his father's funeral, he is aghast to see his mother married to his uncle
Claudius so soon. He starts hating his mother since then. The theme of weakness of
women is revealed here. She cannot wait for a year for the remarriage. Her
hastiness in getting married again takes her son away from her. Moreover, Hamlet
thinks that she does not love her first husband. This idea irritates Hamlet a lot in
the play. When Hamlet starts acting as a mad man in the palace, Ophelia too thinks
that he has really gone mad. Hamlet is sure that Ophelia is also with Gertrude,
Claudius, and Polonius. In reality, Ophelia obeyed her father and her monarch. In
both cases, Hamlet feels that both women have cheated him. He's critical and quick
to point out flaws in these females. Ophelia is usually viewed as a true victim,
while Gertrude's role is interpreted with more flexibility.
Explain the significance of Hamlet's soliloquy in Act 2, scene 2, of William
Shakespeare's Hamlet.
In Hamlet's soliloquy at the end of Act 2, Scene 2, Hamlet is working through his
internal struggle. He struggles with the inappropriate relationship between
Gertrude and Claudius and laments over the fact that he has not done anything
about it. He is essentially "beating himself up" over the fact that his only plan in
dealing with this is to wait and let God be the judge of the incest between the two
characters. He goes back and forth on whether he should kill Claudius in an act of
revenge, but it really is not in his nature to do so. In the end he decides to just wait
and observe Claudius some more in order to get more proof. He resolves to have
actors perform a play in which they act out his father's murder so he can watch
Claudius's reaction to it. He doesn't trust that the ghost he has seen is not playing
with his emotions forcing him into actions that are not justified. He believes this
play is just the thing to get to the truth and gather more evidence.
Some literary devices that are used is personification where he states "For murder
though it have no tongue, ill speak with most miraculous organ. He uses this to
show how he believes Claudius's emotions will reveal his murderous ways. Hamlet
also uses hyperbole to describe himself when he says, "But I am pigeon-livered
and lack gall to make oppression bitter...Why, what an ass am I! This most
brave..." He is being especially hard on himself and is completely conflicted about
the actions he should take.
Further Notes By Prof Abdul Rauf
The soliloquy in act two, scene two, of William Shakespeare's Hamlet is Hamlet's
second soliloquy. In this speech, Hamlet defines his inner conflict. Although he
wants to revenge his father's death, Hamlet cannot find it in himself to do so. It is
against Hamlet's character to murder, even if in revenge. Over the course of the
soliloquy, Hamlet becomes more and more frustrated about the situation he faces.
After convincing himself to commit the premeditated murder of Claudius, he talks
himself out of it again. Still unsure, he decides to find more evidence against
Claudius before enacting his revenge.
As for any literary devices, a simile is found in line 579. Here, Hamlet compares
himself to a whore (shown with the use of "like a"). In line 586, alliteration is
found. (Alliteration is the repetition of a consonant sound within a line of poetry.)
The s sound in been struck so to the soul that presently. Lastly, a metaphor
extends throughout the soliloquy when Hamlet compares his lack of ability to
enact revenge to bad actors.
Hamlet as a Complex Tragic Hero
Hamlet is the center of action in the play. This is a play so dominated by one
character that Hamlet without the 'Prince is impossible to imagine. The play deals
with his suffering and tragic death. The other characters in the play serve as foils to
him. Hamlet's tragedy is a particular example of a universal predicament; action is
necessary, but action in a fallen world involves us in evil.
To attempt to shuffle off responsibility by refusing to act, or by shuffling off this
mortal coil-by 'handing god back his ticket,' as Dostoevsky puts it involves us
equally in guilt.
Like other tragic heroes of Shakespeare, he is also endowed with exceptional
qualities like royal birth, graceful and charming personality and popularity among
his own countrymen. He is essentially a scholar and a thinker, and his noble brain
conceives the finest thoughts. He has a high intellectual quality. He is religious-
minded and is very sensitive. In spite of possessing all these higher qualities which
rank him above the other characters, but the flaw in his character named as 'tragic
flaw' by A.C. Bradley, leads to his downfall and makes him a tragic hero.
The tragic flaw in the character of Hamlet is that he thinks too much and feels too
much. He is often disturbed by his own nature of 'self-analysis.' He is forever
looking into himself, delving into his own nature to seek an explanation for every
action, and giving vent to his own thoughts in soliloquies. Coleridge says that his
enormous intellectual activity prevents instant action and the result is delay and
irresolution. Bradley gives his own explanation for his delay and irresolution.
According to the learned critic, he suffers from melancholia, a pathological state
only a step removed from insanity. His thoughts are diseased thoughts. What is
required of Hamlet is prompt action, whereas he broods over the moral idealism
which leads to his delay in action. When he gets an opportunity to kill Claudius, he
puts aside the thought because he cannot strike an enemy while he is at prayer.
Again he allows himself to be taken to England, although he knows well that the
plan is part and parcel of Claudius's evil intent. Hamlet himself is fully aware of
his own irresolution.
There are several causes account for Hamlet's inaction. By nature he is prone to
think rather than to act. He is a man of morals and his moral idealism receives a
shock when his mother remarries Claudius after his father's death. Chance too
plays an important part in shaping his character. Chance places him in such a
position in which he is incapable of doing anything. He feels sad at his position
and says ''The time is out of joint. 0 cursed spite, that ever I was born to set it
right.''
He becomes inconsistent and is no longer a person who reaches a conclusion only
by reasoning. He cannot quite accept the role that nature has prescribed for him-
that of a revenger-and thus he is unable to act quickly.
Like other tragic heroes Hamlet too has to face conflict, both internal and external.
The internal conflict is between his moral scruples and the act of revenge, which he
is called upon to perform. Love of his father, the dishonor of his mother, and the
villainy of his uncle prompt him to take revenge while his nobility, his moral
idealism, his principles and his religion revolt against such a brutal act. The result
is that, torn within himself, he suffers mental torture.
The external conflict is with Claudius-'the mighty opposer'-and the murderer of
Hamlet's father. To Hamlet, Claudius is a smiling, damned villain, a seducer and a
usurper of his rights to Denmark's throne; he is one against whom he has to take
revenge. The other external conflicts are with Laertes, his friend and the brother of
his beloved Ophelia, with Guildenstern and Rosencrantz, his former school fellows
and friends but present enemies. Indeed Hamlet succeeds in overcoming his foes,
but only at a dreadful cost.
Character is not the only factor that is responsible for the tragedy of Hamlet.
External circumstances are also responsible for making Hamlet tragic hero.
Shakespeare creates a heeling that there is a mysterious power in this universe,
which is responsible for every small -happening. The appearance of the Ghost and
its revelation is a manifestation of Fate. Many of the things that take place in
Hamlet's life are by chance, but none of these are improbable. He kills Polonius by
chance. The ship in which he travels is attacked by pirates, and his return to
Denmark is nothing but chance. Gertrude drinks the poisoned wine, by accident,
and dies. So fate in the shape of chance shapes the future of all characters
including Hamlet. But the sense of fate is never so overwhelming as to cast
character in shade; after all, it is Hamlet himself who is responsible for his tragedy.
Procrastination in Avenging the Murder of Father in Hamlet
Hamlet has been a source of endless speculation to critics and readers and the main
interest has been almost exclusively fixed on the problem of delay. Many critics
agree both internal and external causes account for Hamlet's delay. The internal
cause is within his character, and the conflict between his moral scrupulous nature
and the act of revenge. The external causes are the difficulties that he encounters.
The external causes of Hamlet's delay are the physical difficulties in the situation.
Claudius is not a weak king. He is a shrewd man who does everything to protect
his life from unforeseen attacks. He is not only surrounded by courtiers, but also
strongly protected by his Swiss bodyguards. Hence, Hamlet would find it difficult
to meet his enemy alone. Also, he does not in the beginning have any strong proof
of Claudius's guilt except for the Ghost's story. With this he cannot hope to win the
people's help in deposing the king. Hence, he gets enacted the play and the King's
guilt is confirmed. However, the enactment of the play also puts Claudius on
guard. The enemy takes the initiative and plots to do away with Hamlet. However,
these external difficulties are not major hindrances: Hamlet himself does not speak
as if there were external difficulties in the way of his killing Claudius. In Act III,
Sc. III, when he sees Claudius at prayer, he postpones the idea of killing him for he
wishes eternal damnation for the victim.
Again Shakespeare shows Laertes easily raising the people against the King. If
Laertes could do that, Hamlet as a popular prince could more easily have raised the
people against Claudius and seen to his destruction. Above all Hamlet gets the play
enacted not to prove to the people Claudius's guilt, but to convince himself of the
Ghost's words. Hence, the external difficulties do not account for his delay.
Internal causes which make Hamlet delay his action are within his own character.
Some attribute the cause of delay to his cowardly nature which dares not act for
fear of consequences. There is ample proof to show that Hamlet is not a coward
and is capable of fearless acts of heroism in the face of danger and difficulty.
When the Ghost summons him to follow it, Horatio and Marcellus try to restrain
him. But he threatens them saying, "Unhand me, gentlemen. By heaven, I'll make a
ghost of him that lets me. These brave terrifying words do not sound as if they
come from a frail and weak person. Again he is no timid weakling when he speaks
sarcastically and insultingly to Claudius and Polonius. He kills Polonius in an
instant, sends his schoolfellows to their death, boards the pirate ship, returns to
Denmark only to meet his tragic death, rushes on the king and kills him with the
poisoned sword, forces him deliberately to drink the remains of the poisoned wine
and seizes the cup from his friend's hand to prevent him from committing suicide.
It seems that to a certain extent Hamlet's delay is due to the conscience theory. A
critic argues: "In Hamlet we behold the Christian struggling with the natural man,
and its demand for revenge in a tone still louder and deeper by the hereditary
prejudices of the Teutonic nations." Most of the time he is torn between Christian
scruples and the obedience to fulfil his father's desires. In his soliloquies he wishes
to commit suicide. But he puts aside this thought on the ground of Christian ethic
that committing suicide is a sin. Hence, he blames himself. Thus conscience does
make cowards of us all." Some critics even point out that he delays partly due to
the command of Christ, Resist not evil" and the fear of the consequences of evil in
the next world after death. But all this only strengthens the view that Hamlet is
against murder. However, Hamlet hesitates to kill Claudius not on the grounds of a
Christian spirit, but because of a most revengeful thought that his soul should go to
hell straight and not to heaven. In addition, he feels no remorse at the deaths of
Polonius, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern. So, this theory of conscience does not
account for his delay.
Since the above given reasons do not account for Hamlet's delay, some feel that the
cause of his delay is irresolution, which is due to an excess of thinking and
reflection. The energy that should have gone out as action is spent in the process of
thought. Coleridge analyses Hamlet's character and points out; "we see a great, an
almost enormous intellectual activity, and a proportionate aversion to real action
consequent upon it, with all its symptoms and accompanying qualities. This
character Shakespeare places in circumstances under which he is obliged to act.
Hamlet is brave and careless of death; but he vacillates from sensibility, and
procrastinates from thought and loses the power of action in the energy of resolve".
What Coleridge has said is perhaps true to some extent, for Hamlet's soliloquies
are full of thought and feeling, but after that instead of becoming a man of action,
he becomes a man of no action, exhausted by the energy of his own thoughts and
feeling.
T. S. Eliot calls "Hamlet an Artistic Failure"
T. S. Eliot calls that Hamlet is an artistic failure. According to him, Hamlet is the
Monalisa of literature, a work that is interesting, but not a work of art. It means the
writer is unable to objectify the emotions. There are two reasons for it. First a work
of art should be read in the context of the literary tradition on which an individual
work is built and of which it is a part.
Shakespeare drew the material for his Hamlet from the plays of Thomas Kyd, but
failed to make his play correspond to the original material. The second reason for
calling Hamlet an artistic failure has to do with the lack of objective correlative.
Shakespeare creates the character possessing emotion in excess because the
emotion has no equivalence to the action of the character and the other facts and
details in the play.
We can only criticize a work of art according to certain standards by comparing it
to other works of art. Hamlet by Shakespeare owes its content to play by Thomas
Kyd. In Kyds version of Hamlet the revenge motive is at the core of the play.
Hamlets madness was mainly designed to avoid the peoples suspicion of his
ability to murder a king surrounded by body guards and Hamlet did it successfully.
In Shakespeares Hamlet the title characters madness, on the contrary serves to
arouse the kings suspicion. This change is not complete enough. The delay in
revenge goes unexplained. Moreover the Polonius-Laertes and Polonius-Reynaldo
scenes are not explained satisfactorily. There is a little excuse for it. Shakespeares
Hamlet is a play dealing with the effect of a mothers guilt upon her son, but
Shakespeare was unable to impose this motive successfully upon the material of
the old play. The variable versification shows that both workmanship and thought
are in an unstable position. Thus the play cannot do justice to the original play to
which it is indebted for its material.
Hamlet also fails as a work of art due to the obvious lack of objective correlative
which is the only way of expressing emotion with the help of a set of objects,
situations, and a chain of events which will be the formula of that particular
emotion. The presentation of facts and external situation should be adequately used
for the full realization of the pent up emotional energies. This is lacking in Hamlet.
Hamlet is dominated by an emotion which is inexpressible because it is in excess
of the facts as they appear. Hamlet suffers from bafflement at the absence of
objective equivalent to his feelings and emotions. Hamlets disgust is caused by his
mother, but his mother is not an adequate equivalent for it. His disgust exceeds her.
It is thus a feeling which he cannot understand. He fails to objectify it. It poisons
his life and works as a hindrance to action. None of the possible actions can satisfy
it. His mothers character is so negative and trivial that she arouses in Hamlet the
feeling which she is incapable of representing. In Hamlet it is the buffoonery of an
emotion which he cannot express in art. If Hamlet were an adolescent, his inability
to express the intense emotion would be understandable, but he is a mature person.
There is no excuse for him. Eliots comment on Shakespeares Hamlet is justified
as the play fails to do justice to the original material and it lacks an objective
equivalent for the externalization of the repressed emotions and feelings.
Electra Complex
Carl Jung's female equivalent to Freud's Oedipus Complex; the theory that during
the Freud's phallic stage of childhood development, girls develop a sexual
attachment to their father (or father figure), leading them to want to kill mother and
marry their father. The name derives from the Greek myth of Electra, who wanted
to avenge her father's death by killing her mother, who was responsible for the
murder.
What is Hamlet's tragic flaw?
A tragic flaw is the failing of a tragic hero, a character who suffers a downfall
through the tragic flaw in mistaken choices or in personality.
Hamlets tragic flaw is his inability to act to avenge his fathers death, although it
must be said that he has valid concerns that prevent him from knowing how to act
as he makes clear when he discusses the nature of ghosts that can be sent to
ensnare and entrap an innocent in actions leading to the punishment of Hell.
When the Ghost, his dead father, appears to him and charges him with the arduous
task of taking revenge for his most foul murder, Hamlet is compelled to accept the
challenge even though he fears to: As a Protestant educated at Wittenberg, the
university of Martin Luther, he is forbidden to act in revenge because revenge is
for God to take, not humankind.
As the play progresses Hamlet finds it difficult to execute his vengeful task. He is
stymied from both sides: He needs proof that the Ghost is indeed that of his father
and not some foul fiend of the spirit world, and he needs proof that Claudius is
himself truly a foul, murdering fiend in the flesh.
In order to uncover the truth of Claudius's guilt before killing Claudius, Hamlet
plans to act crazy hoping it will force Claudius to expose his guilt or innocence.
Instead, Claudius chooses to send him to England in an assassination plot.
Hamlet also devises the mouse-trap scene in a play that is commissioned to be
performed. He asks the troupe of actors to enact a scene similar to how Hamlet
envisions Claudius's regicide murder his brother and Hamlet's father, Old King
Hamlet.
In the final analysis, Hamlets tragic flaw, his inability to decide--about the Ghost
and about vengeance--and then to act to take revenge for his fathers death, leads
him and many others, including his mother, Polonius, Laertes and Ophelia, to their
bloody graves.
Discuss Shakespeares Hamlet as a revenge play.
Introduction :
Shakespeare was a groundbreaking pioneer in his time and wrote plays that were
totally different from anything the world had ever seen before. He explored the
human spirit and what happens when it is challenged. He also tested the limits of
language, inventing new words and phrases. Big Willy wrote Hamlet between
1599 and 1601, and the play tells the story of Prince Hamlet. Hamlet, in particular,
has a lot of "most famous" things in it. It is Shakespeare's most famous play about
Shakespeare's most famous character Hamlet, and it contains Shakespeare's most
famous line: "To be or not to be, that is the question." If extraterrestrials were to
visit Planet Earth, we would probably put a copy of Hamlet in their welcome
basket. It's that good. Now, over 400 years after William Shakespeare wrote the
play, readers and audiences are still connecting with it. Here I am going to consider
Hamlet as a revenge tragedy. Before doing so, I would like to discuss something
about Elizabethan era in which the play was written.
Hamlet as a revenge play :
During the Elizabethan era the revenge plays were well acclaimed. Most of them
were a typical tragedy, a melo-drama with so many twists and turns to keep the
audience spellbound. Thomas Kyds Spanish Tragedy opened a new chapter in the
history of the revenge plays. Our Shakespeare has also enriched the field of
revenge plays with his Hamlet. But Hamlet is certainly a great advance on The
Spanish Tragedy. Hamlet is definitely a great example of a typical revenge tragedy
of the Elizabethan theater era. It followed every convention required to classify it
as a revenge play quite perfectly. Hamlet is definitely one of the greatest revenge
stories ever written and it was all influenced first by Sophocles, Euripides and
other Greeks, and then more importantly by Seneca. Hamlet as well as The Spanish
Tragedy tackled and conquered all areas that were required for the consummation
of a great revenge tragedy.
Characteristics of a revenge play and their application in Hamlet:
1. Such play deals with the theme of murder or some crime to the person of the
state.
In this reference we can say that the central theme of the play Hamlet is revenge
to be taken. The play Hamlet is built upon the long, tragic conflict between
Hamlet and Claudius and the conflict is built upon the motif of revenge. So, the
driving force that shapes the turns of the plot of the play namely exposition,
gradual development of the plot, the suspense, climax and the catastrophe of the
play is the revenge, especially the revenge for the death of father. It is not only
Hamlets desire to take revenge ,but also that of Laertes that also acts as the
driving force behind the plot. In the play Hamlet two of the characters fathers
are brutishly murdered. The first murdered character is King Hamlet who is
supposed to be revenged by his son prince Hamlet. The second murder is Polonius
who is supposed to be revenged by his son Laertes. Both Prince Hamlet and
Laertes go to seek revenge for the death of fathers, however they will each use
different methods to accomplish their deeds.
So far as the crime to the person of th state is concerned, the king Claudius makes
a secret plan to kill Hamlet while Hamlet is in England.
2. The ghost of the dead appears to tell about the identity of the killer.
Generally speaking the ghost is a part of the machinery of the revenge play, and as
such the ghost in Hamlet. The ghost is primarily connected wit the motif of
revenge; and so there is the justification of such a convention. Now the deftness of
Shakespearre in handling the supernatural is a thing that nobody will question. The
opening scene sets the tune of the whole play-a play shrouded in mystery and
terror. The ghost does indeed visible appear, but it is a shadowy figure, resembling
in dress and armour the late king of Denmark, Hamlets father.
We can observe the subtle skill of Shakespeare in that the ghost is not made to
speak but strides away majestically. It leaves a profound impression upon the night
guards. Horatio becomes skeptical. He has to believe the evidence of his eyes, and
concludes that this bodes some eruption to our state. The ghost appears twice in
the opening scene, but will vouchsafe no reply to Horatios question. The
speculation that the ghost invokes Horatio has some bearing upon the play, and
generates the necessary tension of feeling. The news of the appearance of the ghost
is later on communicated to Hamlet.
In Hamlet the Prince of Denmark is urged in very strong terms by the ghost of
the dead king to take revenge upon Claudius who has ascended to the throne by
foul means, whose guilt is unknown to anybody.
The real tension of the play begins as soon as the ghost of the late king tells Hamlet
about his murder. Hamlet learns that his father's death was no mistake, but it was
Hamlet's uncle's plan to murder him. The ghost also tells Hamlet that he has been
given the role of the person who will take revenge upon Claudius. So, like a typical
revenge tragedy ,in Hamlet a crime (the killing of the king) is committed and for
various reasons laws and justice cannot punish the crime so the individual ,Hamlet
proceeds on to take revenge in spite of everything.
"And so I am revenged. That would be scanned: A villain kills my father, and for
that, I, his sole son, d this same villain send to heaven;"
In this quote, Hamlet states that since he is his father's only son, it is up to him to
avenge his murder. This development for Hamlet comes after his encounter with
his father's ghost. It is one of the first times that the theme of revenge is introduced
as a primary element of the story.