Annie Garbulinski

Mr. Palcsey

Honors English 10

10/19/17

Hamlet’s Conscience and Insanity

The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark written by William Shakespeare, is a play

about a young prince and his family that is extremely morally corrupt and malicious. Hamlet’s

father was killed by Hamlet’s uncle Claudius. Claudius then married Hamlet’s mother and

became king of Denmark. When his father was killed, Hamlet was away studying in France.

Hamlet’s mind and emotions were greatly affected by these events so much that he went insane.

Hamlet’s conscience controlled the way Hamlet acted, and Hamlet’s insanity affected the way

everyone treated him.

Shakespeare was Catholic, and many of the characters in his play have Catholic

backgrounds and views. Hamlet was struggling with his conscience and what is right and wrong

through the play. Hamlet had to decide if killing Claudius would be just since Claudius murdered

his father. Hamlet did not kill Claudius immediately because he was not sure if he could become

a murderer. Hamlet wanted his soul to go to Heaven and could have forgiven Claudius for

murdering his father, but Hamlet also wanted to avenge his father’s death. Hamlet had to lie

about what he knew so that he could pursue Claudius. Whenever Claudius or the Queen would

talk to Hamlet, he would never give them a direct response. He also lied about liking Ophelia. He

told Ophelia that he loved her, then said that no man should ever marry her because she would

ruin a man’s life. After seeing his father’s ghost, and finding out his father’s soul was trapped in
purgatory, Hamlet would frequently mention the welfare of a person’s soul throughout the play.

While Hamlet was in an argument with the Queen, he was trying to convince her that she was

making terrible life choices, and she should improve the way she was behaving. Hamlet had a

chance to kill Claudius, but Hamlet saw Claudius praying in his room. If Hamlet killed him in

the middle of this prayer, Claudius would have gone to Heaven since he was apologizing to God

for killing his brother. Hamlet thought that Claudius deserved to go to Hell since he was a

murderer. Hamlet decided to kill Claudius when Claudius was in the middle of doing something

bad or evil so that he couldn’t apologize to God, and would go to Hell.

Even though Hamlet may have had a good conscience, something that affected his

conscience was his insanity. Throughout the entire play, Hamlet would seem a little off or

detached from conversation with other characters. Hamlet started a conversation with Polonius,

the Lord Chamberlin, about how dogs die and maggots eat them, and then he immediately

transitioned into asking if Polonius has a daughter. Hamlet also tried to get his friend

Guildenstern to play the recorder, even though Guildenstern had no prior knowledge of how to

play the instrument, and then blamed Guildenstern of manipulating him. Hamlet said that he

could control his insanity. Hamlet would act particularly crazy around Claudius, Polonius, or

anyone that had affiliation to King Claudius. Alternately, when Hamlet was around Horatio,

Hamlet acted relatively normal. But, Hamlet may not have had complete control over his insanity

all the time. While Hamlet was arguing with the Queen, Polonius was spying on their

conversation behind some curtains to learn why Hamlet was insane. During the argument, the

Queen yelled out for help because she was upset, and Polonius scuffled around in the curtains

because he could not see what was going on and he was concerned for the Queen’s safety.

Instead of checking to see who was behind the curtain, Hamlet thrusted his sword into the
curtains and killed Polonius. Hamlet and the Queen continued arguing, and Hamlet saw his

father’s ghost. Hamlet tried to convince the Queen that a ghost was there, but the Queen did not

see the ghost, and Hamlet became concerned that it was a figment of his imagination. No one can

be sure if Hamlet’s insanity is real or not, it all depends on how each reader views the character

of Hamlet.

Everyone in the play had a general concern for Hamlet. Some hoped that his mental state

would improve, while others were concerned about what and how much he knew. The Queen

had always cared about how Hamlet was dealing with his insanity. She would send Rosencrantz

and Guildenstern to check on him, or made plans with Polonius and Claudius to spy on him to

see how he was doing. The Queen listened to what Hamlet was saying even when he was yelling

at her because she loved her only son. Another person that cared for Hamlet was Horatio.

Horatio respected and trusted Hamlet enough to help him find out if Claudius was guilty of

killing Hamlet’s father. Horatio was also willing to tell the entire royal court that Hamlet would

not be able to compete against Laertes in sword fight, even though bets had already been placed

on who would win. He knew that Hamlet was not feeling good about the fight and Horatio did

not want to see him lose. Claudius was concerned about what Hamlet was doing all through the

play, but his intention changed as the play went on. At first Claudius was concerned about how

Hamlet was feeling, and wanted Hamlet to see him as a father. After Hamlet figured out that

Claudius killed his father, Claudius was worried that Hamlet was going to kill him. Claudius sent

Hamlet away to England after arranging Hamlet’s assassination just so that Claudius could

guarantee that his own life was not in danger. Other characters in the play showed their care for

Hamlet’s wellbeing by trying to figure out what Hamlet was thinking and what possessed him to

do the things he did.

 Hamlet’s conscience and internal conflicts about killing Claudius were pivotal to the plot

and to how his personality evolved. Without having insight to Hamlet’s decision-making process

from his soliloquies, the play would have been completely different. If the play was not from

Hamlet’s point of view, the audience might look at the story differently. His thoughts were not

revealed to the other characters in the play, but the audience is able to understand and empathize

with Hamlet. Because of this, it is easy for the reader to comprehend why Hamlet’s conscience

was the way it was. How a person’s conscience is formed through religion or parental teachings

will affect how they live their daily lives.