In Shakespeare’s play, Hamlet, the idea of characters mimicking or doubling each other is prevalent throughout the text. However, the role of doubling characters and foiling characters indicate two different meanings throughout the play. Doubling characters indicates that the characters are similar in the way that they act, whereas foiling is often when two characters contrast or differ greatly from one another. Two of the most important characters in the play, Hamlet and Ophelia, double one another with their madness; however, Shakespeare uses their madness to show how crazy Elsinore is. Madness is described as the state of being mentally ill or in the state of frenzied, chaotic activity, and is also when one cannot be trusted which, is shown multiple times throughout the play. While Hamlet and Ophelia both display madness, Hamlet uses his madness in order to find the truth whereas Ophelia is a victim of the madness happening in her life. The kingdom of Elsinore, where Hamlet and his family lives, is a good example of Shakespeare demonstrating how madness affects all characters. Elsinore, is filled with untrustworthy characters such as King Claudius and Polonius. Polonius is considered untrustworthy in the play because he sends people to go spy on his son, Laertes. Polonius says to Reynaldo, one of his servants, “Before you visit him, to make inquire/ Of his behavior” (2.1 4-5). Polonius doesn’t trust Laertes to be on his own without dishonoring his family or ruining his
By verbally harassing Ophelia and estranging himself from her, Hamlet provides the apparent image of losing his prior care without a great amount of consideration. Additionally, Hamlet further displays his anger for his father’s death through this display. By dissolving his relationship with Ophelia, Hamlet furthers his image of insanity to further illustrate himself as incapable within Claudius’s eyes while still communicating distaste for his loss of his father. With Hamlet’s intentionally swift change of heart for Ophelia, Hamlet’s procedure warrants a certain level of sanity. Regardless of the sudden nature, Hamlet’s continual barring from Ophelia possesses procedure which causes further doubt of Hamlet’s mental instability from the audience of the
Foils, characters that illuminate an extreme contrast with another character by highlighting the chasm between one another’s purpose, appear throughout literature. They are especially used in Shakespeare's tragedy, Hamlet, written in the early 17th century. Hamlet, whose loses his father because of a murder, must avenge his father’s killing by slaying his step-father. Hamlet’s attributes surface through his peers’ deeds; although most people believe the characters in
Desiree Kelly Professor Rampello Final Paper December 15th, 2016 Does Hamlet Feign Insanity? Finding out if hamlet really went insane and lost his mind is one of those questions that people can always ask themselves but I feel like he actually did go insane, throughout the play of Hamlet written by William Shakespeare hamlet started to loose his mind, it all started when his mother married his uncle after his uncle killed his father while he was taking a nap while in the garden. In act one after his father 's ghosts came to visit hamlet makes Horatio and Marcellus swear that they will never tell anyone about the ghost or give any indication that they know anything about hamlet losing his mind. Throughout the rest of the play hamlet
However, Hamlet and Laertes have one key defining difference; Laertes actually plans ahead before executing. Hamlet saw that Claudius was kneeling on the ground and saw that there was a chance to murder him when he said, “Now I could do it easily, now he’s at prayer. And I’ll do it” (III.iii.76-77). Thus, this shows that Hamlet wanted to give his revenge to Claudius as he is praying.
In Shakespeare’s Hamlet, many see Hamlet as mad, or even at times distraught. However, insanity is in the eye of the beholder and although those around him claim he’s insane, Hamlet is actually sane throughout the play. Over time, Hamlet crosses over between the realms of insanity and his true sanity. Although throughout the play the others are convinced Hamlet is mad, through brilliant planning and scheming, Hamlet proves his own sanity. Hamlet perfectly portrays the actions of a deranged young man, which he had to appear to be in order to get revenge on Claudius.
Most of society would agree that anyone who kills his childhood friends and uncle has lost his mind, but sometimes, without giving it a second thought, they overlook the motivation and purpose behind the actions which would disprove the underlying assumption of insanity. Shakespearean scholars have always pondered the question of whether Prince Hamlet of Denmark feigns insanity or truly goes mad because of the circumstances. His dead father, King Hamlet, appears to him as a ghost and informs him that his brother and current king, Claudius, murdered him using poison. He asks his son to avenge his death and kill Claudius but leave his wife Gertrude, who married Claudius, out of the whole scheme. Prince Hamlet goes off on a quest for revenge,
As the innocent victim of Hamlet’s feigned madness, Ophelia’s insanity is a product of her inability to cope with Hamlet and her father’s death. Her songs show hidden grief and sorrow; her flowers represent the fact that beneath the innocent exterior, there is a weakness or flaw in everyone. Hamlet was able to look past his grief for his father’s death, but he caused someone he loves to be in pain. Whether it is the frailty of women, sorrow, or death, anything, including love, can appear to be pleasant, but can be the ultimate cause of a person’s
Throughout the play Hamlet continues to act insane and even dies with the act continuing. Even after Hamlet gathers all the evidence that proves Claudius is the murder, Hamlet continues to behave in a strange way. When he mistakenly murders Polonius he does not react as a sane person would. This act enrages Laertes, who then wants to avenge his father’s death. Driven to madness by the murder of his father, Laertes, with the help of Claudius conspires to kill Hamlet.
Madness was a reoccurring theme throughout the play and these were the two characters which portrayed it more than others. In Act 3 Scene 1 Hamlet encounters Ophelia and calls her “fair”, creating a calm atmosphere. Later Hamlet rapidly changes his attitude, raging towards Ophelia and telling her “Get thee to a nunnery” implying he loved her once but now denies her love. Hamlet was acting mad in front of her in an aggressive manner and says “God hath given you one face and you make yourselves another”, Hamlet is suggesting that all women are two faced. Hamlet finds out that this was a setup of Claudius and Polonius to spy on him, so they can find out if he is truly mad.
One similarity that makes Laertes such a good foil to Hamlet is that they both return to Denmark when they have lost a father. However, the sharp contrast in their reaction to these deaths reveals more about Hamlet’s character. Upon returning to
In Hamlet, Shakespeare uses many references to sanity and insanity. Throughout the play, Hamlet goes back and forth between sanity and insanity, whether pretending to be insane just to mess with those he does not like or to save himself from getting in trouble. Hamlet is actually one of the smartest characters in the play, which is why he can pull off acting crazy so well. Shakespeare uses this idea of sanity and insanity to help the plot change and take a different directions. One of the most discussed topics of the Hamlet is whether Hamlet is insane or if he was just pretending the whole time.
Emily Dickinson once said “Much madness is divinest Sense— To a discerning Eye—“. This type of madness can be found in the play “Hamlet by William Shakespeare. Though many characters show madness throughout the play, Ophelia’s madness is the most prevalent. Ophelia has good reason for this irrational behavior because of the trauma she has gone through. First, her boyfriend dumps her, then he calls her vulgar names, and lastly, he kills her father.
Insanity is an idea that has been examined for a long time in numerous mediums such as films, music, plays, and even works of literature. William Shakespeare’s “Hamlet” is no exception to that rule. Hamlet is one of Shakespeare’s most complex characters, and many scholars have been debating for centuries whether or not Hamlet is truly insane, or whether there is a particular reason for his odd behavior. In Shakespeare’s Hamlet, Hamlet merely pretends to be mad but in reality is sane.
William Shakespeare tells the tale of a troubled man in his masterpiece, Hamlet. Imagine your beloved father dying and your mother marrying his brother shortly after. You’re left to grieve on your own. Instead of consoling you, your mother and uncle have a wedding and begin to share the same bed. This is what Hamlet suffers through in the play.
In Shakespeare’s tragedy, Hamlet, there are a series of events that causes Hamlet to act abnormally. He has to deal with his father’s death, mother’s remarriage, and his lover Ophelia. However, it is often argued whether Hamlet’s madness is real or fake. Throughout the tragedy, he is over-exaggerating his madness for his plan of revenge.