Madness And Insane In Shakespeare's Hamlet

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In Shakespeare’s Hamlet, Hamlet creates a plan to avenge his father’s death. His father was killed by his uncle Claudius and Hamlet was enraged. As he creates this plan to get revenge, he acts as any child who lost someone: depressed. Though, he had a reasonable reaction to this action, he also acted mad. Hamlet’s plan to get revenge consists of acting as though he is mad to give him an advantage over Claudius and to give an explanation for his longing depression and distance. Throughout the play, he is trying to get his plan into action. No one, including Claudius, Polonius, and Gertrude, know what the source of Hamlet’s madness is. Polonius thinks it is from his love of Ophelia and the others may believe it’s from his sadness from his father. …show more content…
Before he finds out it is Ophelia’s grave, Hamlet is talking to the gravedigger. Hamlet keeps asking him questions and the gravedigger talks about how “young Hamlet was born and went mad and got sent into England” (V.i. 26-27). I believe that Hamlet knows that they are talking about him, but keeps questioning because he has actually gone mad and isn’t faking it anymore. Hamlet is also thinking about how is plan is starting to work because he knows that he was sent to England because of his madness. As Hamlet grows even more crazy, I believe his to kill Claudius is growing. Once Hamlet finds out that the grave is Ophelia’s is when he officially loses his mind and any sanity he may have. Hamlet comes before his parents and Ophelia’s brother, Laertes, to confess how much he is grieving because of her death (V.i.231-234). The reader can tell by how much he is grieving, Hamlet truly cared for Ophelia. Right now in the scene I don’t believe Hamlet is in the right mind state, but this isn’t the worst of Hamlet’s madness. I believe that the worst of Hamlet’s fit with Laertes is in lines 252-263. In these lines Hamlet is proving to Laertes that he loved Ophelia more and starts talking about he would cry, cut himself, or even be buried alive for her. Hamlet has not dealt with just his father’s death, but the woman he loves too; this is enough for any person to go
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