Why Is Hamlet Insane

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Although Hamlet is stricken with grief due to his father’s death and his mother marrying his uncle not long after, not once does Hamlet fall into the mouth of madness, throughout his revenge plot Hamlet is cold and calculating in such a way that no truly insane person could emulate.
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Hamlet was not already insane nor does he go insane during his revenge plot, he is only pretending to be insane just as he tells Horatio shortly after coming up with the idea. In Act 1 Scene 5, King Hamlet’s ghost appears before Hamlet, telling him to “Revenge his foul and most unnatural murder” (1. 5. 31). Before his father’s ghost appears and tells him to avenge his death, Hamlet has never been seen saying or doing anything insane, only after Hamlet …show more content…
Hamlet’s insanity has always had some sort of method to it, Polonius even noticed this in Act 2, yet Ophelia’s behavior is unpredictable from the moment she goes insane. Ophelia often bursts into song at inappropriate times, especially during her final moments, which is completely different behavior compared to Hamlet’s. After Ophelia falls into the river, she sings a song while her clothes keep her above water. As Gertrude described it, “she chanted snatches of old lauds As one incapable of her own distress” (4. 7. 174-175). Ophelia sings as if she does not know she is in danger of drowning as soon as her clothes start weighing her down, once again showing Ophelia’s insanity. Many claim that Ophelia might have been suicidal as she has been constantly used by Hamlet, Claudius, and her own father, but based on her previous actions, it is reasonable to believe that she has gone insane after the abuse from everyone around her with her father’s death being the final straw. Almost all of Ophelia’s actions after her father’s death are inconsistent and unpredictable, whereas Hamlet’s actions appear to be unpredictable to others, but are the result of extensive

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