Madness In Hamlet Essay

846 Words4 Pages
Throughout the play Hamlet there are many themes and ideas that develop through the characters and their actions. One of the most prominent themes that are seen in the play is the idea of madness. This theme helps to develop characters such as Hamlet and Ophelia as well as driving the plot forward and creating banter and comedic relief for the audience. The first character to demonstrate this theme is Hamlet as he explains to his friends “As I perchance hereafter shall think meet to put an antic disposition on” (Act 1. Scene 5. Line 190-192). However how much of this fake madness hamlet claims to put on is truly fake and how much has gotten to him and actually driven him mad? During the first act of the play, Hamlet gives a soliloquy where…show more content…
However, unlike the beginning of the play Gertrude can neither see nor hear the ghost while hamlet can which is expressed during Gertrude’s passage “Alas, how is't with you, That you do bend your eye on vacancy And with the incorporal air do hold discourse? Forth at your eyes your spirits wildly peep, And, as the sleeping soldiers in the alarm, Your bedded hair, like life in excrements, Starts up, and stands on end. O gentle son, Upon the heat and flame of thy distemper Sprinkle cool patience! Whereon do you look?” (3.4.132-141). As this scene continues Hamlet explains to his mother that he is indeed not crazy, but she must tell Claudius that he is. Thus, when Gertrude goes to meet Claudius she tells him that hamlet is “Mad as the sea and wind when both contend Which is the mightier. In his lawless fit, Behind the arras hearing something stir, Whips out his rapier, cries 'A rat, a rat,' And in this brainish apprehension, kills The unseen good old man (4.1.6-12).” This passage shows that Gertrude is doing exactly what Hamlet asked of her, however, it is quite possible that she was telling Claudius her honest opinion of her son’s mental state after so clearly seeing him talking to thin air. It is still uncertain at this point in the play where Gertrude’s loyalty lies and her simply stating what she truly thinks leaves her loyalty somewhere in the middle which allows her to remain loyal to both

More about Madness In Hamlet Essay

Open Document