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Hamlet: "to Be Insane Or Not To Be Insane That Tis The Question". Hamlet ... Hamlet
is not mad or insane, just maybe a little weird. Hamlet ...
To Be Insane, Or Not To Be. To Be Insane, Or Not To Be In reading William Shakespeare's
"Hamlet," many ponder the question of the title character's sanity. ...
... He knows that he is not the same as he used to be and fears he is going insane,
so by telling his closes friend that he is just act, he covers his tracks. ...
... Also, Hamlet is aware of what is going on around him, something someone insane
would not see. Hamlet plans ahead before doing certain tasks. ...
... insane proves that he actually is. Most people who believe they are not
insane do not try to tell people that they are not insane. ...
Submitted by Colligan88 on October 25, 2005
Category: English
Words: 2055 | Pages: 9
Views: 285
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To Be Insane, Or Not To Be
In reading William Shakespeare's "Hamlet," many ponder the question of the title character's sanity. The Britannica dictionary has defined "insane" as "Mentally deranged or unsound
one afflicted by temporary or permanent irrational or violent deviations from normal thinking, feeling, and behavior
unable to distinguish between right and wrong, to control the will, foresee the consequences of an act
" So was Hamlet acting out of pure passion and insanity in his quest for revenge, or was he following a clearly reasoned path towards a reasonable goal? On the surface the reader would certainly find Hamlet's antics crazy, but with further attention the true extent of Hamlet's mental facilities becomes clear.
There is evidence from nearly every character in the play that Hamlet is less than sane. In fact, much of the action of the play is devoted to the question of Hamlet's insanity, with several characters being given the sole task of determining whether or not Hamlet is mad. These characters conclude that Hamlet is insane. The first character to notice Hamlet's odd behavior is Polonius. He comes to King Claudius and Queen Gertrude with the news that their "noble son is mad." Polonius first begins to believe this when he intercepts a love letter intended for Ophelia, and wonders why a High Prince like Hamlet should be interested in his lowly daughter. In subsequent conversations with Hamlet, Polonius comes to the conclusion that Hamlet is mad with love and anguish over his father's death. Polonius explains that he sees Hamlet experiencing the classic stages of the declination into love-madness: "And he
fell into a sadness, then into a fast, thence to a watch, thence into a weakness, thence to a lightness, and, by this declension, into the madness wherein now he raves, and all we mourn for." In conversations with Hamlet, Polonius notes that Hamlet makes replies with "a happiness that often madness hits on, which...
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