Hamlet

“Who’s there'” (Shakespeare 7) Two simple words never have had such an impact on a drama, until Hamlet. The words can be taken lightly, as just an opening to a play, or they can be looked at from another light. Each character in this drama, when analyzed, always seems to be someone else. Who is really who in this play' Some scholars believe that during the play, the character of Hamlet goes crazy, if not insane. So now, let’s play devil’s advocate and assume that Hamlet didn’t actually go crazy and that he was just putting on an act for everyone. Analyzing the character of Hamlet and how he interacts with other protagonists can help better prove if Hamlet really was crazy. What were the prince of Denmark’s motives for acting this way' Or, the better question, was Hamlet acting crazy to keep himself from actually going crazy' (Blatty). The definition of insanity is a “mental illness of such a severe nature that a person cannot distinguish fantasy from reality” (Hill). Yes, Hamlet does show a few times where he may have “slipped” into insanity, but who could blame him' He found out his father was murdered by his uncle, his mother married his uncle only four months after his father’s death, he saw his father’s ghost and must get revenge on his uncle, and he is drove away his one true love; that’s enough to drive anyone mad. As a prince, he has to act crazy in order to get away with most of his actions. Just as Claudius was concerned with his image, Hamlet is also royalty and has to be careful as to how he tries to get revenge for his father. The way he acted toward Polonius was very sarcastic. Polonius believed he knew the reason for Hamlet’s insanity; Hamlet fell madly in love with Ophelia and because he told Ophelia to stay away from him, Hamlet went mad. In Act 2; scene 2, Polonius and Hamlet spoke with one another. Hamlet’s tone was very sarcastic and he made it seem as though he really was crazy. Polonius thought that, “though this be madness, yet there is method in ‘t” (Shakespeare 95). Even when Hamlet spoke to Rosencrantz and Guildenstern of Polonius, he referred to him as a “tedious old fool” (Shakespeare 97) and a “great baby” (107). When Hamlet killed Polonius on accident, mistaking him for Claudius, the way that he handled the body may have been unorthodox, but he knew he was in trouble when Claudius found out, or else he would have just left the body where it lay. Also, when Hamlet and Ophelia were talking, Hamlet realized that it was a trap for him and asked Ophelia where her father was, Hamlet knew very well that he was being spied on. Claudius is another main character that Hamlet was somewhat hostile, and acted crazy toward. From the very beginning, Hamlet never liked Claudius because he married his mother. When he learned that Claudius killed his father, Hamlet was furious and was ready to fulfill his revenge; “So, uncle, there you are. Now to my word” (63). When speaking to Claudius, readers could see a bit of a more crazy, yet sarcastic and playful side of Hamlet. Whenever Claudius spoke to him, Hamlet always answered with a witty comment, such as when Claudius asked him where Polonius’ body was. Hamlet replied by saying that he was “at supper” (195). Despite Hamlet’s lack of initiation, it can be perceived that the reason why he acted the way he did with Claudius was because he needed an alibi for why he would have killed him. By pleading insane, he could get away with the murder much more easily than trying to explain that he saw and spoke to his father’s ghost. When speaking to Claudius, Hamlet was fully aware of what he was saying, and how he said it. He created “The Mouse Trap” for the performers to act, to support if Claudius really did kill his father, by watching if Claudius was uneasy during the play. The ways in which Hamlet acted toward his mother are a bit more complex than the way he treated Claudius and Polonius. Although he did backtalk and was very sarcastic to her, there were moments where he was very sincere and caring. Hamlet was upset with the fact that his mother married so soon, and he was not afraid of expressing it. The “bedroom scene” was a major scene that could be portrayed by directors in many ways. Here, stage direction is a major factor to show the audience if Hamlet is being portrayed as insane or sane. In the Mel Gibson version of Hamlet, Gertrude kissed Hamlet. This was all in the stage direction, but it showed how dysfunctional the family was. Also, in the same version, Hamlet was portrayed as going crazy from the look in his eye, to the way he verbalized the lines (Zeffirelli). Although Gertrude did proclaim “Alas, he’s mad” (177), Hamlet did warn her to stay away from Claudius. Also, when King Hamlet’s ghost appeared in the room, Gertrude can’t see him and thought her son was insane, but Hamlet made a counter argument, “That I essentially am not in madness, But mad in craft” (183) . Hamlet’s relationship with Ophelia could be interpreted in many ways, one could think that they had something going on before the play started, or that Ophelia was still a virgin and innocent. When Hamlet spoke with Ophelia, most of the time he seemed sure of himself, but there were times where no one can blame poor Ophelia for being confused about him. In the beginning, both Polonius and Laertes warned her not to get involved with Hamlet and to keep a distance from him. Hamlet lead Ophelia to believe that he loved her, “Doubt thou the stars be fire, Doubt that the sun doth move, Doubt truth to be a liar, But never doubt I love…” (89). Then, later on, took back his word “You should not have believed me…I loved you not” (131). At the same time, in Act 2; scene 1, Hamlet looked crazy with his hair a mess, wearing dirty clothes and unshaved, randomly went up to Ophelia, grabbed her arms, stared her up and down, thrust her arms away and just walked away. Ophelia was crying over this because she really thought that her one love went mad. Hamlet was betrayed by his mother, and he felt as though Ophelia would do the same, so to protect himself, he was acting like an ass to her so that maybe he could try to fall out of love with her. Yet, some of his remarks to her were rather vulgar, like when he told her that “it would cost you a groaning to take off mine edge” (153). In the gravedigger scene when Hamlet jumped out at Ophelia’s funeral he proclaimed that, “I loved Ophelia. Forty thousand brothers could not with all their quantity of love make up my sum” (255). In the end, Ophelia was the one that truly went insane. Whenever Hamlet was with Horatio, he seemed more sane than when he was with other protagonists, and didn’t pretend to be someone else. Hamlet trusted Horatio, unlike Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, and told him of his plans and everything that went on. At the end of the drama, when Hamlet was dying Horatio was willing to die with them all, yet Hamlet stopped him and told him that he needed to be the one to tell Fortinbras what really happened. Hamlet really opened up to Horatio right before the fencing duel when he said that “there is a special providence in the fall of a sparrow” (271). Whenever Hamlet was alone with himself, he seemed a little insane. He always spoke of suicide and ending the misery of life. In two of his soliloquies, Hamlet spoke of suicide but was afraid of what might come afterward. For him to be afraid shows that he was sane. He was well aware of the things going on around him, and his lack of initiation for revenge. It took Hamlet five acts to finally kill Claudius, and when he did, he was going to die himself as well, so it didn’t really matter too much of the consequences. Another big issue that could be brought up is King Hamlet’s ghost. Did Hamlet really see the ghost in the “bedroom scene,” or was it just his conscience' Gertrude could not see him, yet in the beginning of the play, all the guards could clearly see the ghost. Also, if Hamlet was insane, he wouldn’t have been able to question Rosencrantz and Guildenstern’s motives for coming to Elsinore. Then, later on switching the King’s letters to have them beheaded in England. “When we ask, ‘Was Hamlet really crazy or was he only pretending to be crazy'’ we really need to think about the question, ‘What is the difference between a pretend character who is pretending to be crazy and a pretend character who is really crazy'’ Shakespeare did have a means available for indicating that a character was merely pretending: namely, he could have the character from time to time make asides to the audience to indicate this. In the case of Hamlet, Shakespeare does not choose to do this… Shakespeare had a lot of fun portraying Hamlet as insane, and I don't think he was really that concerned with the question of whether the insanity was supposedly real or whether it was only a sham” (Lady 2). Hamlet is a complex character, and while his sanity is questioned at times, one can see that he was only acting crazy to manipulate others. .