Hamlet: Sanity Vs Insanity

As stated by Ms. Turk, "If a person in a rational state of mind decides to act crazy, to abuse the people around him regardless of whether he loves those people or hates them, and to give free expression to all his antisocial thoughts, when he starts to carry out those actions, its it possible to say at what point the stops pretending and starts actually being crazy?". In Hamlet by William Shakespeare, the way others interpret Hamlet's behavior is different from the way Hamlet views himself.

Hamlet is in a situation where his sanity is turning into insanity. He is like one of those people who tell so many lies that they start believing their own lies. Hamlet's acting is so vivid to him that, unconsciously, his state of mind has become irrational. He is turning against everyone in order to follow the orders of revenge from his father's ghost. In order to do so, he is finding any possible way to bring out the guilt in everyone due to his father's murder. In Act III, scene ii, Hamlet has written parts for players to put on a show for Claudius in order for him to bring out the guilt within Claudius. The play doesn't affect Claudius until it is revealed that Lucianus, the kings nephew, is the one that kills the king. Claudius then cries out due to the fear of Hamlet killing him. Also, in this scene, Hamlet admired Horatio's level-headedness and calmness because those are some qualities that Hamlet lacks. Hamlet tries to break his mother down in Act III, scene iv, Hamlet comes to speak to his mother because she believes that he has offended Claudius. In return, Hamlet tries to break her down by putting her sins in front of her because she married the king's brother so soon after his death. When she cries for help, innocent Polonius enters and Hamlet says "How now! A rat?" and kills Polonius because he thought that it was Claudius. Hamlet's insanity is like a blind rage. He is so focused on revenge that he doesn't realize what he is doing. Hamlet is taking sick pleasure in hurting the ones around him in order to please himself which his pure insanity.

In this play, the way others interpret Hamlets behavior is that he is insane. With Hamlet acting this way, he is driving everyone else insane because they cannot

figure out what is wrong with him. The way his mother interprets his behavior, at first, is that he is holding a grudge against her for what he has done. As the play progresses, Polonius tells Gertrude "Tell him his pranks have been too broad to bear with..." which proves that Hamlet's condition is worsening in the eyes of everyone. As she speaks to Hamlet, she feels that her life is in danger due to the way that Hamlet is speaking to her. "These words like daggers enter mind ears..." is what Gertrude says to Hamlet because of the utter