Insanity In Hamlet Research Paper

One common debate of scholars for hundreds of years has been whether Hamlet in William Shakespeare's Hamlet was insane or just pretending to be mad. As with many things in the play, the interpretation of this lies in the eye of the beholder (Pressely). To answer this question though we must know what insanity is. Webster's dictionary defines insanity as “a deranged state of the mind usually occurring as a specific disorder”. After reading and researching Hamlet thoroughly, we can come to the conclusion that Hamlet was not in a crazed state of mind but simply playing a role to fool others. Hamlet experiences many states of mind throughout the play such as depression, sadness, and anger. In Act 1 of the play we learn that Hamlet's father is dead; shortly after his mother marries his uncle Claudius who becomes the king. Hamlet is said to be very gloomy and not himself, but this doesn't come as a
As Hamlet watches the gravedigger toss around a skull he begins to wonder whose skull it belonged to. He carries on a completely normal conversation with Horatio and even expresses compassion for whomever the skull belongs to, something a mad man wouldn't do. The gravedigger speaks about Hamlet when he says, “he that is mad and sent into England”; at this point Hamlet knows that his plan has worked because even the peasants think he is mad(5.1, 1448). He then grabs Yorick's skull and reminensces about all the good times he had; although, this a little deranged, it wouldn't be defined as mad. Later in the same scene, Hamlet jumps into the grave of Ophelia and argues with Laertes, Ophelia's brother, and begins to wrestle with him. This is not an act of madness; Hamlet has just lost the woman that he loved and is only acting irrational. In the second scene of Act 5, Hamlet describes to Horatio how he altered the letter. He then goes onto to speak to the messenger, Osric, in a normal