Proof that Hamlet is really insane
Hamlet is the main character is one of Shakespeare’s plays and he is surely insane. Throughout the play, Hamlet is obsessed with getting revenge for his father. As part of his plot to kill Claudius, Hamlet decides to feign insanity. Hamlet occasionally switches from sanity to insanity depending on the circumstances surrounding him in order to get close enough to Claudius so as to execute his revenge. When insanity suits his intentions he realistically acts as a mad person and on the other hand when sanity suits his purposes he quickly reverts back to being a sane person. However, Hamlet’s insane character is so believable that it becomes almost impossible to see the possibility of him being sane. The insanity in him is so strong that it even slows his overarching plans to carry out revenge. As the plot of the play advances it actually becomes impossible to separate Hamlet’s sane and insane personalities.
Hamlet uses his insanity as a weapon in his vengeance plot. He is so engrossed by revenge that he kills Polonius in a very violent way. Hamlet goes ahead to make sure Polonius is really dead and it is clear that he enjoys killing which brings out more clearly his insanity. Hamlets insanity is so strong that he attacks Ophelia who he views as an ally of Polonius. Furthermore, hamlet speaks very harsh words to Gertrude simply because he believes that she is an obstacle in his plans to attain vengeance. Although according to Hamlet, he is just acting insane, these actions depict the high level of insanity in his character. Hamlet toys with the idea of killing himself and later on he finds it a better idea to kill others which brings out clearly the level of insanity in his thought.
Hamlet causes serious harm to both of Ophelia and Gertrude with his very harsh words as an insane person. He goes ahead to kill Polonius with his acts of insanity. The three characters, Ophelia, Gertrude and Polonius are viewed by Hamlet as being allies of Claudius and he believes that by causing harm to them, he is achieving is vengeance plot by indirectly causing harm to Claudius. Claudius himself becomes deeply troubled by merely witnessing the insanity of Hamlet since he understands that madness has the potential to blur reality and shroud the truth thereby causing confusion.
Another incident which clearly shows the high level of insanity in Hamlet is the scene where he talks to a ghost. Hamlet is highly focused when speaking to the ghost and he actually cries for his prophetic soul. As part of his plot to achieve vengeance, Hamlet uses insanity to achieve his short term goals by taking advantage of the situation to cause harm to those he sees as threats to this plot to kill Claudius.
Throughout the play, Hamlet is constantly switching between sanity and insanity with insanity being his stronger pursuit. According to Hamlet, the switching from sanity to insanity is intended at enable him to achieve vengeance, however this has a negative effect on his vengeance plot and it actually slows down his plans to attain vengeance. Hamlet’s mind eventually becomes twisted due to the constant change between personalities. Early in the play Hamlet says he will fake insanity but later on he admits to Horatio that there is fighting in his heart which clearly shows that he is insane. His thoughts have become twisted in the course of the play causing him to have conflicting thoughts which lead him to admit to Horatio that all is not well in his mind. Due to his insanity, Hamlet becomes indecisive and his inability to act causes his plans to attain vengeance to be delayed.
