Hamlet: Theme of Madness in "Prince of Denmark"

A detailed Summary of Hamlet: Theme of Madness in "Prince of Denmark"

Madness is clearly the central them in Shakespeare's Hamlet Prince of Denmark,

yet most interpretations of the expressions of madness within the work, by Hamlet are that they are contrived to hide his revenge plot upon his uncle the king. (Shakespeare 1274) While Yet another interpretation of hamlets feigned madness is that of a stalling technique, used to allow himself time to make a very personal decision to either avenge his father's death or pursue his own life and move on without his birthright, the throne, In fact, on one level, Hamlet's delay can be explained as his exploitation of the

revenge task as an excuse to escape himself through the ploy of false madness which, as we have seen, he explicitly associates with flight from self. In this context, Hamlet's defining alternatives are to think in order not to be himself or to think in order to fulfill his identity." (Levy)

Yet, interpretations of the facts of the work are many, as they are with all works of great standing and according to one expert the greatest questions of the work are far more extreme: "A host of deeper questions arise. Among the most celebrated are: what is the reason for the Prince's delay in revenging his father's murder; is his madness genuin

Within Hamlet madness even supplants grief as the dominant human emotional condition, despite the preponderance of death of loved ones that takes place in the time of and the time surrounding the work.

Doubt thou the stars are fire,/Doubt that the sun doth move,/Doubt truth to be a liar,/But never doubt I love./O dear Ophelia, I am ill at these numbers. I/have not art to reckon my groans, but that/I love thee best, O most best, believe it. Adieu./Thine evermore, most dear lady, whilst this machine is to him, Hamlet. (Habib 19)

Yet, in the end it is Ophelia who's madness, despite her marginal role in the work, proves the madness that is undoing, of all. She has lost every opportunity to be herself and her life is cut short because she as the woman she is will undoubtedly be unable to wash her hands of the notoriety of such an affair as what she has lived through.

e or feigned; what is the true status of his feelings for Ophelia?" (Croxford)

Yet, the expressions of madness by Ophelia are clearly not contrived, as they end in her own suicide. Ophelia has become a pawn for Hamlet, in many ways as the procurement of a match between herself and Hamlet is a very serious matter as it is one that would fulfill her destiny as a woman and when Hamlet rejects her so coldly, and her father Polonius dies, it seems that her fate is set in stone. She chooses to act by quickly mirroring Hamlet's mad behaviors and in so doing takes her life by drowning. "Ophelia's madness which contains 'nothing sure,' (4.5.13) and (e) the inscrutability of 'providence' (5.2.215) or divine plan." (Levy) The eventual death of Ophelia, and the seriousness of her madness might even lead one to believe that Ophelia's personal vacillation between her birthright, e.g. marrying a high born man, such as Hamlet and living her destiny as a woman or allowing herself to follow a different path was really no question at all as the obvious message of her death was that she had no real choice after being spurned and used as a pawn. Ophelia describes a mad encounter with Hamlet to her father.

He took me by the wrist, and held me hard;/Then goes he to the length of all his arm;/And, with his other hand thus o'er his brow,/He falls to such perusal of my face/As he would draw it. Long stay'd he so;/At last,--a little shaking of mine arm,/And thrice his head thus waving up and down,--He raised a sigh so piteous and profound,/That it did seem to shatter all his bulk,/And end his bei

Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 1660
Approximate Pages = 7 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: English