Whole Idea Of Hamlet And His Madness example essay topic

Hamlet's Crazy! The idea of madness portrayed by Hamlet and Ophelia is a perfect example of the changes that occur after certain traumatic situations. Hamlet's actions throughout the play are a direct reaction towards the trauma earlier in the play. Ophelia and her ending in life is the ultimate price of madness. Both Hamlet and Ophelia were not the only two people in this play that had gone mad. In the end, the whole cast had gone mad.

Hamlet's madness played a bigger role in the play than Hamlet himself. In the very beginning, when Hamlet first conversed with his dead father's ghost, Hamlet and his sanity had changed. Hamlet had gone insane after seeing a ghost. This was not such a wrong thing. In one scene, Hamlet said nothing but a grunt to Ophelia, who was left dumbfounded in fright.

Ophelia may of sensed Hamlet's madness at this point. Perhaps it had rubbed off on her. In a speech directed towards Polonius, Hamlet, with total disregard of Polonius and his feeling's, repeatedly offended him. Polonius was in deed testing him at this time. Claudius had witnessed this and said there was method in his madness -- I agree.

After all of this it is fairly obvious that Hamlet's madness had written the play. If Hamlet were stable with his Father's death, and his Mother's re-marriage, the plot would be far less great and the play would have ended in the first scene. The whole idea of Hamlet and his madness thickened the plot and furthered the play. Would Polonius have died without Hamlet's madness? Or would Ophelia drown herself without Hamlet and his ways?

Not likely. Hamlet was not the only one who had gone mad with rage; Laertes too had gone mad. Near the end of the play, after his father had been slain and his sister drown, Laertes too had caught the "Hamlet Madness Disease". Laertes might have had an immature jealousy towards Hamlet, but I disagree. Strangely, Hamlet seemed to act more sane when Laertes began to lash out at Hamlet while attending his dead sister's funeral. From that point on Hamlet seemed more calm and together.

He apologized to Laertes for killing his father, and blamed it on his madness. He then referred to him as a brother. These are not the actions of a mad man, but of a man with regret and solitude. Hamlet, though more stable in the end, had made the play what it is by acting mad until the end. Hamlet's madness, as told by himself and Claudius, had method to it. Claudius too must have had a sense of madness towards the end of the play for he was responsible for his loving wife's death.

This is when the whole cast goes insane (as I said earlier.) I think that when the king crumbles, that's when it's all over (ironically, it was.) Gertrude's staleness is questionable at the end of the play, because she willingly drank that fatal sip of wine. I think that she knew it was poison and that she was a martyr for her son's cause. I think this because she knew what Claudius had done, and she must of felt so terrible to marry him, so she just wanted to end it all while attempting to help her son's goal. In the end, madness was a necessity for this whole production. If Hamlet had gone mad right at the end instead of gradually throughout the play many a viewers would have been bored to death. When the group's insanity came to a peak, the play was a masterpiece.

Hamlet's method was unseen by many, but the careful viewer can see clearly. In conclusion, Hamlet's life (after his father's death) was in a downward spiral till the end of his life. People who watch this play can learn a valuable thing about human nature. Humans cannot withstand such traumatic instances without effects. In closing, the madness of oneself and other's around you mold your future.