The part of Hamlet that I would like to discuss is the love story theme. I think that it is very romantic how even in today’s society we do not view the other aspects of Hamlet like revenge, delay, and madness but view Hamlet as a love story. I like the part of the love story when Hamlet writes that letter to Ophelia. The poem that Hamlet wrote to Ophelia, “‘Doubt thou the stars are fire, doubt that the sun doth move; Doubt truth to be a liar; But never doubt our love.”‘ I really like this quote because it is very romantic. -Marka Jones
The aspect of Hamlet that I find interesting is the appearance of the ghost that Hamlet suspects may be the ghost of his father. Hamlet does not know if the ghost is actually of his father or if it is a demon taking on his father’s appearance. How will he know what decision to make if he does not know what the ghost actually is? Also, now I’m wondering if Hamlet makes the wrong decision, will his decision lead to his death? This is the second play of Shakespeare’s that I have read that has the appearance of ghosts. Macbeth also had apparitions appear in it. Shakespeare seems to have a method of placing ghosts into his writings, and in Macbeth these ghosts led to the downfall of Macbeth. -Keisha McWhorter
“Something is rotten in the state of Denmark.” “antic disposition.” Hamlet states this after he discovers Claudius killed his father. If indeed Hamlet was mad, the fact that Claudius killed his father could have been a cause; however it seems that by the second quote he decided to pretend he is crazy. I do not think that the death of his father drove him mad. -Matthew Kilgore
Act 1, Scene 2, Line 66
KING. How is it that the clouds still hang on you?
HAM. Not so, my lord. I am too much in the sun.
QUEEN. Good Hamlet. Cast thy nighted color off,
And let thine eye look like a friend on Denmark.
Do not for ever with thy vailed lids
Seek for thy noble father in the dust.
Thou know’st ’tis common – all that lives must die,
Passing through nature to eternity.
In the above conversation the Queen and the King both feel Hamlet meant what he said.
Shakespeare’s Hamlet Was Certainly Sane
In Shakespeare’s tragedy, Hamlet, the character of Hamlet feigns insanity. For a person in his situation, having one’s peers think of one as crazy can be quite beneficial. His father, the king, had just died, and he is visited by a ghost who appears to be his father’s spirit. The ghost tells Hamlet that he was murdered by his brother Claudius, who is now the current king and who recently married the former king’s wife. Hamlet vows revenge and, as a tool to aid him in that plan, convinces people that he is crazy. The fact that he is acting, as opposed to actually being insane, can be seen in Hamlet’s conversations with a watchman, two childhood friends, and his mother. Also, there are many actions in the play that he would not have been able to carry out had he not had the veil of insanity, adding motive for Hamlet to feign insanity.
More important than the clues that one may find proving Hamlet’s sanity is the motive behind Hamlet’s simulated madness. The first reason Hamlet would have to make people think that he is crazy is the freedom it grants him. As in any society, the world in which Hamlet lives has social norms and taboos. However, if one is insane, then one is not expected or required to abide by those standards. Therefore, if the people in Hamlet’s life are convinced that he is insane, then he is no longer bound by the social restraints of society.
The best example of Hamlet using his “madness” to do things otherwise inaccessible to him can be found right before Hamlet’s players put on “The Murder of Gonzago.” The scene involves Hamlet speaking to Ophelia in the theater, saying, among other things, “that’s a fair thought to lie between a maid’s legs.” 1 If the scene is played so that Hamlet’s lines to O…
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Felperin, Howard. “O’erdoing Termagant.” Modern Critical Interpretations: Hamlet. Ed. Harold Bloom. New York: Chelsea House, 1986. Rpt. of “O’erdoing Termagant: An Approach to Shakespearean Mimesis.” The Yale Review 63, no.3 (Spring 1974).
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