Essay --

Hayanny Silva Coach Hansen Brit Lit December 13, 2013 Shakespeare Hamlet Insanity VS Sanity The Tragedy of Hamlet In the Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, by William Shakespeare, Hamlet an intellectual prince switches from sanity and insanity throughout the entire play. You can see that during the play when madness seems right, he puts on an "antic disposition (I.V.173). Nevertheless when Sanity proves to be the answer Hamlet returns to being logical. Hamlet claims he is "mad north-north-west" (II.ii.376), meaning he is mad sometimes and sane other times. Therefore, to reach his goals, Hamlet switches between sanity and insanity. In the poem, Hamlet switches to insanity to achieve some of his goals. Hamlet uses his insanity to conquer his obstacles. Hamlet is only insane towards his enemies and his enemy’s allies. For example, Hamlet attacks Gertrude verbally and physically, because she is an obstacle to Hamlet. Also, Hamlet kills Polonius and assures that Polonius is "dead, for a ducat, dead" (III.iv.25).When hamlet kills Polonius he feels nothing, no sympathy, no sorrow, and no fear. His insanity overcame him to the point that he would kill someone with not a hence of pity nor feelings. Hamlet gradually harms Gertrude with his words of insanity, while killing Polonius with his insanity. All of these two people, Gertrude, and Polonius, are Claudius' allies, and by harming Claudius' allies, Hamlet is harming Claudius, which is Hamlet’s goal. Death of his [Hamlet] father caused a fault in Hamlet's logic, and that fault forced the madness on him. Hamlet believes that Gertrude his mother has had an affair with his Uncle and actually aided in the slaughter of his beloved father. On top of that, Hamle... ... ideas that Hamlet is mad and that Hamlet is not mad. Readers and critics can agree that Hamlet is not a "man of action," but is instead a "man of reflection"-reflection that is concentrated on both himself and the world (Schucking 31).I believe it is Shakespeare's anger towards corruption and religion that makes Hamlet to fall into madness. â€Å"Finding a character in real life of a person endowed with so delicate as to border on weakness with sensibility too exquisite to allow of determined action â€Å"(Sylvia 13).While it’s difficult to point out the exact cause in Hamlet's life that lead to his insanity, one thing is for certain; he went mad, and the madness did to him what it does to everything that holds madness; it destroys whatever it touches. Insanity in The tragedy of Prince Hamlet over powered sanity which concludes that the entire play revolves around insanity