Reggie Hancock
EN 160
Dave Reinheimer
4/18/13
Mad Hamlet
Did Hamlet truly become mad as the story progressed until his ultimate death? Some evidence may claim that he truly did become insane. Hamlet has just lost his father, who he loved and cared for very much. On top of that, his mother re-married fairly quickly after King Hamlet’s death. Making matters even worse for young Hamlet, the man his mother married happened to be his uncle, Claudius. All of this alone might be enough to make a person go insane, but there is more. After all of this has taken place, Hamlet comes face to face with the ghost of his dead father. The ghost brings to young Hamlet’s attention that Claudius is the one that killed him, and asks young Hamlet to take revenge by killing him. Throughout the play, Hamlet sort of becomes lost. Instead of just going ahead and taking revenge upon the man who killed his father, he waits around and takes no action, seemingly. I believe the reason for Hamlet’s sudden change of persona is due to the fact that Hamlet has just simply lost it. I believe that Hamlet has gone insane. Insanity sort of brings sense to the question of why Hamlet never takes action when planning to avenge his father’s death. Hamlet has gone insane because of having to deal with his father’s death, along with his mother being married to his uncle, as well as the pressure of avenging his father.
First, we have the issue of Hamlet dealing with his father’s death. Any man that has to deal with the death of a family member, especially a father, is going to be at least a little distraught. As said by T.L. Davis, “Hamlet evidently developed a psychosis as a result of his grief for his father coupled with his mother's unseemly conduct.” (Davis 629-634). But, I believe what makes matters worse is that Hamlet is confronted by the ghost of his father so soon after. The ghost pulls Hamlet away from his friends to talk to him and request that he take revenge on...