Writing Resources
Madness It resides in everyone but varies from person to person A little bit of madness keeps life interesting but it can become extreme in some cases such as Hamlet and Ophelia from William Shakespeare s play called The Tragedy of Hamlet Prince of Denmark In Shakespeare s play the main character Hamlet mourns for Old King Hamlet or his father s death and is disgusted by his mother and uncle s or Gertrude and Claudius s recent marraige Soon after Hamlet gets a visit from a ghost claiming he is Old Hamlet and Claudius murdered him urging Hamlet to seek revenge Hamlet stays hesitant but finally takes action at the end ultimately leading to the death of five people including himself Throughout the play madness is a device used to reveal truth However as the play progresses real insanity eventually takes over allowing the characters to reveal their inner thoughts In the beginning Hamlet uses madness as a way to mask his true intentions of seeking the truth and revenge When Polonius attempts to talk to Hamlet Polonius believes Hamlet is far gone And truly in Polonius s youth he suffered much extremity for love very near this II ii 181 182 The court believes Hamlet s lunacy derives from being lovesick taking the attention away from any suspicion of conspiracy By doing so he brings Claudius into a sense of false security that Hamlet is harmless With this mentality Hamlet convinces Claudius to attend his modified play designed to test if Claudius really is the murderer or not After the scene depicting the King s murder by his nephew in Hamlet s play Claudius immediately walks out and tells Rosencrantz and Guildenstern I like Hamlet not nor stands it safe with us to let his madness range III iii 1 2
