Is insanity just a sane way of reacting to the
madness of the world around us? Hamlet is an adolescent who is overwhelmed with
trauma and stress due to his uncle killing his father and taking the crown as
well as marrying his mother. Hamlet found out about his uncle's crime when his
father's spirit described the gruesome murder. Hamlet was then asked to carry
out revenge for his father. Hamlet, overwhelmed with these events, both
pretended and was slightly insane. He acted as if he was a different person around
Ophelia, Claudius, and Polonius, but when he was by himself or with Horatio, he
talked about how others responded to his charade.
In class, we viewed the 1996 version of Hamlet by
Branagh and the 2000 version by Hawke. Both of these film adaptations address
Hamlet’s madness but express it in different ways. Branagh’s version, being
more classical, has Hamlet speaking to his reflection in a mirror that his
uncle is hiding behind while he tries to decide whether or not to commit
suicide because of the tragedies and stress he has been undergoing. As Ophelia
enters, he is immediately sweet and caring towards her but quickly becomes
harsh and unloving, thus expressing a bipolar appearance of Hamlet. Hawke
presents the situation in a similar way by having Hamlet begin his speech
multiple times while placing a gun to his head before completing his speech.
Hamlet is being recorded by video cameras in this adaptation to represent the
feeling of being watched that adds to Hamlet’s paranoia and insanity. When
Ophelia and Hamlet first meet up, Hamlet appears distant, then loving, then
angry after finding a microphone upon her.
Each of these films represented a different view on
Hamlet's insanity and emotional approach to the obstacles in his life; how does
madness play a role in society today, considering the current events and
obstacles endured?
Madness is a key part in society. It drives people to go on mass murders and shoot up a school or even a movie theater full of people. People always want to know why people are driven to do things like this. Maybe they had traumatic experiences in their lives or were bullied. Maybe they just have a hard time dealing with their emotions Madness can be an aspect of both society and emotional situations. Madness is something we need to be aware of.
ReplyDeleteMadness is a key role in everyday society. Many crimes happen out of madness. Something bad has happened to the criminal in the past so they retaliate on others. This is why we have school shootings and many other crimes. People use madness as a way to justify their actions. We see this Hamlet when he kills his Uncle. He justified his actions to kill his Uncle because he was mad and seeking revenge.
ReplyDeleteMadness plays a part in society because mad people do insane things that the sane don't and can't understand why they did it.
ReplyDeleteA broader definition of madness would say that it affects us on a day to day basis not just in news stories. There are many students at Lansing who have mental disorders that would be considered madness in Shalespeare's time. Like bipolar disorder and such. Hamlet even shows some of these tendencies. If Hamlet was modern could he just get some meds and be perfectly normal?
ReplyDeleteMadness in others is something that we may not think about too often until it affects us in one way or another. We know that people are getting killed everyday, but until it is brought up in the news or made popular in some other way, we don't really seek out the gory details. With that, madness is a very wide-ranged term. What one may consider mad, another would see as just mentally impaired. Personally, yes, I think "madness" does affect our society, but only true, violent madness.
ReplyDeleteMadness is one of the building blocks that allows society to progress and thrive. That the madness of a person or an idea gives cause for adaptions to be made to the procedure of everyday life. The mass shootings experienced at some schools gave cause for extended safety expectations to be placed upon schools so that measures could be taken if the experience were to happen again. New ideas, originally considered mad, can prove to be the new innovations of the future. Such as all Apple products or any scientific discovery that broadens society's knowledge as a whole.
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