In The Tragedy of Hamlet, Shakespeare plays with the idea of madness. The readers are to decide whether Hamlet is truly crazy or just sanely reacting to the world around him.
Both adaptations try to portray madness in different ways by using different camera angles,using dark colors and ominous music.
The modern version touched on the idea of being crazy without a clear context and seemed overboard, but the classic version went in depth and showed that Hamlet was sane while the world around him was falling apart.
Craziness is not going with the social norms, but when society isn't normal, then normal seems crazy. Hamlet is not crazy the society around him his.
However, craziness isn't something that necessarily relies on society. Some people are just crazy. Hamlet appears to be crazy and makes irrational decisions that end up not only killing himslef but also his entire family.
We found that within our group we have different opinions on madness in Hamlet , do you think he was truly mad?
Hamlet had a lot of tragic events and stress that weighed upon him so yes, he had some slight madness but beyond that he acted to make it more dramatic and to find the information he needed to become decisive and avenge his father.
ReplyDeleteAt the very least Hamlet must have been slightly mad. He had just lost his father and saw his father's ghost. Both of which are fairly tragic events. He showed that he was mad but it was so well portrayed that it is hard to determine how much of his madness was genuine or not.
ReplyDeleteI agree that Hamlet was slightly mad. I don't think he was completely mad, you can kind of see when Hamlet adds more to his madness then there really is. But I think anyone would have gone a little crazy when your father's ghost comes back and tells you your uncle killed your father.
ReplyDeleteAll of the problems, and events that occurred in Hamlet's life may have led him to some madness, but I do not think he was as mad as he put on. He was indecisive, and made rash choices, and I think that could lead other people to think he was crazy. He also wanted to obtain evidence, and information to try to avenge his father.
ReplyDeleteI think Hamlet was pretending to be mad the whole time. Hamlet was able the digest what he had done and was mental present during the whole play. I believe Hamlet was just a mean person. The scene where he tells Ophelia to go to a nunnery. He isn't being over taken by something, he is just mean.
ReplyDeleteI do agree that Hamlet is not all that mad. He did have some traumatic circumstances and had a lot of pressure to take the right action, but I would say madness would be an overstatement. As Jena said, I also think he was more mean and decieving than anything and I think he used his "madness" as an excuse.
ReplyDeleteI feel that with the circumstances going on, Hamlet was a little crazy but it is justifiable behavior since I think anyone would feel mad, sad, and uncertain on what to do with knowing his uncle had killed his father to take the throne and also his mother remarrying to his uncle as well, I know that I would be feeling a bit crazy too.
ReplyDeleteHamlet suffers immense emotional trauma from his father death. Although, this trauma could cause him to hallucinate his father’s ghost, he might have already suspected foul play. Despite his mental state, Hamlet was able to take action to verify his theory.
ReplyDeleteI think that in trying to pretend to be crazy, Hamlet inadvertently drove himself mad. Some of his actions seem normal, but other actions are impossible to interpret. His intense emotional torturing of Ophelia is one of those actions. Perhaps he just wanted Ophelia to communicate to Claudius and Polonius that he was truly mad, but I feel he went way too far with it.
ReplyDeleteI don't think that Hamlet was crazy, but more to smart for his own good. Every decision that he made he looked at from any and every possible way before actually doing anything which means not a lot of action so, he just gets frustrated so it appears as though he is crazy.
ReplyDeleteI think Hamlet was appearing to be crazy, but really he was just plotting against everyone who he thought was plotting against him. He made almost all of his decisions strategically. He seems to act crazy whenever he doesn't get his way.
ReplyDeleteI think Hamlet was slightly mad because when he lost his father and found out that his uncle had killed him, it made him extremely angry and made him want to seek revenge. I think his madness comes in when he gets so emotionally attached to finding a way to get revenge, it causes him to go over the edge.
ReplyDeleteEh. I think he was reacting normally. He wasn't that mad. He was just normally responding to life.
ReplyDeleteEh. I think he was reacting normally. He wasn't that mad. He was just normally responding to life.
ReplyDeleteI agree with the statement that madness is going against social norms and that in Hamlet, there don't seem to be any so Hamlet is probably sane.
ReplyDeleteI honestly believe that Hamlet was merely pretending to be insane just to play with the minds of those around him. However, it would be completely understandable for him to have some degree of mental illness based on the circumstances he faced.
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