Joel Rozum
Brianna Tanner
Pre AP English 10
May 12, 2016
Hamlet: The Sanity
What is insanity? It is a question that is asked countless amounts of time in court. If someone pleads insane then it could decrease their prison time by years. But what is the accepted definition of insanity? According to the Webster's Dictionary insanity is the act of being in a state of mind that prevents normal perception, behavior, or social interaction; seriously mentally ill. In the play Hamlet written by William Shakespeare Hamlet is considered by some to be insane due to his actions, but was he truly insane?
Hamlet's decisions and actions are directly coordinated to what he believes to be right which may be different to someone else. Hamlet's father …show more content…
Everything one person may believe is relative to what another may believe to be normal. What is considered normal in this case though is the way Hamlet has been acting before he found out that his father was murdered by Claudius. Hamlet was a melancholy man who had high moral standards. Hamlet still kept those high moral standards after he found out that his father was murdered. His normal perception in which he believed to be right and wrong never changed before and after. Hamlet only took action after what he found out was true which doesn't make him any different than people these days. There is only one option left for him to be considered insane.
Some would say that Hamlet is insane because he was mad: mentally ill. "I essentially am not in madness But mad in craft." (Act III Scene IV, 187-188) Hamlet clearly states that he is not insane but what he did was insane. This is the flaw in the argument that he is mentally ill. A man in which admits his wrongs is not mentally ill. Now if Hamlet had said he did nothing wrong then he could actually have been considered mental because his mindset would be different than the accepted …show more content…
Hamlet loves, has social interactions with others, has normal behavior, and is not mentally ill. So if someone claims that Hamlet is insane then they are also insane themselves. What someone believes to be right typically is the beliefs of the people that they are surrounded by but in Hamlet's case he believed what he wanted to believe which just so happened to not be the collective's belief. Using the definition of insane Hamlet is far from it proving beyond a reasonable doubt Hamlet is in fact not insane. Works Cited
Shakespeare, William. Hamlet. Cambridge: Cambridge U.P., 1968.
Brianna Tanner
Pre AP English 10
May 12, 2016
Hamlet: The Sanity
What is insanity? It is a question that is asked countless amounts of time in court. If someone pleads insane then it could decrease their prison time by years. But what is the accepted definition of insanity? According to the Webster's Dictionary insanity is the act of being in a state of mind that prevents normal perception, behavior, or social interaction; seriously mentally ill. In the play Hamlet written by William Shakespeare Hamlet is considered by some to be insane due to his actions, but was he truly insane?
Hamlet's decisions and actions are directly coordinated to what he believes to be right which may be different to someone else. Hamlet's father …show more content…
Everything one person may believe is relative to what another may believe to be normal. What is considered normal in this case though is the way Hamlet has been acting before he found out that his father was murdered by Claudius. Hamlet was a melancholy man who had high moral standards. Hamlet still kept those high moral standards after he found out that his father was murdered. His normal perception in which he believed to be right and wrong never changed before and after. Hamlet only took action after what he found out was true which doesn't make him any different than people these days. There is only one option left for him to be considered insane.
Some would say that Hamlet is insane because he was mad: mentally ill. "I essentially am not in madness But mad in craft." (Act III Scene IV, 187-188) Hamlet clearly states that he is not insane but what he did was insane. This is the flaw in the argument that he is mentally ill. A man in which admits his wrongs is not mentally ill. Now if Hamlet had said he did nothing wrong then he could actually have been considered mental because his mindset would be different than the accepted …show more content…
Hamlet loves, has social interactions with others, has normal behavior, and is not mentally ill. So if someone claims that Hamlet is insane then they are also insane themselves. What someone believes to be right typically is the beliefs of the people that they are surrounded by but in Hamlet's case he believed what he wanted to believe which just so happened to not be the collective's belief. Using the definition of insane Hamlet is far from it proving beyond a reasonable doubt Hamlet is in fact not insane. Works Cited
Shakespeare, William. Hamlet. Cambridge: Cambridge U.P., 1968.