Exploring The Theme Of Insanity In Shakespeare's Hamlet

Hamlet Essay Throughout Shakespeare’s novel Hamlet, Hamlet portrays himself to have gone mad. Hamlet’s apparent madness is displayed through several impulsive and aggressive acts towards the people around him along with a depressive mood that helps contribute to the idea that his madness is a reality. Through this, Hamlet’s madness can be judged reasonable and plays a vital role in the unfolding of the theme of revenge in the play. Rather than being the loving Hamlet that everyone was used too, Hamlet became impulsive and aggressive which was very important to his plan of seeming to have gone mad. For example, when Gertrude calls Hamlet over with intentions of finding out why he has gone mad, Hamlet’s repulsive and aggressive attitude towards …show more content…
One of the major themes in the play is revenge and without Hamlet’s madness, the plot of the play would have gone very different. The sole purpose of Hamlet’s apparent madness was so that he could distract the people around him from catching on to his plans for revenge. This can be seen after Hamler’s encounter with the late king Hamlet’s ghost when Hamlet tells Horatio, “… How strange or odd soe’er I bear myself (As I perchance hereafter shall think meet to put on antic disposition on)” (I: V: 171-173). Hamlet believes that the best way for people to stay unaware of his plot for revenge is to keep them distracted with something else. If their minds are preoccupied with something far from the idea of madness, such as a loved one having gone “mad,” Hamlet would not have to worry about anyone around him suspecting him for wanting to kill Claudius. It is for this reason that madness plays such a significant role on the work as a whole. Hamlet displays himself as someone who has gone mad to serve as a distraction to the people around him so that he could more efficiently plot for revenge against Claudius. Without this distraction, the central theme of revenge would have played out very