State Of Mind In Shakespeare's Hamlet

In William Shakespeare’s play, The Tragedy of Hamlet, the state of mind of the main character, Hamlet, is questioned throughout a series of events that begins with his father’s death. Shortly after his death a few guards, including Hamlet, encounter the spirit of the former king while keeping watch of the castle. The ghost of King Hamlet tells his son that when he was napping, Claudius, his brother, poured poison into his ear which kills him. Many people believe that the king was simply killed by a poisonous snake. However, Hamlet’s mother, Gertrude, soon marries Claudius who has become the new King of Denmark. This leads Hamlet to believe that his father was the victim of his brother's treachery. Claudius knows that Hamlet is aware that he killed his father, which is depicted as Claudius attempts to prove to everyone that Hamlet is crazy so he can send him off to England to be killed. While the theme of this play is Hamlet’s sanity, he demonstrates that he is pretending to be crazy so …show more content…
Ophelia losing her mind is a result of Hamlet killing her father as well as she was strictly ordered around by her father in order to get information of Hamlet’s intentions with King Claudius. An example of Ophelia being mentally unstable is when she was passing out twigs to some of the main characters and calling them flowers. This lead many of the characters to believe that she has lost her mind just like Hamlet has. As Ophelia is singing to the King, Claudius tells Horatio to, “Follow her close. Give her good watch, I pray you” (IV, 5, 88). This quote depicts that many members of the royal family are to believe that Ophelia has gone insane. This belief was personified when Ophelia drowned in the lake while singing by herself. This lead many people to believe that she committed suicide. However, if this was the case she would not have gotten a proper burial