Madness

Throughout Shakespeare’s play, “Hamlet”, many of the characters question the Prince’s sanity. Yet it is clear that he is sane from he moment the play begins to the moment he dies but he does feign madness. At the beginning of the play, before Hamlet learns that his father was murdered rather than bitten by a snake, Hamlet is simply mourning the death of his father and the “hasty marriage” of his mother and Claudius. At this point hamlet shows signs of only sorrow and despair in his soliloquys,…

players, is called the Greenleaf Patriots with the name emblazoned on their uniforms as well on the School’s athletic field and stands where spectators sit to watch home games. In August 2015, the football team’s coach, Hugh Field, started “Midnight Madness,” a voluntary pep rally that takes place on the athletic field on the last Sunday evening in August, going into the next morning. At about…

believe that death is the best option for escape. In, “Madness and Difference:…

The artwork I have chosen to analyze is a wood-fired sculptural piece of pottery. The work is listed as taking the form of a blade, and was crafted by Daniel Johnston. The piece is a part of a curated show entitled Pot Madness, which was on display in Hunt Gallery. Pot Madness showcased a small portion of Bill Potter’s collection of wood-fired pots. The blade itself stands upright at thirty-five inches, one of the taller pieces in the collection, but is quite narrow both in width and depth. The…

The Three Stages of Madness: The Essence of Twelfth Night Throughout history, madness has been used as a scapegoat to blame people for attempting to break the social standards in a society. In fact, ones who break those social constructs can never achieve a happy ending, as society deems them mad. In Twelfth Night, by William Shakespeare, after Viola has been shipwrecked in a violent storm off the coast of Illyria and disguises herself as a boy, she, thus disguised becomes a messenger in the…

An awareness of mental illness or madness has been around for thousands of years and it can be traced back as far as 500 BCE. At that time it was believed that mental disorders had demonic or magical roots and were blamed on supernatural forces. This view was still thought to be true until the 1800. Asylums set up to treat sufferers became more prominent and the treatment of mental illnesses was on the rise. The motive behind the creation of asylums was questionable and treatment varied…

literary circles. The relationship between madness and prophecy in literature is somewhat difficult to tackle as both concepts are connected to a more mystical world that can give shape and meaning to human existence and truth about life. During the twentieth century, immediately after the Holocaust, people began more readily questioning the existence of a supreme Deity and His lack of divine intervention in such a devastating, world-altering war. Thus, madness and prophecy have intertwined in…

Hamlet’s Madness In Hamlet by Shakespeare one of the major themes is madness. In the early modern period insanity contributed to a variety of causes including fever and imbalance of bodily fluids (britaininprint). Hamlet is far by the most dramatic character ever in a play. From the time we meet the prince we are captured in his elegant intensity. Hamlet is going through a lot throughout the play with the death of his dad, the king, dying and his mom remarrying to his uncle. He is forced to…

Throughout the fourth act Ophelia becomes mad. As the act goes on, the madness becomes more apparent until finally she commits suicide. With Ophelia and Polonius’s deaths Laertes becomes madden with rage, and with the king plots to kill Hamlet. The death of Ophelia sets the stage for the final act. Ophelia is divided; she wants to be loyal to her father and not be with Hamlet, but also wants to be with him because she loves him. Her father and brother believe that Hamlet would use her, in…

Throughout the play, Hamlet, Ophelia’s descent into madness progressively increases due to the loss of free will, Hamlet’s rejection, and the guilt over her father’s death. However, Ophelia’s madness and eventual demise inspires Laertes’ revenge and at times projects the true nature of the King and Queen as well as herself. Ophelia is shown to have times of clarity and regret to the way things were handled by herself and others. Ophelia, even in her insanity, is the symbol of innocence. An…