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Jodi Johnson

English 101

Ryan Bartlett

March 7th, 2012

Hamlet’s Sanity

Hamlet is a tragedy written by Shakespeare. It is about a prince of Denmark who plots revenge

against his uncle who killed his father in order to take the throne. At first Hamlet is not aware of

the murder. He is upset because his mother re-maries directly after his father’s funeral and

involves herself in an incestuous relationship, but soon after this dilemma Horatio, who is

Hamlet’s good friend from Wittenburg University, comes to Denmark as well. He tells Hamlet

there is a ghostly apparition looming about the castle in the form of King Hamlet. Hearing this

prompts Hamlet to investigate for himself, which then, leads him to meet the ghost. The ghost

informs Hamlet that Claudius murdered his father by pouring poison down his ear. It is from this

point on that Hamlet begins to act strangely because he isn’t sure if he should avenge his father’s

death and ruin the kingdom, or ignore the ghost because it could just be “the devil” leading him

into damnation.

There could be many reasons for why Hamlet acts strangely throughout the play. He could be

acting the way he does because it is a reaction to his father’s death. He could also be acting the

way he is because of his mother’s complacency towards the death of King Hamlet. I believe

however that the main reason is the ghost. In those times a ghost wasn’t just seen as a ghost. It

was seen potentially as a devil. He is confused about whether or not to believe this ghost because

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of this. This makes him feel helpless and might eventually lead him into acting “insane”. He acts

strangely because he cannot decide whether or not to kill King Claudius as well. It bothers him

so much that he calls himself a coward and even contemplates suicide in his soliloquy “to be or

not to be” (3.1.58).

Hamlet does not act strangely because he is upset that he is not heir to the throne. I believe he

was too upset about the murder of his father to care too much about whether or not he would be

the king. He was preoccupied with figuring out if he needed to avenge his father by killing

Claudius. There was a dialogue in the play though where he could have been hinting at wanting

to be a King, but overall Hamlet’s actions are motivated by his feelings toward the unjust killing

of his father. The closest he comes to saying he wants to be king though is in act five when he

says, “He that have killed my king and whored my mother (Claudius)/popp’d in-between the

election and my hopes/thrown out his angle for my proper life” (5.2.65-66). In this line he is

talking about how Claudius “pops in-between his hopes”. The reference to hopes could be his

hope to become king or it could be referencing his will to go back to Wittenburg to become a

scholar. Hamlet did not want to become king from the beginning and only wanted to become a

scholar. His mother even had to ask him not to return to Wittenburg by saying “Let not thy

mother lose her prayers, Hamlet: / I pray thee, stay with us; go not to Wittenberg”. (1.2.118-

119.)”

Another reason Hamlet could be acting strangely is because of the ghost he meets in Act 1,

Scene 5. The ghost that Hamlet met claimed to be the spirit of his father but it is possible it did

not directly cause Hamlet to think morbidly of the afterlife. However, if it wasn’t for the

presence of the ghost, Hamlet probably would not have questioned whether or not it was a devil

and consequently become indecisive/insane. For example, if Horatio would have just told Hamlet

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that Claudius killed his father, Hamlet would have had no problem deciding whether or not to

kill Claudius, but because it was a ghost (potentially a devil) it leads Hamlet to go insane. In the

story, Hamlet is paranoid that the ghost may be a devil attempting to send Hamlet to an afterlife

of damnation.

Hamlet does not act the way that he does because of his mother and does not hate women

because of what his mother did. Hamlet respects his mother and loathes Claudius only. For

example when his mother, Gertrude, pleads for him not to return to Wittenberg, Hamlet says, “I

shall in all my best obey you, madam” (1.2.120). Hamlet did not only say this to snub Claudius.

The meaning of this phrase shows that Hamlet is not on bad terms with his mother, just

disappointed with her decisions.

I think the most convincing reason for why Hamlet acts the way he does is the ghost causing him

to think morbidly of the afterlife. The ghost he thinks may actually be a devil. If the ghost then

was an actual person and not a ghost, Hamlet would not have to question his sanity and whether

or not it was alright for him to kill Claudius. If he did not have to feel so indecisive about

whether or not it was alright for him to kill Claudius, then most of the drama in the play would

have happened a lot differently.