Hamlet

Insanity or madness plays a major role throughout Hamlet. With contributions from revenge, anger, paranoia, and backhanded-ness, insanity takes on many roles during the play, forming the very crux of what happens over the course of the five acts. However, in the end, the madness that consumed the characters eventually is their downfall, bringing about the grisly deaths at the end of the play.

The insanity begins with Hamlet’s “antic disposition.” It occurs in the first act, when he meets the ghost of his father, King Hamlet. When the assassination of the king is revealed, Hamlet swears revenge. He plots to kill the assassin: the new king and Hamlet’s uncle, Claudius. The “antic disposition” that he plans to put on calls for him to feign insanity. Hamlet plans to act strangely from time-to-time when others are around, making them think that he is beginning to lose his mind. Then, when the timing is right, the others will let their guard down enough around him so that he can make the right move and murder the new king for revenge.

Madness is defined as being as being “the quality or state of being mad or insane.” In modern society, madness is something that can be easily diagnosed as just acting what is viewed as “strange.” Rather than just say that somebody is acting strange, medicine placed names on each condition. People who are “schizophrenic” hear voices in their head, while people with “bi-polar disorder”