Big I, Eye, Aye.

The Shakespearean play Hamlet revolves around the play’s namesake. This character has just lost his father, witnesses the incestuous wedding of his mother to his uncle, and finds out that his new stepfather killed his actual father. And this is just the beginning. Now, just looking at this list of very unfortunate events, one would be comfortable in saying that someone could possibly go crazy if these things happened to them. They would be even more comfortable in saying that, if they knew the complete list of unfortunate events – random murders committed by the person in question, secret affairs leading to a lover’s turn to insanity, a continuously disloyal mother.Such is the case for Hamlet. He is crazy. This can be proven from a number of standpoints.

One must first consider Hamlet’s insanity case in it’s own time period. Because it wasn’t written today, we have to go back to Shakespeare’s time and see what his original intent was. The traits that showed insanity back then may have been different than those that qualify it today. So, in Shakespearean literature, an insane character would usually exhibits behaviors that go against the grain of society, and as usual, endangers those around him and himself. Paul, throughout the play, goes against many societal norms. He, most importantly, goes against the king. In fact, he plots against the king. This was really frowned upon in these times. He also sleeps with a woman he’s not wedded with, and this is a noblewoman too. He goes against the Great Chain of Being, something ingrained in everyone at that time.

And it cannot be disputed that he’s a danger to himself and others. He speaks of suicide many times, in his ‘to be or not to be’ monologue, as well as his ‘would if this too solid flesh would melt’ speech. But, he refrains from it because of the Church. He obviously endangers others, killing Polonius, driving Ophelia mad, plotting to kill Claudius for almost the entirety of the play, signing Rosencrantz and Guildenstern’s death warrants. Hamlet is insane in the Shakespearean tragedy definition of the word.

Another literary example of why he IS crazy is his extended use of soliloquy. Although a popular method used in Shakespeare’s plays, one must approach his use of them here differently. What are Hamlet’s soliloquies about? Death, death, more death… tragedy. And take into account who he’s speaking these to… no one. He’s rambling about these morbid topics to no one but thin air. Does this strike you as entirely sane? No.

Let’s look at this from another perspective. Linguistically! The root of insanity is the Greek word sanus, meaning health. So, technically, an insane person doesn’t need to have a mental disorder, just an unhealthy mind. Look at Hamlet. He is under intense amounts of mental stress. A person under stress for extended periods of time will get sick eventually. Through his exhibits of suicidal talk and mood swings, one could easily say Hamlet is mentally ‘sick’. In the linguistic definition of the word, Hamlet is insane.

One last literary way to prove that he is insane is by looking at Hamlet and Ophelia as foil characters. A foil character is defined as:

A minor character whose situation or actions parallel those of a major character, and thus by contrast sets off or illuminates the major character; most often the contrast is complimentary to the major character. (http://www.humanitiesweb.org/human.php?s=l&p=t&a=d&ID=29).

Ophelia’s personal plot mirrors Hamlets in a number of ways. Both their fathers are murdered by someone they previously trusted, and their mothers are unable to help. In the end Ophelia turns into a rambling lunatic and has a questionable death (which some saw as suicide). Perhaps what this secondary character is trying to highlight in Hamlet’s character is his turn in insanity.

Hamlet is unquestionabely insane, as my arguments looking from the point of view of Shakespearean lit, linguistics, and literary tools.