Hamlet: Is He Insane?

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Term Paper Title	Hamlet: Is He Insane?
# of Words	693
# of Pages (250 words per page double spaced)	2.77

Hamlet: Is He Insane?

     The term insanity means a mental disorder, whether it is temporary or permanent, that is
used to describe a person when they don’t know the difference between right or wrong.  They
don’t consider the nature of their actions due to the mental defect.(“Insanity”, sturtevant)  In
William Shakespeare’s play “Hamlet” Shakespeare leads you to believe that the main character,
Hamlet, might be insane.  There are many clues to suggest Hamlet is insane but infact he is
completely sane.
     Throughout the play Hamlet makes wise decisions to prove he is not insane.  He knows
exactly what he is leading up to.  He just delays to act due to his indecisiveness.  An example of
this is in Act III, section III, line 73, Hamlet says “Now might I do it pat, now ’a is a-praying, and
now I’ll do it-and so ‘a goes to heaven, and so am I revenged that would be scanned. A villain
kills my father, and for that, I, his sole son, do this same villain send to heaven. Why, this is hire
and salary, not revenge.”  He says here that he has his chance to kill his father’s murder but, he is
praying.  By killing him while he’s praying his soul goes to heaven and this wouldn’t be revenge.
This is not a thought of an insane person.  An insane person would have completed the murder at
this opportunity.  In Act III, scene I, line 55, “To be or not to be...”, Hamlet displays his
indecisiveness by thinking about suicide because of the situation he is in.  He would rather be
dead than live with the thought of his father’s death going unavenged.  He is scared to get
revenge because he found out from a ghost and he doesn’t know what to do.  In line 83,” Thus
conscience takes a major part in the thought and action of murder.  This is why he delays so long
to commit the murder.  An insane person would not wait.  They would be more apt to act in
impulse.
     Hamlet’s madness only existed when he was in the presence of certain characters.  When
Hamlet is around Polonius, Claudius, Gertrude, Ophelia, Rosencrantz, and Gildenstern, he
behaves irrationally.  For example in Act II, s...

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