|
|
Post by graceyichen on Mar 12, 2016 13:07:54 GMT
I define insanity as when one loses a traceable reason behind her or her actions. I think Hamlet always kept his goal pretty clear despite of his fear and hesitations, his impulses may have taken over his reason a few times but that happens to anyone who's angry, to different extents. There was always an understandable purpose behind his actions, and he carried them out, the play he planned was smart for example. So why is he considered "insane" by a lot of people? I don't see how Hamlet was insane.
|
|
|
|
Post by anniee on Mar 13, 2016 11:05:13 GMT
Hamlet may have not have seemed that "insane" in our eyes, but the time period's cultural beliefs probably made Hamlet seem crazier than he actually was. In cluncool, most of us thought that he was crazy because of his experiences with the ghost - that he was yelling and talking with a ghost that Gertrude couldn't see, or that he was able to see a ghost at all. However, when Hamlet was trying to act crazy to provoke those around him, he acted in such ways that was culturally unacceptable for one of his social status. As the royal prince, he was expected to be calm and poised at all times, so when Ophelia saw him with his clothes all out of order, she would have been horrified to see the prince practically undressed. Also, Hamlet insulted Claudius and Gertrude, whom were his respected elders.
|
|
|
|
Post by jonah21 on Mar 13, 2016 11:10:50 GMT
I actually have mixed feelings towards this. One side of me tells me that he isn't insane because he does keep reminding himself that needs to get revenge on Claudius. However, the other side tells me he is. Hamlet does keep talking about revenge but as I kept reading, he never mentions WHY he wants revenge (other than at the beginning). He keeps saying how he must kill Claudius but never really mentioned for his father, or whatever.
|
|
|
|
Post by mohahaha on Mar 13, 2016 11:38:12 GMT
Hamlet is considered insane just because of how he went beyond grief and went into madness, he saw his father's death as it's "the end of the world" in his own perspective. While in reality, death is a cycle of nature. Depression really took a big toll to destroy Hamlet's own self, and mistrusting everyone around him. Losing the perspective of what's the truth and what's false, which the only truth seems to be death.
|
|
|
|
Post by Jessica (Yeeun) Kim on Mar 13, 2016 13:17:55 GMT
Insanity has different meanings depend on situations. In this case, Hamlet is insane because he believed the ghost and tried to revenge Claudius in which most people will not do it. It is true that Hamlet always kept his goal clearly, but his goal always based on his madness. For this reason, I believe Hamlet was insane.
|
|
|
|
Post by ETypeRegymon on Mar 13, 2016 13:41:26 GMT
I agree that Hamlet believing in the ghost is what makes him seem crazy. It depends on whether or not the ghost was actually talking to Hamlet or it talking was just a figment of his imagination to justify murdering Claudius since he hated his guts even before knowing Claudius killed King Hamlet. Though the ghost appearing to Hamlet but not Gertrude later on would mean that Hamlet was hallucinating his father in that scene, which is a sign that he's mad.
|
|
|
|
Post by Jonathan on Mar 13, 2016 15:04:33 GMT
How we define insanity is all different and we all have our own interpretations of everything just like we have in our cluncool discussions. I believe that Hamlet is "mad", which is another word for insane. As Mohammad stated, he sees the death of his father as the end of the world. He gets captured with his revenge and starts killing everyone intentionally and unintentionally. We usually see these kind of people as psychopaths and insane.
|
|
sunnyp
Junior Member
Posts: 92 
|
Post by sunnyp on Mar 14, 2016 1:02:19 GMT
I agree with your definition of insanity. Hamlet did always have a purpose in this story and therefore we could say Hamlet wasn't sane. However, some actions Hamlet took was too extreme. Hamlet could think about his past doings and remember why he did them, but he wouldn't be able to explain why he had to go that far. For example, I don't think Hamlet had to send his friends to Britain so they could be killed. He could have sent someone else (who is not Hamlet's childhood friend) or used another way to not get himself killed. Also, did he really have to do that to Ophelia? So what I'm saying is, Hamlet did have reasons for his actions but he didn't have to go that far, sacrificing his friends' lives and brutally hurting a woman he once loved.
|
|
|
|
Post by juliaj on Mar 19, 2016 3:55:06 GMT
I think Hamlet is insane because he seems to have lost touch with reality and his sanity. He shows signs of psychosis, and if you count that as insane, he would be insane for sure. The Ghost could have been a hallucination, and he has deep trust issues, has violent tendencies and uses other people for his own good despite the harm it will bring them. All of these are signs of psychosis and they're not subtle either.
|
|
|
|
Post by maysamyounis on Mar 19, 2016 11:35:38 GMT
I think has a different feeling about Hamlet his insane in some part and sane in anther parts. So basically Hamlet have goal what he want to due, But he had some wrong plan to achieve his goal in story.he sees the death of his father as the end of the world. He gets captured with his revenge and starts killing everyone intentionally and unintentionally. We usually see these kind of people as psychopaths and insane. And also in Act III tree when Hamlet make plan to play and give responsibility to his best friend to see his uncle to notes him if he cause the guilty. So that basically help hamlet to see the truth .
|
|
|
|
Post by Jooyoung on Mar 19, 2016 13:35:16 GMT
I agree that Hamlet is not insane. Although Hamlet is at time impulsive and erratic, he is not insane. He deliberately feigned his madness to mislead his enemies into believing that he is mad. When not in presence of specific characters, Hamlet displayed rational and critical thinking. For example, when he was with Horatio, he was sane enough to discuss and plan Claudius's trap.
|
|
|
|
Post by jin794 on Mar 20, 2016 6:12:45 GMT
I think people say Hamlet was insane because he was acting in a way that he should not in that time period. People think Hamlet was crazy because he saw the ghost of King Hamlet and yelled at a ghost that Gertrude was not able to see. It is true that Hamlet planned on acting insane to kill Claudius. However, as Annie mentioned, it was culturally not right for prince to act crazy.
|
|
|
|
Post by Tharu on Mar 20, 2016 7:56:51 GMT
I think mostly he was considered insane is due to his behavior. As Ophelia described, Hamlet came into her room without wearing proper clothes and etc. so probably in their society these behaviors might be considered as not normal. So since hamlet did them, people thought that he was not normal, which lead them to think about going insane.
|
|
