Hamlet’s Cause Of Madness

8 Pages 2059 Words

The Shakespeare play Hamlet, the Prince of Denmark reveals a confused character. Hamlet presents himself to be an apparently sane man yet portrays an insane one for wanting revenge. Hamlet’s uncle, mother, and Ophelia mainly caused his effects on his life. Hamlet’s madness is not only caused by his being angry, sad, and in grief, it is caused by some characters. Other characters have sympathy towards him and try to help this tragic hero. Hamlet, at first, appears to act mad when he hears of his father’s death. It seems as if there are two Hamlets in this play, one that is a sensitive and kind prince, and the other who is crazy and insane. (Bloom3)
King Claudius, who is Hamlet’s uncle, assumes the throne after the death of Hamlet’s father and marries Queen Gertrude, who is Hamlet’s mother and the widow to Hamlet’s father. The madness that Hamlet shows is very noticeable because he can’t seem to get over the actual death of his father and still wears black, nor the fact that his mother is married to Claudius. Claudius finally notices Hamlet who is standing in black robes of mourning for his father. He tells Hamlet that it is not normal for a man to mourn for such a long period of time. Queen Gertrude agrees and asks Hamlet to wear his regular clothes again, and both king and queen beg Hamlet to continue staying with them at the castle rather than returning to his studies in Wittenberg. Hamlet agrees to stay, and his mother and uncle rush out of the palace to celebrate their new wedding. After their departure Horatio arrives with the guards and tells Hamlet that they have seen his father’s ghost. Hamlet then makes arrangements to join them to watch for the arrival of the ghost that night. Laertes, Ophelia’s brother, is preparing to leave for France but warns his sister to stay away from Hamlet. Laertes says that Hamlet is a prince and may not be able to marry whom he chooses. Polonius then turns to her...