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Hamlet s Temporary Insanity William Shakespeare s Hamlet is a tragic story of a young prince who goes mad after his father s death, and the related events. In the story his Uncle, who then usurps the throne to which Hamlet s father had previously occupied, kills Hamlet s father. Hamlet is pushed to temporary insanity because of the conflict between his morals and the morals of society. The morals in question are those of whether or not it is moral to kill out of revenge of a loved one. This paper will examine the conflict between Hamlet s and society s moral beliefs, as well as Hamlet s brief respite into insanity.
Hamlet has a clear set of morals above those of the society around him. Hamlet s differences in the moral standards of his society are exemplified by the events that follow his father s death. The apparent state of immorality within the royal household, as shown by Cladius drunkenness and Laertes anxiety to return to the fleshpots of Paris, is a small glimpse of the world as a whole (Wadsworth). To succeed in his effort to remain sane, Hamlet must subdue that element of society which is part of his own personality and which is reflected in Horatio. The shock of his father s death, followed by his being passed up for the throne, his mother s casual acceptance of her husband s death and her over hasty marriage serve to heighten Hamlet s awareness of the lacking morals of society, along with the his higher standards in morals (Wadsworth). Hamlet s breaking point in mental stability occurs in Act III when he goes on a rampage.
His resistance to temptation is bought at a terrible price, it is cause of the temporary insanity, which afflicts him in Act III when he needlessly kills Ophelia s father. This event is the one of the lowest points in Hamlet s sanity and occurs at time when Hamlet is under the severest emotional stress (Aichinger). Secondly, when Hamlet sees the ghost of his father again, proves his insanity. If the ghost appeared to everyone, or at least was unable to conceal himself on the ramparts regardless of rank, why or how should only Hamlet see him and not be seen by his former wife? The ghost of course must be a figment of the imagination and definite proof of Hamlet s madness (Aichinger).
Finally, there is the strongest proof of all that Hamlet was mad: he admits it himself. As E. E. Stoll has pointed out The Elizabethan audience was even less familiar with the jargon of psychoanalysis than is the modern audience. As he so claims whenever the action takes a turn that requires the least psychological knowledge Shakespeare is careful to have a commenter who explains the situation.
This is present in what Hamlet says to Laertes in Act V Roughly awake, I here proclaim was madness. The deaths of Ophelia and Polonius are the lowest points in the abyss of madness, which Hamlet must pass through (Aichinger). Hamlet s personality before his madness is that of a scholar and a gentleman. The crucial thing to understanding Hamlet s problem is voiced early in the play, in Polonius unwittingly appropriate saying: To thine own self be true. Hamlet tries to be true to what he thinks should be his real nature, thereby placing himself in a situation that is conflicting, setting up the events of the tragedy (Aichinger).
In the last moments before their duel, Hamlet is nobility and generosity personified towards Laertes, which is contrasted by Shakespeare in the cruel and malicious actions of Laertes (Wadsworth). Throughout the play Hamlet shows a gentility and moral sense superior to that of any other person. Hamlet s problem is that he combines extreme sensitivity and perceptiveness with a degree of moral strength, which enables him, or forces him, to act morally in an essentially immoral world, causing conflict within. His delay, he thinks is moral cowardice. Every bit of evidence in the play, prior to his insanity supports the contention that Hamlet is the soul of courtesy (Aichinger). TO prove this is the example of when, even in his moment of greatest revulsion in her actions he limits himself to speaking daggers to his mother (Wadsworth).
Hamlet s ability to define their wickedness should imply that he could keep himself detached from such conduct, while still sane (Wadsworth). At best Hamlet is instinctively and subconsciously aware of the evil that he holds at bay for the majority of the play. But the great blessing of being able to see clearly what he is struggling against is denied him, not only because he is stuck in the tradition of a society that glorifies such an act, but also because the demand for action was forced by the ghost of his dead father (Wadsworth). Hamlet develops schizophrenia in relation to his inability to accept his society s cultural parameters. The schizophrenic is compelled in the dominating mad half of his identity to a vision, which absorbs all that, he sees, hears, tastes, and smells in his warped world (Aldus). In general terms the schizophrenic is caught up in a pattern, like that of the primal mythmaker, which is, he can only report what others mean, not his own thoughts and actions (Aldus).
The intelligent schizophrenic is extraordinarily skilled in cunning and guile in his actions. He can be so persuasive in this as to be most dangerous to people that he doesn t trust (Aldus). This is shown by Hamlet s impression is never one of a complete mad man it is always questioned as to his madness. That Hamlet is a young courtier, lover, prince, soldier, hunter, spy, scholar, challenger, challenged, prophet, man of desire, corrupt man, diseased man, scourge, and self-scourge, that he is all these at once and at the same time is schizophrenic (Aldus). This is because a schizophrenic has so many personalities that if they are all called upon at once; the schizophrenic seems to be mad. There is an infinitely more destructive factor, which wears down Hamlet s resistance, and causes him to act as savagely as his fellows.
This factor is his inability to express his objection to the moral code of his peers, to define exactly what it is that revolts him. This happens while remaining under constant pressure, even from himself, to carry out the act of revenge (Aichinger). Hamlet is in the most desperate of situations a man under growing internal and external pressure, from which he is scarcely able to define a reason for (Aichinger). Since Hamlet is forced into schizophrenic isolation from his society it provides a consistent explanation of his actions during his insanity (Aichinger). Clearly Hamlet s actions in Act III are inconsistent with his previously established good moral code. Hamlet s temporary insanity is brought about by the conflict between his moral strength and the lack of moral strength in the society around him.
Through out the play his fellows see Hamlet as someone he is not and there impression of him is lower than is deserved. Ironically in Shakespeare s Hamlet the nice guy does finish last, after being stripped of his morals and his mind, he is then stripped of his life and, perhaps, even his soul. Works Cited Aichinger, C. P. Culture, Vol XXIX, No. 2. June 1968. 142 - 149.
Reprinted in Shakespearean Criticism, Vol 35. 10 - 16 - 00. web Aldus, P. J. Mouse Trap: Structure and Meaning in Hamlet. 1977 pp 209 - 219. Reprinted in Shakespearean Criticism, Vol 35. 10 - 28 - 00. web Wadsworth, Frank W.
William Shakespeare. Oct 16, 2000. http: // web
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