Madness and Insanity in Shakespeares Hamlet - Insanity in Hamlet Essay

Insanity in hamlet A consideration of the imbecility of the zep critical point within the Shakespearean drama of the same name, shows that his affect madness sometimes borders on real madness, but probably yet coincidentally. small towns conversation with Claudius is insane to the latter. Lawrence Danson in Tragic rudiment describes how Hamlets use of the syllogism is pure madness to the king What Hamlet shows by his use of the syllogism is that nothing secure can rest on the falsehood that masquerades as the royal order of Denmark. From Claudiuss point of view, however, the syllogism is still if mad its logic is part of Hamlets antic disposition. in their right minds(predicate) men inhabit, after all, that man and wife is one flesh only in a metaphoric or symbolic sense they know that only a madman would look for literal truth in linguistic conventions. And Claudius is right that such madness in great ones moldiness not unwatched go (III.i.end). For the madman, pre cisely because he does not accept fraternitys compromises and because he explores its conventions for meanings they cannot bear, exposes the flaws which normal society keeps hidden (70). Phyllis Abrahms and Alan Brody in Hamlet and the Elizabethan Revenge Tragedy Formula consider the madness of the hero to be completely feigned and not real Hamlet is a masterpiece not because it conforms to a set of conventions but because it takes those conventions and transmutes them into the pure specie of vital, relevant meaning. Hamlets feigned madness, for instance, becomes the touchstone for an illumination of the incomprehensible nature of sanity itself (44-45). Hamlets first words in the play say that Claudius is A little more than kin and little ... ...y Martin). On Some of Shakespeares Female Characters. 6th ed. London William Blackwood and Sons, 1899. Felperin, Howard. Oerdoing Termagant. Modern Critical Interpretations Hamlet. Ed. Harold Bloom. New York Chelsea House, 1986. Rpt . of Oerdoing Termagant An Approach to Shakespearean Mimesis. The Yale Review 63, no.3 (Spring 1974). Foakes, R.A.. The Plays Courtly Setting. Readings on Hamlet. Ed. Don Nardo. San Diego Greenhaven Press, 1999. Rpt. of Hamlet and the Court of Elsinore. Shakespeare Survey An Annual Survey of Shakespearean Study and Production. no. 9. Ed. Allardyce Nicoll. Cambridge, Eng. Cambridge University Press, 1956. Shakespeare, William. The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark. Massachusetts Institute of Technology. 1995. http//www.chemicool.com/Shakespeare/hamlet/full.html No line nos.