Revenge and Madness in "Hamlet"

Paper Summary:

The paper looks at how madness and vengeance in "Hamlet" are closely allied, making it difficult to determine how responsible Hamlet is for any of his actions. The paper thus explains how the association between madness and revenge in "Hamlet" suggests that both displace the individual's true identity and spur him or her on to uncharacteristic actions.

From the Paper:

"The events of the murder of Polonius do suggest that Hamlet was in an unbalanced state, particularly because of his reaction towards second sight of his father's ghost. The ghost is not visible to his mother Gertrude, suggesting that perhaps Hamlet is hallucinating. Hamlet seems to have killed the old man in a state of passion, whom he apparently mistook for Claudius. Hamlet clearly feels remorse for his action, even if he called Polonius an old fool, and made jokes about worms eating his corpse. When he and Laertes fight during Ophelia's funeral, he later observes to his friend Horatio: "That to Laertes I forgot myself; /For, by the image of my cause, I see/The portraiture of his." Hamlet adds "the bravery of his grief did put me/Into a towering passion" (V.2)."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Best, Michael. "Amleth/Hamlet." Shakespeare's Life and Times. Internet Shakespeare Editions, University of Victoria: Victoria, BC, 2001-2005. 21 Apr 2008.http://internetshakespeare.uvic.ca/Library/SLT/history/amleth.html
• Pennington, Michael. Hamlet: A User's Guide. New York: Limelight Editions, 1996.
• Shakespeare, William. "Hamlet." Shakespeare Homepage. 7 Apr 2008.http://shakespeare.mit.edu/hamlet/hamlet.1.5.html

More papers on Revenge and Madness in "Hamlet":

• Analytical Essay # 64454 : "The Themes in "Hamlet"
• Analytical Essay # 29821 : "The Character Hamlet and Madness"
• Analytical Essay # 5018 : "Hamlet"

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