Insanity in Literature

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A comparison of the role of insanity in William Shakespeare's "Hamlet", Henry James' "Turn of the Screw" and Tom Stoppard's "Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead".

1,344 words () | 3 sources | MLA | 2007 United States

Paper Summary:

This paper analyzes the role that insanity plays in literature. It focuses on and compares the role of insanity in William Shakespeare's "Hamlet", Henry James' "Turn of the Screw", and Tom Stoppard's "Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead." It shows how, in the three works, the nature of insanity differs. The paper also discusses the important role that insanity plays in the plot and power of each of the plays and book.

From the Paper:

"The decay of rationality into madness has allured writers for centuries. The nature of insanity teaches and explains the nature of sanity. William Shakespeare's Hamlet, Henry James' Turn of the Screw, and Tom Stoppard's Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead investigate ambiguous insanity. In these compositions, the characters in question (Hamlet; the governess; and Ros and Guil, respectively) can provide ample evidence for their sanity and a logical, if not always honorable, justification for their insanity. Hamlet's unbridled rowdiness is necessary for him to stay unharmed and plotting in the court. His sanity can be proved by the stark rationality in his eccentric schemes. Though he acts in "madness...there is method in't" (II, ii, 211). James' governess has seen ghosts with her heretofore trustworthy eyes and nothing, but the laws of physics, directly disproves the governess' tales of evil afoot or denigrates her heroic attempts at exorcism. Ros and Guil try valiantly, despite their comic failures, to find reason in their fairy tale world of inescapable fates and impossibly prescient walking Gods. Ros and Guil are actually saner than their Lewis Carroll reality. However, these possibilities of sanity are like the tails side of Guil's coin: about as probable as their counterpart, but not as enlightening or interesting. If authors' intentions are assumed to include insane characters, the causes of insanity and the purposes for afflicting characters with insanity become more evident."

Sample of Sources Used:

James, Henry. Turn of the Screw. Harmondsworth, Middlesex, England ; New York, N.Y., USA : Penguin Books, 1994.
Shakespeare, William. Hamlet. G.R. Hibbard, ed., Oxford, 1987.
Stoppard, Tom. Rosencrantz & Guildenstern are Dead. New York : Grove Press, 1968, c1967.