Certainty and Insanity: Hamlet Essay

With no way to be directly certain ab forbidden eachthing in life, it makes it hard to economize the arbitrator some may need. In William Shakespeares play critical point, Prince of Denmark, crossroads neer allows himself to come to an absolute certainty that Claudius killed his father. Whether it was his insanity or his morals, he is unable to take retribution for the murder of his father, which helps drive him insane. By not taking justice into his own hands, critical points indecision, and his insanity, ultimately leads him to his own death.When hamlet first-class honours degree meets with the ghost of his father and hears the story of his death, he doesnt want to believe the ghost out(a)right. Upon finding out that Claudius has killed his father, small town could gather in simply went to the Kings bedroom and slit his throat while he slept. He ignored this opportunity, which allowed his mind to begin questioning his actions. This is the first period crossroads will delay the killing of Claudius. He begins to slip into insanity, which paralyzes his actions. critical point explains that the time for action isnt right when he is speaking with Horatio the night he first saw the ghost.The time is out of joint. O cursed spite, / That ever I was born to hatful it right (I. v. 88-89). Hamlet explains that he understands that the situation of seeing the ghost or yet the story may not be right, but he feels like he is the person to fix it. This puts a extensive deal of pressure on Hamlet, which starts the downward spiral of his insanity. Hamlet faces many quandarys during the course of the play. He has the dilemma of having to come to terms with losing his father. He then has to deal with the anger he has towards his mother for her quick remarriage. thus when Hamlet finds out that his mothers new husband, his uncle, was the murderer, he isnt able to deal with any more. With dilemmas keep piling on top of one another, Hamlet has a psyc tropicalic br eak. As Ophelia explains it to her father, My Lord, as I was sewing in my closet,Lord Hamlet, with his doublet all unbracedNo hat upon his head his stockings fouled,Ungartered, and down-gyved to his mortise-and-tenon jointPale as his shirt his knees knocking each otherWith a search so scurvy in purportAs if he had been loosed out of hellTo speak of horrors, he comes before me. (II, i, 77-84)In this explanation, one begins to understand that Hamlet has been unable to deal with the death of his father, much less the fact that he was murdered by his uncle. The behaviors exhibited by Hamlet are not the actions a normal person would take in, in particular one of royalty. As Edward Foster explains, That Hamlet loses his mental stability is arguable from his behavior toward Ophelia (Foster, par 17). A person not suffering from some form of psychosis would make believe been more put together and rational. Hamlets insanity allows him to sink into a reality that isnt real, .results in the development if a whiz of unreality in the affected individual (Hamlet, par 2) sequence the ghosts story shouldnt have left any doubt in Hamlets mind, he is close up uncertain that Claudius did commit the act, fearing that the ghost could be the devil in disguise, just trying to make him a murderer. So in a poorly devised plan, Hamlet thinks he knows a way to get absolute certainty that Claudius killed his father. Hamlets plan is, There is a play tonight before the king. / One scene of it comes in force(p) the circumstance / Which I have told thee of my fathers death (III, ii. 68-70). This plan is used to gauge Claudiuss reaction, so as to tell if he has a guilty conscious or not. This is where Hamlets sanity is furthered questioned. If Claudiuss realizes this is Hamlets actions, then he can assume Hamlet knows around his terrible deed, and may send for him to be executed.John Alvis agrees by stating, Hamlets deeds emerge ill considered and politically feeble (par 9). While that does happen later, Hamlet gets the proof he needs, when Claudius stands during the play and exclaims, retrovert me some light, away (III, ii, 252) The next time that Hamlet delays in killing Claudius, it is because he finds Claudius kneeling in prayer after the play. Hamlet assumes Claudius is asking repentance for the killing of his father, thus would still get to manner of walking through Heavens gate with a pure and clean soul. Hamlet knows that his father wasnt afforded this luxury by his words in Act 1 when the ghost said, Cut off even in the blossoms of my sin, / / No reckoning made, but sent to my account / With all my imperfections on my head (I, v. 76-79).While King Hamlet was robbed of his chance to repent his sins,young Hamlet would not be so palmy to allow Claudius to die after being forgiven of his. he believes that Claudius, killed at prayer, would not be damned to hell. (Hamlet par 2) Hamlet believes that allowing Claudius to go to heaven would be just as b ad as if he murdered his father. Although Claudiuss reaction is enough certainty for almost anyone, the freak out by Claudius still doesnt satisfy Hamlet. If Hamlet was clear minded, he would be able to see the truth and unload his promise to his father. Hamlet continues to allow doubt to dictate his actions. Contagion to this world. Now I could drink hot blood / And do such bitter business as the bitter day / Would quake to look on (III, ii, 365-367) The words Hamlet uses do not show the stability that he thinks he has.Hamlets insanity plays such a vital role in his delay of justice against Claudius. He is so wound up in his own mind that he has a hard time buy outing that he is the reason of his delay. He spends so much time plotting and planning, he can never really convince himself to do the act. He is also stuck in a realm of pity. Poor, poor Hamlet. He shows this in his soliloquy Am I a coward?Who calls me villain? Breaks my pate across?Plucks off my beard and blows it in my face?Tweaks me by the nose? Gives me the lie i th throat?As occult as to the lungs? Who does me this?HaSwounds, I should take it, for it cannot beBut I am pigeon-livered and lack gravelTo make the oppression bitter, or ere thisI should have fatted all the region kitesWith this slaves offal. Bloody, ribald villain (II, ii, 547-557) His self-pity blinds him to his task, and allows the pressures of that task to take over, and allows him to sink into insanity a little more. He knows that he should have already taken Claudiuss life, but because his cowardliness, he has failed to do it, and in turn, sinks further in his self-pity.As Hamlets madness continues, his delay makes him responsible for thedeaths of so many others. Had he killed Claudius sooner, the life of his mother, Polonius and Ophelia could have been saved. As Alvis explains, By his delay Hamlet has contributed to his mothers death, and by his own imprudent decisions he has made himself responsible for the murder of Pol onius, the consequent madness and death of Ophelia (par 12). With that weighing on Hamlets mind, he would not have been able to return to a state of sanity anyway, as he had such a guilty conscious anyway.Through all of Hamlets delay, he eventually makes good on his promise of revenge in the final acts of the play. As Foster explains, he strikes his uncle moreover after he has discovered Claudiuss final scheme to kill him (Foster, par 17). While Hamlet has delayed his killing of Claudius throughout the entire play, it wasnt until the very end of the play that he asserts his function and locks the door upon his mother dying, O villainy Ho, let the door be locked. / Treachery Seek it out (V, ii, 313-314). Laertes then explains the plot of Claudius to kill Hamlet, and he forces Claudius to drink his own poison. This is a certain type of justice in its own. Karma, lets say.In the play Hamlet, many things take place that alert the consultation to the instability of Hamlet. Upon losi ng his father, his mother quickly remarried her late husbands brother. Hamlets father came gumption as a ghost to tell Hamlet that he was damned to hell because his brother had killed him. He promised his father that he would seek revenge for his death. All of these things mount together and place a massive burden on Hamlet. As he progressively gets worse, he begins to alienate everyone in his life, feeding them stories and leap around questions. He denies things he has given to Ophelia, and denies he had ever loved her.The one person who he trusts the most and the only person he allows to be a part of his plan is Horatio. Horatio is the balance for Hamlet. When it appears Hamlet has gone a little too far, Horatio is able to center him and bring him back to this realm of reality. Hamlet has delayed the death of Claudius because of insanity, but also because of his sanity. Wavering between the two, Hamlet never allows himself the chance to accept his duties. He never actually comm its the revenge as promised, but the job does get done in the end.