The Concept of Madness: A Psychological Perspective

The definition of madness is described as the quality or state of being mad: such as a state of severe mental illness or behavior or thinking that is very foolish or dangerous. The death of Hamlet's father resulted in a decline in his mental health. Shakespear makes it visible from early on that Hamlet may be in a state of sorrow and even depression, Hamlet describes his apparel as "an inky cloak " and customary suits of solemn black". He is comparing the color black to the inky cloak which exemplifies the darkness of his clothes contrasting the grief he is feeling.

He also states "Nor windy suspiration of forced breath, No, nor the fruitful river in the eye" this emphasizes his sorrow and how much he has cried over the loss of his father he does this by comparing it to a fruitful river. Making is significantly clear that the death of his father had a huge impact on his state of mind.

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Later on, when Horatio mentioned they had seen the ghost at first he was in disbelief that it was possible but agreed to go out in the night to see whether the ghost would show.

When he saw it he was desperate to follow it, but Horatio and Marcellus tried warning him to not follow the ghost alone because the Ghost may hurt him, but he states "Unhand me, gentleman (draws his sword)... I say, away" this sets a tone of desperation because he was not hesitant to follow the ghost even for a second.

This indicated how irrational and careless he is after the death of his father. I feel as if his possible illness may have begun with the interference with the ghost although Horatio and Marcellus saw the ghost hamlet is the only one who can hear the ghost which seems a bit irrational to me. The events after this scene show a very different Hamlet. He comes up with this idea of pretending he has gone mad. Although the ghost of Hamlet's father has asked him to seek revenge for his death, Hamlet doesn't seem to be 100% convinced which shows that he may not have crossed the line from sanity to insanity yet.

He sets up a play and writes the script of the play just how his father was killed by Claudius and says to Horatio " Observe my uncle. If his occulted guilt Do not itself unkennel in one speech, It is a damnèd ghost that we have seen, And my imaginations are as foul ".He is still thinking rationally here as he says to observe the king's facial expressions to learn the truth whether the ghost was really his late father's spirit or was it a devil. Hamlet chooses to sit beside Ophelia whom he likes but she is confused because her father and brother claim he is using her and at this point, Hamlet is acting out of madness and seems irrational and inappropriate things to her like " Lady, shall I lie in your lap?.... Do you think I meant country matters? ....That’s a fair thought to lie between maids' legs."

As the play progresses Hamlet comes to learn that the ghost was right based on the expressions of Claudius. As the play progresses, we come to see Hamlet has the perfect chance to kill Claudius as he's praying. He thinks about it and then decides not to because "Now might I do it pat. Now he is a-praying. And now I’ll do ’t. And so he goes to heaven. And so am I revenged.—That would be scanned. A villain kills my father, and, for that, I, his sole son, do this same villain send To heaven". He realizes that if he were to kill him right there Claudius would go to heaven and what kind of revenge would that be so he puts his sword back and leaves. I personally feel like this showed him being indecisive because he gets multiple opportunities but remains hesitant to kill him and comes with a reason to not kill him yet. I don't think Hamlet is mad yet I feel like he's almost there though he definitely crosses the line from sanity to insanity when he tries killing the king but accidentally kills Polonius and doesn't even look who's behind the curtain before he savagely murders him. The death of his father, him seeing his father's ghost, and Ophelia in a way betraying him by going to Polonius and the King it all broke him and shattered him to a point where he is not himself anymore.