Hamlet Essay

(Aside) "Though this be madness, yet there is method in't." This particular line spoken by Polonius basically describes the entire play in merely nine words. He utters this while speaking to Hamlet only a few minutes after he discussed with Claudius and Gertrude his beliefs as to why Hamlet was acting insane. So then Hamlet walks in while reading a book and describes to Claudius that he is reading about old men with grey beards, wrinkled faces, weak thighs, and no wisdom, in which Polonius responds with the quote mentioned. Both of these men are indirectly talking about each other as Hamlet has no respect for Polonius and his lack of intelligence and Polonius knows that there is a reason why Hamlet is acting like a mentally unstable person. This line spoken by Polonius can apply to virtually any character in this play as an outsider would view them all as deranged.

This line most clearly speaks to Hamlet as he appears to react crazily after hearing about the true account of his father's death. However, he even tells some of his friends that he is going to be acting mad and for them not to worry because it is all part of his plan. For instance, the death of Polonius felt cruel as Hamlet was initially disappointed to find he was not Claudius instead of grief for the innocent life he had just taken. Hamlet was justified in his shock as he only wanted revenge for what Claudius did and is not a naturally dispassionate person. This was just a single account of Hamlet's strange actions in a play revolved around the rest of them in which all of them have explanations as well.

To many, the death of Ophelia appeared to be one with purpose. They believed that she committed suicide and immediately judged and looked down upon her for such actions. The majority of them, however, probably were not aware that her father was restraining her feelings for the man that so deeply loved her and was not allowing her to be herself. Soon after, Hamlet became crazy in the eyes of many and was even rude to his fair Ophelia who was distressed and confused about this man who she loved and who drastically changed for the worst. As if that wasn't heart-breaking enough, her father was then murdered and not by just anyone; Hamlet was responsible for the final stab that stopped his heart. All of this was just too much for Ophelia to take, her brother was now angrier than she could have ever imagined and she had no one else to turn to as the people she kept dearest were slowly evolving and turning against one another. She most likely felt abandoned and thought the only answer was to end her life as she had no one left, but to outsiders she was a weak girl undeserving of a proper Christian burial.

One would think that a man would be filled with grief the day after his brother's murder instead of celebrating and hosting a party. Many thought this to be strange of both Gertrude and Claudius, but they had their reasons. Both were guilty and responsible for Hamlet Sr.'s death, which is why they did not take any time to grieve. They were both extremely selfish individuals and resorted to the most gruesome option that would allow them to publicly be in love with the acceptance of the civilians and comfort of Elsinore. They did not kill Hamlet just for the fun of it, they wanted to be able to bask in each other's love and Claudius was thirsty for power. This is no justification for murder, but they did have a reason for their madness.

Each major character in this play is responsible for committing some type of crime, but none of them are just for the heck of it. They all believed that their actions made logical sense to them or else they would not have contracted them. The theme of this play is that everyone believes their own thoughts and opinions are justified if it makes sense to them. People do crazy things on a daily basis, but if you were to accuse them of being crazy, they would immediately accuse you of the same thing for thinking them to be. The characters in this play were not necessarily crazy, they simply experienced traumatic events that altered the way they thought and their judgment. They all were mad, but they all had their reasons.

Hamlet (The Madman?)

Hamlet is not a demented, deranged, or mentally disturbed individual as most like to portray him as. Supporters of this view simply look at the acts he commits rather than his reasoning behind them as they explain what is really going on inside his head. It is easy to title a young man as mad if he plots to kill his uncle, but what they fail to realize is that he has motives that make sense to him. They are not random acts of violence done for recreational purposes; they are actions of vengeance for the one man he idolized.

Hamlet is a very self-calculating guy as he spends much time planning out all of his actions. He has a clear idea of what he needs to do and how he is going to be successful. Not only does he think out  what he needs to do, he is also aware of its extremity and the repercussions associated with it. Hamlet is aware that his plans are not morally acceptable, but he also knows that the recipients never contemplated whether or not their actions were principled. A true madman would act on impulse without considering its effects and quite simply, without caring. The only time so far that Hamlet has acted on impulse was when he verbally attacked his mother and killed Polonius. In his defense he thought it was Claudius, who he had planned to kill for a while now, but he immediately felt bad that it was a different person than he envisioned. When he went off on Gertrude he just opened the bottle that contained all of his feelings about his father and her role in his death. In that moment he never thought about physically injuring her based on his impulse like a madman would, he was just getting everything off his chest that had been suffocating him since his father's heart stopped beating.

The death of Hamlet's father affected him more than he could ever imagine. Through his comparisons of his father to gods and his mother to prostitutes, it is safe to say that Hamlet idolized his father very much and was extremely close to him. The fact that this man was now gone forever shocked Hamlet into no return. He was so upset with the whole world and couldn't understand why he was the only one actually grieving over the King's death. Hamlet was in a very fragile and vulnerable state which is why the ghost was visible to him. Hamlet Senior knew that his son couldn't think clearly at the time and that he would be more focused on uncovering his father's mysterious death and getting revenge on the murderer rather than focusing on the fact that a ghost was the source of information. Had Hamlet seen a ghost confessing such scandalous secrets prior to the death of his father, he would convince himself that it was merely a figure of his imagination. Hamlet even warns his friends that he is going to be acting strange and is not in denial that he is not acting completely sane. The death of his father influenced him in such a way that due to the dissolving of his previous reality all he could do was question his new normal. Hamlet is a very intellectual individual and thus all his "madness" was actually a series of calculated moves in his game of revenge.

Hamlet Act II Notes

- Polonius wants to know which Danes are in Paris because he is trying to find information about his son
- Polonius wants to send Reynaldo to Paris to get people to talk about Laertes to see what he is up to
- Polonius: "By indirections find directions out."
- Ophelia is scared of Hamlet's frame of mind, which is that he is a mess/blind man who is lost
- Hamlet could be lovesick, it's a part of his plan, Ophelia could be lying, or Hamlet is just cracking under the pressure
- Claudius is using Rosencrantz and Guildenstern to get information out of Hamlet by paying them
- Polonius: "... brevity is the soul of wit."
- Polonius convinced Gertrude of the origins of Hamlet's insanity
- Hamlet calls Polonius a fishmonger
- Polonius: (Aside) "Though this be madness, yet there is method in't."
- Hamlet is on to things and is toying with Polonius
- Hamlet: "For there is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so."
- Hamlet catches on as to why his "friends" are there
- Hamlet: "What a piece of work is a man."
- Hamlet is half admitting that he is sane but is also testing what the two report back to Polonius
- Hamlet says the play has good meaning but that it wasn't meant to please the masses
- First player is alluding to a queen watching her husband murdered
- Hamlet is offering to write a little bit for each player to recite in the play
- Hamlet's soliloquy: his discontent has taken shape and compares himself to others (actors) and is showing major emotion even though reciting lines from another play. Feels that he is not honoring his father's with real emotion. Kind of wishes someone showed him tough love because now no one will call him out on it. Says he's barely fit to be food for birds (judging himself very harshly) doesn't have enough integrity to voice his opinion and that talk is cheap (compares to prostitutes). Wonders if the play makes Claudius and Gertrude feel guilty about what they have done. Hamlet needs proof to show that Claudius is guilty especially if he tells others he is basing his suspicion off of what a ghost has confessed to him
- Hamlet: "The play's the thing wherein I'll catch the conscience of the king." He knows people won't believe him if he tells them that he got his information from a ghost.

Hamlet Act I Scenes IV and V Notes

- Once Claudius has taken the throne he is partying nonstop
- Horatio: "Custom?"   Hamlet: "Yeah."
- Hamlet thinks it makes them look like drunkards and takes from their achievements as they are now seen as irresponsible
- Claudius is adding to Hamlet's suspicion because he is super happy but should still be grieving
- Hamlet recognizes the ghost as his father because of their close resemblance
- Hamlet asks why something so bizarre has happened and basically asks the reason for the ghost's presence
- Horatio warns Hamlet that the ghost might make him do something insane and sees him as a threat
- Marcellus: "Something is rotten in the state of Denmark." This is now a cliche accusation of wrongdoing
- Ghost is in a state of purgatory/limbo and says that Hamlet is bound to take revenge when he hears and that it will shock him into no return
- The ghost confirms that he is Hamlet Sr.'s spirit and was killed suddenly without a chance to correct all his previous wrongdoings
- Ghost: "Revenge his foul and most unnatural murder." - directive
- Denmark has been told that Hamlet Sr. was killed by a serpent in an orchard with a crown (Claudius)
- Claudius seduced Gertrude before Hamlet died and she lost affection for him
- When he was sleeping in orchard, Claudius poured poison in his ears that stopped his blood from flowing (everything stolen by him) and is a metaphor for his seduction of Gertrude
- Because he was killed without doing right, he was sent to a really torturous place in the afterlife
- Tells Hamlet to avenge because it's right (keep honor) and not let feelings interfere
- In giving burden to Hamlet, he tells him not to let it bring him down
- Tells him not to do anything to Gertrude, let God judge her in heaven and let her guilt eat her alive
- Hamlet now knows exactly what he has to do
- Hamlet doesn't say what he doesn't want to say since he is a calculating guy and ducking the question
- Hamlet: "There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy." (Talking to the audience as well)
- Hamlet: "The time is out of joint: O cursed spite, that ever I was born to set it right!"
- Tells the players not to do anything to give it away and is warning that he will be acting weird to make people think that he has lost his guard

"The Performative Utterance in William Shakespeare's Hamlet" Notes

- Hamlet is not confused but is rather in a state of cognitive paralysis
- Throughout much of the play he is able to speak and not do, but he has many great and varying powers
- J.L. Austin said that certain language doesn't merely describe actions but acts in being spoken
- Austin divided performative ability of language into: locutionary force (ability of language to deliver a message, the force of mutual intelligibility), the illocutionary force (what is done in being said), and the perlocutionary force (what is achieved by being said and its consequences)
- This represents a bridge between the business of language and the business of "real"
- Harold Bloom stated that Shakespeare's characters overhear themselves speaking and thus gain self- knowledge
- Hamlet's utterances allowed him to be successful in his actions as throughout most of the play he could not actually perform what he envisioned in his mind but his utterances aided this
- This had to occur as in Shakespeare's plays, his characters needed to voice their innermost thoughts to the audience due to the nature of his dramatic plays
- First Player's verbal, and not physical, action moves him accompanied by outward demonstrations of emotion
- States that the main problem of this play is that characters represent their feelings and intentions in a manner that opposes reality
- Hamlet describes exactly to the players what he would consider to be a convincing performance
- He tells them to act natural without overacting
- Polonius is vulnerable to Hamlet because of his mechanistic view of human nature