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[attr="class","MMmySpace"] twenty-eight I.[break][break] male II.[break][break] bisexual III.[break][break] hamlet IV.[break][break] sean maguire V. | [attr="class","MMmySpace"]  | [attr="class","MMmySpace"]VI. shakespeare's hamlet [break][break]VII. vengeful [break][break]VIII. lusty [break][break]IX. tragically slow to action [break][break]X. fox |
Hamlet, Prince of Denmark [break]
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“There is always some madness in love,” or so believes philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche. What is madness though? Is it a natural phenomena or an imposed state of mind? Is it contagious, learned or bred? Madness itself can be interpreted in many ways but as a central component of tragedy, Shakespeare implies that madness is an illness that can be both caused by natural events (including birth and experiences of tragic loss through death) but also inflicted by society. [break][break]
Shakespeare's Hamlet portrays a clear representation of the many forms madness can take and the different effects of such. In the particular case of Hamlet, the Prince of Denmark himself – insanity is induced by the society around him. The events of his father's death and how unnaturally quickly his own mother moved on are the two normally attributed factors to driving this insanity; it can be said, however, that the entire Danish court society and his own fault at trying to deceive them by feigning madness is the real culprit. Throughout the play, Hamlet's insanity begins as an act, one which he puts on after discovering the truth behind his father's murder in order to inflict upon those around him the same despair to which he has been subject. Throughout the course of the play however, he descends upon one pivotal moment into a true insanity, one the due hand of society has thus inflicted upon him. [break][break]
Hamlet goes through three phases throughout the acts of the play before he looses touch with reality and his sanity altogether. The first of these stages is a pre-encounter, sane state of mind, before coming into contact with the ghost of his father. Though there are many lines the prince utters to prove his character and state of being before this encounter, there is only one time in which Shakespeare alludes to Hamlet's decent into madness while the prince is still in this state. The scene is set so that the ghost has just beckoned Hamlet to follow him. Horatio bids warning to him and tries to restrain Hamlet questioning “What if it... draw you into madness?” (I, iv. 50/55). The whole speech Horatio expands upon in this moment draws upon the ideas that the ghost might not in fact be Hamlet's father and might change into other forms which would “deprive [Hamlet] of [his] sovereignty of reason” thus spurring madness (I, iv. 50-55). It is significant here to pause and consider the tie Horatio has knotted between sovereignty of reason and sanity. Shakespeare's choice of the word sovereignty as translated to mean “royal authority or dominion” (OED) links Hamlet's position in the court to his reason, or here his sanity. While the takeaway meaning would simply be that Hamlet's control over reason could be hindered by the shape of the ghost, a deeper analysis reveals not only this hindrance, but also Hamlet's inability to escape the court society he lives in. Similarly, Laertes makes this claim when warning Ophelia that in loving her now, Hamlet's future is by “His greatness weighed, [and] his will is not his own, / For he himself is subject to his birth” (I, iii. 17-18). As a Prince of Denmark, Hamlet's life and every action is governed in some part by the society around him. Madness then, as an illness induced by living in such a society, is not so different from a temporary escape from these binds.
Living in this society which Hamlet finds himself is, in great part, to blame for the madness induced throughout the play. There are multiple factors which make this type of society responsible including how closely tied everyone is within its ranks. Hamlet himself is aware of these ties as he sets out to take revenge on those he deems worthy to suffer by manipulating said ties and forcing upon these individuals his feigned state of mental instability. [break][break]
To begin his antics, Hamlet first displays his madness to Ophelia. In a bout he, “with his doublet all unbraced,” (II, I. 78) appeared to her and acted out his lunacy. These actions, with no real other form of evident ulterior motive and with the effect Hamlet knew they would have upon his love, prove the anxiety and despair the prince has decided to inflict upon the members of his society closest to him and most deserving. Ophelia is a peculiar figure, one upon which Hamlet inflicts a great deal of his anger and retribution through maddened actions and incensed words. (More specifically in act three when he tells her to “get thee to a nunnery” (III, I. 123).) For her part, Ophelia is affected and spreads news to her father. In further response to these crazed actions of Hamlet's, Polonius states that “This must be known, which, being kept close, might move / More grief to hide than hate to utter love” (119-120). These words promote the expression of that which Ophelia has seen with the King and Queen, by default advancing Hamlet's cause to spread this grief. In the language he uses however, particularly stating there is “more grief to hide than hate to utter love,” Polonius is suggesting, through “purely selfish [motives]... he thinks nothing of the consequences to anyone else” (Shakespeare Online). He is simply stating that it would be of more hazard to Ophelia and himself to hide this appearance of lunacy by Hamlet than it would be to share the love between Hamlet and Ophelia, presumably because the King and Queen are yet unaware. In doing so however, he is advancing Hamlet's desires to spread this distress. The reflection of Hamlet's actions to impose this revenge on those he cares for can also be seen as a further development of the inflicted ties that exist within the court, within the society that surrounds him. So easily with one action was the prince able to affect not only Ophelia who was driven to hysterics, but also Polonius was affected with the fear of hidden love. Additionally, Hamlet was able to strike at the heart of the King and Queen's anxieties that he is not in his right mind. Instead of hitting two birds with one stone, as the saying goes, Hamlet is in effect marking four targets with one action. [break][break]
Just as closely related to these ties within the court is Hamlet's reunion with Rosencrantz and Guildenstern which he begins to recognize as the infliction of his society upon him. This discovery serves as the beginning of a series of moments in which Hamlet begins to try and convince himself he is not spiraling into madness. Instead, it only serves to push that madness unto him. The moment at which this push is the most clear would be when Hamlet declares himself sane in objection to any of the King and Queen's anxieties that he is unstable. In doing so however, he does not break the character of feigning madness and so in replying to a quip from his friends, he only affirms that which they were already convinced of. The lines directly state: “I am but mad north-north-west; when a wind is southerly, I know a hawk from a handsaw” (II, ii. 380-381). Though seeming a crazed statement on the surface, Hamlet is actually speaking a truth he fully believes. In short, he is saying “I only feign madness and if perceived as such you would but knowing the truth see that I can in fact determine reality from non.” In this declaration the prince very clearly is outwardly projecting with his mask of illusion that he fully believes himself sane still. Whether in fact Hamlet has begun to slide into his actual insanity yet can be discerned at the end of act two. [break][break]
Though not yet the pivotal moment wherein Hamlet looses himself in act three, his soliloquy at the end of act two serves its purpose in showcasing the driving force and a slip in sanity through Hamlet's thoughts due to the question of madness around him. “O, what rouge and peasant slave am I!” (II, ii. 552) the prince declares thinking himself both slave to the society around him and slave to his own inability to action. Throughout the first ten lines of the speech, Hamlet begins to articulate a despair profound with reflection. He analyzes Hecuba's speech as was just performed by one of the players and asks, namely himself, “Is it not monstrous that this player here, / But in a fiction, in a dream of passion, / Could force his soul so to his whole conceit... and all for nothing” (553-5/559). Taking the word conceit here to mean “the faculty of conception, apprehension, [and] understanding” (OED), Shakespeare emphasizes Hamlet's awe at the player's ability to perform without so much as a reason outside entertainment. The player, who “in a dream of passion” is able to cry and strike his audience with ferocious emotion, provides a stark contrast to Hamlet himself, a notion which the prince recognizes as the speech continues. Hamlet, who has the “motive and the cure for passion” (563), is stilled to action. Not yet resolved in anything except to spread misery throughout the court, Hamlet has forgotten himself to his real goal of revenge upon Claudius. This awe at the player becomes the theme of the first half of his soliloquy and it turns the emotion to anger as Hamlet portrays a sense of lunacy in his sudden violent reaction. [break][break]
At twenty-eight lines in, Hamlet's temper has gotten the best of him as he begins the above segment with an expletive. During the time of the Renaissance “ 'swounds” was a common “euphemistic abbreviation of God's wounds used in oaths and asseverations,” (OED) here 'God's wounds' being Jesus' crucifixion wounds on the cross. Declaring himself faint-hearted (pigeon-livered) and lacking “bitterness of spirit” (gall), Hamlet's decent into a frenzied speech brings forth a touch of momentary madness (OED). The imagery presented is quite disturbing in its own, attributing to that madness. The term “offal” is coined as “the parts of a slaughtered or dead animal considered unfit for human consumption”(OED). “Slave” is termed here to further represent Hamlet himself and “kites” can be interpreted as “a person who preys upon others” (OED). Stringing the terms together then, Hamlet in essence is damning himself and stating that he ought to have fed all the region's rapacious persons with the carrion of his own body due to the presence of a faint-heart disabling him from enacting revenge. He firmly believes he has done and continues to do a disservice to Denmark by being so faint of heart. [break][break]
While the language used in these lines portrays the image of a crazed individual, the form keeps a very even meter which shows yet a hint of sanity. Each line between 578 and 582 has an even ten syllables if said aloud. Line 583 then has thirteen syllables before line 584 has only three. It is at this point where Hamlet breaks his meter and pauses in the speech. Sanity in the content of what he speaks rushes back. Starting at line 585, the emotion still runs strong within his words however Hamlet speaks in a much more controlled, pensive and defensive manner. He begins “why, what an ass am I?” (585) stopping to control his rampant sentiments and reflecting on how he let his thoughts run ahead. Lines 585 then, until 590 immediately act to reverse all that he has previously cursed stating that “This is the most brave, / that I.... / Must, like a whore, unpack my heart with words”(585-86/588). By making a gender reference that a whore, generally assumed female, must “unpack [her] heart with words” Hamlet condemns how much he has spoken in his emotional state and what was said. [break][break]
This soliloquy in form also reflects his society and how Hamlet has begun to struggle with the infliction of it in his life. It is generally seen throughout the play that due to Gertrude's facility in marrying Claudius, Hamlet's attitude towards women sours. Most easily seen with his treatment of Ophelia but also how Hamlet acts with his mother in act three, this soured view has begun to stifle him. If he has begun to mistrust all women, including those he loves presently, then there is no hope to find love in any form but masculine ever again. The thought of such, whether conscious or not, has begun to affect Hamlet as these little soured comments pertaining to women's gender roles continue to appear throughout the play. They too drive him to madness. [break][break]
All of the analysis leading up to Hamlet's final slip into irrationality is a reflection of the society around him and a direct cause of that which he brings upon himself. The pivotal moment when Hamlet finally seems to loose what semblance of an ability remains to revert from his feigned madness takes place in act three. [break][break]
The scene again begins with another soliloquy, that which Hamlet is most famous for beginning: “To be, or not to be; that is the question: / Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer / … or to take arms against a sea of troubles” (III, I. 58-59/61). As is apparent, it begins with Hamlet's consideration of suicide and whether all the troubles in the world, namely his own, are worth fighting. The scene starts with a moment of almost complete sanity for Hamlet. The whole speech is composed of thirty-five lines. In these thirty-five lines there is only one break in an even meter of ten to eleven syllables per line. This single break occurs at line thirteen, the number of which is significant because of the history of this number. As early as the 1400s, thirteen has been considered unlucky or unfavorable for various reasons (OED). The most significant of such as pertaining to Hamlet would be its trace back to Norse origins. In the old Norse mythology there is a story which “holds that evil and turmoil were first introduced in the world by the appearance of the treacherous and mischievous god Loki at a dinner party in Valhalla. He was the 13th guest, upsetting the balance of the 12 gods already in attendance” (History). The relevance of a single break in meter from ten/eleven syllables to a mere eight shows a subconscious reflection of Hamlet's thoughts about the number. Whether or not Shakespeare intended for Hamlet to be aware of the Norse myths or not, the story pertains to the first time evil and turmoil were brought into the world. A reflection of such could be held up in comparison to the speech the Prince of Denmark is unveiling before his final moment of decent into madness. This story could also reflect the evil and turmoil of the society around him as it continues to unfold his mind.[break][break]
The pivotal moment finally occurs in a perceived betrayal by Ophelia which is brought about by a cause of the court society. Act three, scene one, line ninety-five, Ophelia attempts to return to Hamlet “remembrances of [his]” (III, I. 95) which she has kept, presumably letters and tokens of affection. The entire scene was one staged in a ploy between Polonius and Claudius to see how Hamlet reacts. At first, Hamlet's response to sighting her is stable but upon Ophelia's attempt to return the remembrances, his diction changes. This change can be noted between lines 95 and 112. His first line of response has eight syllables, already signaling a change from his usual calm ten or eleven just prior. The second line upon her response has six and then the third, has three before Hamlet switches entirely to prose. This small spiral of form reflects his spiral into a moment of eruption and finally, the madness that is an attributing factor. [break][break]
The moment at which Hamlet finally bursts and looses touch with both reality and his sense of compassion is when he says to Ophelia “I did love you once... / You should not have believed me, for virtue / cannot so inoculate our old stock but we shall relish / of it. I loved you not” (III, 1. 117/119-121). The term “inoculate” here is coined “to engraft” (OED) which means “to insert (a scion of one tree) as a graft into or upon another” (OED). The metaphorical tree to which Hamlet alludes is virtue and he claims that it cannot be forced upon human nature without some hint of “its original depravity” (Shakespeare Online). Particularly interesting here is Hamlet's use of imagery as pertaining to buds of trees. Trees in essence are natural but Hamlet is using this reference to draw the picture of an unnatural affair: his observed love to Ophelia. If then that love is unnatural, then the entire scene as engineered by Polonius and Claudius and the entirety of the social court is worse. Fundamentally Hamlet and Ophelia's love was the most natural thing about the entire society which surrounds the prince. Hamlet's interpretation of their love being unnatural however, shows his rejection of that society and his sanity.[break][break]
So then, again: what is madness? Is it a natural phenomena or an imposed state of mind? Is it contagious, learned or bred? Shakespeare's interpretation of madness is that it is both a natural phenomena and an imposed state of mind. Through Hamlet's spiral into insanity, Shakespeare is able to draw a clear parallel to the fact that madness can be a direct reflection of the society one lives in. As a central component of tragedy, madness will always be attributed to a number of causes but the most significant of which is the influence of those around us. Society is based on reason, sanity and a rational manner of human of operation. Through the development of Hamlet, the Prince of Denmark and the analysis of his decent into this void, the nature of madness (as it relates to this “sane” society) can be explored more fully and defined as a side-effect of our surroundings; a side-effect of our own little slice of reality. To end on the note of philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche, “There is always some madness in love, but there is also always some reason in madness.”[break][break]
References[break]
Shakespeare Online. 2000. (16 Dec 2014) < www.shakespeare-online.com/>.[break]
Oxford English Dictionary. University of Oxford, n.d. Web. 16 Dec. 2014. <http://www.oed.com.ezaccess.libraries.psu.edu/>.[break]
Wells, Stenley, and Gary Taylor, eds. William Shakespeare: The Complete Works. Second ed. Oxford: Clarendon Press, n.d. 793. Print.[break]
"What’s so unlucky about the number 13?." History.com. History Channel, 13 Sept. 2013. Web. 16 Dec. 2014. <http://www.history.com/news/ask-history/whats-so-unlucky-about-the-number-13>.[break][break]
Hamlet has been a victim of Time for some seven years now. His current state of affairs draw him from the midst of the play in which he was at the funeral of Ophelia who he long since presumes dead. His competitive bout with Laertes holds and he still seeks vengeance on Claudius thinking his own father dead and the ghost to have been sent with reason. Madness has begun to swim between his whims and fancies but he's been trapped in the 20th century for an extended period of time and understands some of what modernity exists. He's not taken to technology and regards it much like a fish out of water. Still, there is a certain charm to the ease of contact it provides and he gets very excited when discovering something new. His speech is much altered and modernized though sometimes the ancient prince finds himself slipping into that familiar tongue which can be understood only by those of his time or those intelligent enough to decipher his courtly speech. Contact with any such persons however is limited and he has seen nobody of familiarity for those seven years Time has held him captive in the future. [break][break]
[break][break]
Shakespeare's Hamlet portrays a clear representation of the many forms madness can take and the different effects of such. In the particular case of Hamlet, the Prince of Denmark himself – insanity is induced by the society around him. The events of his father's death and how unnaturally quickly his own mother moved on are the two normally attributed factors to driving this insanity; it can be said, however, that the entire Danish court society and his own fault at trying to deceive them by feigning madness is the real culprit. Throughout the play, Hamlet's insanity begins as an act, one which he puts on after discovering the truth behind his father's murder in order to inflict upon those around him the same despair to which he has been subject. Throughout the course of the play however, he descends upon one pivotal moment into a true insanity, one the due hand of society has thus inflicted upon him. [break][break]
ACT I. Sanity
Hamlet goes through three phases throughout the acts of the play before he looses touch with reality and his sanity altogether. The first of these stages is a pre-encounter, sane state of mind, before coming into contact with the ghost of his father. Though there are many lines the prince utters to prove his character and state of being before this encounter, there is only one time in which Shakespeare alludes to Hamlet's decent into madness while the prince is still in this state. The scene is set so that the ghost has just beckoned Hamlet to follow him. Horatio bids warning to him and tries to restrain Hamlet questioning “What if it... draw you into madness?” (I, iv. 50/55). The whole speech Horatio expands upon in this moment draws upon the ideas that the ghost might not in fact be Hamlet's father and might change into other forms which would “deprive [Hamlet] of [his] sovereignty of reason” thus spurring madness (I, iv. 50-55). It is significant here to pause and consider the tie Horatio has knotted between sovereignty of reason and sanity. Shakespeare's choice of the word sovereignty as translated to mean “royal authority or dominion” (OED) links Hamlet's position in the court to his reason, or here his sanity. While the takeaway meaning would simply be that Hamlet's control over reason could be hindered by the shape of the ghost, a deeper analysis reveals not only this hindrance, but also Hamlet's inability to escape the court society he lives in. Similarly, Laertes makes this claim when warning Ophelia that in loving her now, Hamlet's future is by “His greatness weighed, [and] his will is not his own, / For he himself is subject to his birth” (I, iii. 17-18). As a Prince of Denmark, Hamlet's life and every action is governed in some part by the society around him. Madness then, as an illness induced by living in such a society, is not so different from a temporary escape from these binds.
ACT II. Feigned Madness
Living in this society which Hamlet finds himself is, in great part, to blame for the madness induced throughout the play. There are multiple factors which make this type of society responsible including how closely tied everyone is within its ranks. Hamlet himself is aware of these ties as he sets out to take revenge on those he deems worthy to suffer by manipulating said ties and forcing upon these individuals his feigned state of mental instability. [break][break]
To begin his antics, Hamlet first displays his madness to Ophelia. In a bout he, “with his doublet all unbraced,” (II, I. 78) appeared to her and acted out his lunacy. These actions, with no real other form of evident ulterior motive and with the effect Hamlet knew they would have upon his love, prove the anxiety and despair the prince has decided to inflict upon the members of his society closest to him and most deserving. Ophelia is a peculiar figure, one upon which Hamlet inflicts a great deal of his anger and retribution through maddened actions and incensed words. (More specifically in act three when he tells her to “get thee to a nunnery” (III, I. 123).) For her part, Ophelia is affected and spreads news to her father. In further response to these crazed actions of Hamlet's, Polonius states that “This must be known, which, being kept close, might move / More grief to hide than hate to utter love” (119-120). These words promote the expression of that which Ophelia has seen with the King and Queen, by default advancing Hamlet's cause to spread this grief. In the language he uses however, particularly stating there is “more grief to hide than hate to utter love,” Polonius is suggesting, through “purely selfish [motives]... he thinks nothing of the consequences to anyone else” (Shakespeare Online). He is simply stating that it would be of more hazard to Ophelia and himself to hide this appearance of lunacy by Hamlet than it would be to share the love between Hamlet and Ophelia, presumably because the King and Queen are yet unaware. In doing so however, he is advancing Hamlet's desires to spread this distress. The reflection of Hamlet's actions to impose this revenge on those he cares for can also be seen as a further development of the inflicted ties that exist within the court, within the society that surrounds him. So easily with one action was the prince able to affect not only Ophelia who was driven to hysterics, but also Polonius was affected with the fear of hidden love. Additionally, Hamlet was able to strike at the heart of the King and Queen's anxieties that he is not in his right mind. Instead of hitting two birds with one stone, as the saying goes, Hamlet is in effect marking four targets with one action. [break][break]
Just as closely related to these ties within the court is Hamlet's reunion with Rosencrantz and Guildenstern which he begins to recognize as the infliction of his society upon him. This discovery serves as the beginning of a series of moments in which Hamlet begins to try and convince himself he is not spiraling into madness. Instead, it only serves to push that madness unto him. The moment at which this push is the most clear would be when Hamlet declares himself sane in objection to any of the King and Queen's anxieties that he is unstable. In doing so however, he does not break the character of feigning madness and so in replying to a quip from his friends, he only affirms that which they were already convinced of. The lines directly state: “I am but mad north-north-west; when a wind is southerly, I know a hawk from a handsaw” (II, ii. 380-381). Though seeming a crazed statement on the surface, Hamlet is actually speaking a truth he fully believes. In short, he is saying “I only feign madness and if perceived as such you would but knowing the truth see that I can in fact determine reality from non.” In this declaration the prince very clearly is outwardly projecting with his mask of illusion that he fully believes himself sane still. Whether in fact Hamlet has begun to slide into his actual insanity yet can be discerned at the end of act two. [break][break]
Though not yet the pivotal moment wherein Hamlet looses himself in act three, his soliloquy at the end of act two serves its purpose in showcasing the driving force and a slip in sanity through Hamlet's thoughts due to the question of madness around him. “O, what rouge and peasant slave am I!” (II, ii. 552) the prince declares thinking himself both slave to the society around him and slave to his own inability to action. Throughout the first ten lines of the speech, Hamlet begins to articulate a despair profound with reflection. He analyzes Hecuba's speech as was just performed by one of the players and asks, namely himself, “Is it not monstrous that this player here, / But in a fiction, in a dream of passion, / Could force his soul so to his whole conceit... and all for nothing” (553-5/559). Taking the word conceit here to mean “the faculty of conception, apprehension, [and] understanding” (OED), Shakespeare emphasizes Hamlet's awe at the player's ability to perform without so much as a reason outside entertainment. The player, who “in a dream of passion” is able to cry and strike his audience with ferocious emotion, provides a stark contrast to Hamlet himself, a notion which the prince recognizes as the speech continues. Hamlet, who has the “motive and the cure for passion” (563), is stilled to action. Not yet resolved in anything except to spread misery throughout the court, Hamlet has forgotten himself to his real goal of revenge upon Claudius. This awe at the player becomes the theme of the first half of his soliloquy and it turns the emotion to anger as Hamlet portrays a sense of lunacy in his sudden violent reaction. [break][break]
“ 'Swounds, I should take it; for it cannot be / But I am pigeon-livered and lack gall / To make oppression bitter, or ere this / I should 'a' fatted all the region kites / With this slave's offal. Bloody, bawdy villain! / Remorseless, treacherous, lecherous, kindless villain! / O' vengeance!–” (578-584).
At twenty-eight lines in, Hamlet's temper has gotten the best of him as he begins the above segment with an expletive. During the time of the Renaissance “ 'swounds” was a common “euphemistic abbreviation of God's wounds used in oaths and asseverations,” (OED) here 'God's wounds' being Jesus' crucifixion wounds on the cross. Declaring himself faint-hearted (pigeon-livered) and lacking “bitterness of spirit” (gall), Hamlet's decent into a frenzied speech brings forth a touch of momentary madness (OED). The imagery presented is quite disturbing in its own, attributing to that madness. The term “offal” is coined as “the parts of a slaughtered or dead animal considered unfit for human consumption”(OED). “Slave” is termed here to further represent Hamlet himself and “kites” can be interpreted as “a person who preys upon others” (OED). Stringing the terms together then, Hamlet in essence is damning himself and stating that he ought to have fed all the region's rapacious persons with the carrion of his own body due to the presence of a faint-heart disabling him from enacting revenge. He firmly believes he has done and continues to do a disservice to Denmark by being so faint of heart. [break][break]
While the language used in these lines portrays the image of a crazed individual, the form keeps a very even meter which shows yet a hint of sanity. Each line between 578 and 582 has an even ten syllables if said aloud. Line 583 then has thirteen syllables before line 584 has only three. It is at this point where Hamlet breaks his meter and pauses in the speech. Sanity in the content of what he speaks rushes back. Starting at line 585, the emotion still runs strong within his words however Hamlet speaks in a much more controlled, pensive and defensive manner. He begins “why, what an ass am I?” (585) stopping to control his rampant sentiments and reflecting on how he let his thoughts run ahead. Lines 585 then, until 590 immediately act to reverse all that he has previously cursed stating that “This is the most brave, / that I.... / Must, like a whore, unpack my heart with words”(585-86/588). By making a gender reference that a whore, generally assumed female, must “unpack [her] heart with words” Hamlet condemns how much he has spoken in his emotional state and what was said. [break][break]
This soliloquy in form also reflects his society and how Hamlet has begun to struggle with the infliction of it in his life. It is generally seen throughout the play that due to Gertrude's facility in marrying Claudius, Hamlet's attitude towards women sours. Most easily seen with his treatment of Ophelia but also how Hamlet acts with his mother in act three, this soured view has begun to stifle him. If he has begun to mistrust all women, including those he loves presently, then there is no hope to find love in any form but masculine ever again. The thought of such, whether conscious or not, has begun to affect Hamlet as these little soured comments pertaining to women's gender roles continue to appear throughout the play. They too drive him to madness. [break][break]
ACT III. Insanity & Madness
All of the analysis leading up to Hamlet's final slip into irrationality is a reflection of the society around him and a direct cause of that which he brings upon himself. The pivotal moment when Hamlet finally seems to loose what semblance of an ability remains to revert from his feigned madness takes place in act three. [break][break]
The scene again begins with another soliloquy, that which Hamlet is most famous for beginning: “To be, or not to be; that is the question: / Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer / … or to take arms against a sea of troubles” (III, I. 58-59/61). As is apparent, it begins with Hamlet's consideration of suicide and whether all the troubles in the world, namely his own, are worth fighting. The scene starts with a moment of almost complete sanity for Hamlet. The whole speech is composed of thirty-five lines. In these thirty-five lines there is only one break in an even meter of ten to eleven syllables per line. This single break occurs at line thirteen, the number of which is significant because of the history of this number. As early as the 1400s, thirteen has been considered unlucky or unfavorable for various reasons (OED). The most significant of such as pertaining to Hamlet would be its trace back to Norse origins. In the old Norse mythology there is a story which “holds that evil and turmoil were first introduced in the world by the appearance of the treacherous and mischievous god Loki at a dinner party in Valhalla. He was the 13th guest, upsetting the balance of the 12 gods already in attendance” (History). The relevance of a single break in meter from ten/eleven syllables to a mere eight shows a subconscious reflection of Hamlet's thoughts about the number. Whether or not Shakespeare intended for Hamlet to be aware of the Norse myths or not, the story pertains to the first time evil and turmoil were brought into the world. A reflection of such could be held up in comparison to the speech the Prince of Denmark is unveiling before his final moment of decent into madness. This story could also reflect the evil and turmoil of the society around him as it continues to unfold his mind.[break][break]
The pivotal moment finally occurs in a perceived betrayal by Ophelia which is brought about by a cause of the court society. Act three, scene one, line ninety-five, Ophelia attempts to return to Hamlet “remembrances of [his]” (III, I. 95) which she has kept, presumably letters and tokens of affection. The entire scene was one staged in a ploy between Polonius and Claudius to see how Hamlet reacts. At first, Hamlet's response to sighting her is stable but upon Ophelia's attempt to return the remembrances, his diction changes. This change can be noted between lines 95 and 112. His first line of response has eight syllables, already signaling a change from his usual calm ten or eleven just prior. The second line upon her response has six and then the third, has three before Hamlet switches entirely to prose. This small spiral of form reflects his spiral into a moment of eruption and finally, the madness that is an attributing factor. [break][break]
The moment at which Hamlet finally bursts and looses touch with both reality and his sense of compassion is when he says to Ophelia “I did love you once... / You should not have believed me, for virtue / cannot so inoculate our old stock but we shall relish / of it. I loved you not” (III, 1. 117/119-121). The term “inoculate” here is coined “to engraft” (OED) which means “to insert (a scion of one tree) as a graft into or upon another” (OED). The metaphorical tree to which Hamlet alludes is virtue and he claims that it cannot be forced upon human nature without some hint of “its original depravity” (Shakespeare Online). Particularly interesting here is Hamlet's use of imagery as pertaining to buds of trees. Trees in essence are natural but Hamlet is using this reference to draw the picture of an unnatural affair: his observed love to Ophelia. If then that love is unnatural, then the entire scene as engineered by Polonius and Claudius and the entirety of the social court is worse. Fundamentally Hamlet and Ophelia's love was the most natural thing about the entire society which surrounds the prince. Hamlet's interpretation of their love being unnatural however, shows his rejection of that society and his sanity.[break][break]
So then, again: what is madness? Is it a natural phenomena or an imposed state of mind? Is it contagious, learned or bred? Shakespeare's interpretation of madness is that it is both a natural phenomena and an imposed state of mind. Through Hamlet's spiral into insanity, Shakespeare is able to draw a clear parallel to the fact that madness can be a direct reflection of the society one lives in. As a central component of tragedy, madness will always be attributed to a number of causes but the most significant of which is the influence of those around us. Society is based on reason, sanity and a rational manner of human of operation. Through the development of Hamlet, the Prince of Denmark and the analysis of his decent into this void, the nature of madness (as it relates to this “sane” society) can be explored more fully and defined as a side-effect of our surroundings; a side-effect of our own little slice of reality. To end on the note of philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche, “There is always some madness in love, but there is also always some reason in madness.”[break][break]
References[break]
Shakespeare Online. 2000. (16 Dec 2014) < www.shakespeare-online.com/>.[break]
Oxford English Dictionary. University of Oxford, n.d. Web. 16 Dec. 2014. <http://www.oed.com.ezaccess.libraries.psu.edu/>.[break]
Wells, Stenley, and Gary Taylor, eds. William Shakespeare: The Complete Works. Second ed. Oxford: Clarendon Press, n.d. 793. Print.[break]
"What’s so unlucky about the number 13?." History.com. History Channel, 13 Sept. 2013. Web. 16 Dec. 2014. <http://www.history.com/news/ask-history/whats-so-unlucky-about-the-number-13>.[break][break]
ACT VI. Current State of Affairs
Hamlet has been a victim of Time for some seven years now. His current state of affairs draw him from the midst of the play in which he was at the funeral of Ophelia who he long since presumes dead. His competitive bout with Laertes holds and he still seeks vengeance on Claudius thinking his own father dead and the ghost to have been sent with reason. Madness has begun to swim between his whims and fancies but he's been trapped in the 20th century for an extended period of time and understands some of what modernity exists. He's not taken to technology and regards it much like a fish out of water. Still, there is a certain charm to the ease of contact it provides and he gets very excited when discovering something new. His speech is much altered and modernized though sometimes the ancient prince finds himself slipping into that familiar tongue which can be understood only by those of his time or those intelligent enough to decipher his courtly speech. Contact with any such persons however is limited and he has seen nobody of familiarity for those seven years Time has held him captive in the future. [break][break]
- Hamlet finds modern dress constricting and wrinkles his nose at it, having adjusted over time only with great effort.
- Modern music is an aphrodisiac and a guilty pleasure however this prince rather prefers classical tunes from his time.
- "Hamlet, Prince of Denmark" not being an accepted title for life in the 20th century, this prince fancies the name "Hamlet Jaagard"
- Somehow, Hamlet managed to swindle his way into the lives and hearts of the Danish royal court (or what is currently left of it in the 20th c. see below)
- Having been stuck in the 20th c. for seven years (since 2008), Hamlet has not given up on returning to his time though his ambitions have gone somewhat dormant
- Madness at bay, the prince spends most of his time in the arms of one lovely Miss Jørgensen whom he met years ago and whose family has helped get him on his feet. Sir Poul Jørgensen Sr. is the prime-minister of Denmark in the 20th c. (2015 term continuing) and the family has always seemed strangely taken by the oddity that Mr. Jaagard presented.
- Currently Hamlet is content and if he were forced to resort to life in the 20th c., as he fully believes is his destiny now, he has every ambition to marry Miss Jørgensen
- Hamlet works as a political advisor under the prime-minister and runs in the upper courts of Denmark in the 20th c.
- The once prince has odd mood swings at times, his madness mostly kept at bay now having been outside of his own court for seven years. He is on modern medication to account for these strange bouts of insanity, though he neglects to adhere to them. lest anyone from his past come to haunt him, murderous vengeful tendencies are likely to rage forth.
- When having days that jolt him, Hamlet finds a small solace in fencing and the familiarity of his most beloved sport back home. He's really quite good too.
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TABLE BY TRINITY @ ADOXOGRAPHY
