Thursday, November 15, 2012

seriously, what's up with hamlet?

Hamlet may say that he is only feigning insanity, but in all honesty, he must be crazy. How else can you explain his bizarre and morosely philosophical soliloquies, his blatant disregard for all of his relationships, his apparently merciless, ruthless thoughts? It is difficult to label him sane when he muses on whether avoiding suicide is worth it, when he comes to the conclusion that the reason to live is to avoid the nightmares in the afterlife, when he cruelly spurns his former love interest Ophelia, when he brutally lashes his mother with his words, when he refuses to murder his uncle until he is caught in a sinful act.... ETC.

Even Hamlet's act of feigning insanity is insane. He must be crazy.

I presume the normal Hamlet, the sane Hamlet is a rational individual, good-natured and decently virtuous-- one who nurtures his relationships rather than destroy them, who concerns himself what every normal young adult concerns himself with, who does not contemplate the prospect of committing suicide. The Hamlet we see is one with a personality inundated with cruelty and mercilessness. He is grossly compared to his uncle, who is initially presented as the heartless villain but whose guilt and humanity is later revealed. Hamlet, on the other hand, only wishes to kill Claudius when he is not praying and feels no remorse after killing an innocent man.

But if you think about it, maybe his craziness is justifiable. I mean, this dude did just lose the person whom he idolized and revered the most, not to mention he's been subject to a truckload of hard-hitting betrayal. His uncle murdered his father. His mother married his uncle. His best friends are spies for his uncle. There are a plethora of catalysts for his insanity.


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