Role and Impact of Madness in the Play "Hamlet"

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Hamlet
The play Hamlet is one of Shakespeare's most famous works. It has been enacted and quoted multitudinous times and is known as one of the author's plays that give the most insight into the mind of one of the greatest playwrights in history CITATION Bur10 \l 2057 (Burwick). Madness is one of the central themes in the play, even though Hamlet denies that he is mad in many soliloquys, Polonius indicates his suspicions regarding Hamlet’s madness and says, "Though this be madness, yet there is method in't."
The story of Hamlet’s madness starts with the appearance of the ghost of Old Hamlet, where the ghost tells Hamlet that Old Hamlet was murdered by Claudius. Incensed by this revelation, Hamlet plots a revenge on Claudius, but ends up murdering Polonius by mistake CITATION Wil11 \l 2057 (Shakepeare).
Hamlet’s madness is apparent in many different ways in this situation. Foremost, he hallucinates and sees his father’s ghost, which shows that he was not in his right mind. Moreover, it could be that Hamlet was upset with regards to his mother replacing his father so soon, and this made Hamlet, through his own imagination, see his supressed feeling of hatred towards his stepfather appear in the form of a ghost telling Hamlet all that Hamlet had thought in his darkest state of mind CITATION Cod89 \l 2057 (Coddon).
This darkness in Hamlet’s heart was manifested in an illusion, and this shows that he was a deeply troubled individual, and his troubled state led him to madness, which is what the appearance of the ghost actually meant. Hamlet’s madness is also manifested in the passionate and zealous manner with which he plotted his father’s revenge. Many would argue that Hamlet was angry and vengeful. He was both those things, but together with this, he wanted revenge and he was so obsessed with achieving this goal that he lost track of reality CITATION Cod89 \l 2057 (Coddon).
He became paranoid and psychotic, to an extent that even when he murdered Polonius, mistaking him for Claudius eavesdropping on him and his mother, he did not regret the murder. He was desensitized beyond the normal standard for humans, and by not caring about the life of another person, or the loss of life that he had caused, Hamlet, unlike a sane person, rationalized the murder as being one which was justified. He rationalized that Polonius had plotted against his father, and was the one responsible for Old Hamlet’s father just as much as Claudius was CITATION Wil11 \l 2057 (Shakepeare).
Madness is apparent in the entire theme of the play, where although Hamlet is depicted as Hamlet becomes mad with his desire for revenge. Hamlet wants to have people think that he is mad so that it would give Hamlet a better chance at taking out his revenge on Claudius he would be able to escape the blame for Claudius’s death CITATION Bur10 \l 2057 (Burwick).
Although the plan did not work out as intended, Hamlet was able to murder Claudius, but he was able to do so, only at the expense of Hamlet’s life, and the life of many others around him. Hamlet was oblivious to the world around h...