William Shakespeare s Hamlet - 1356 Words

Matthew Macioch Ms. Yulico English 101 30 December 2015 In William Shakespeare’s tragedy, Hamlet, it is clearly evident Prince Hamlet is overcome with â€Å"madness† due to his father’s murder and other malicious actions taken against him. Throughout the play, there are many examples of how Hamlet displays his insanity due to certain situations he experiences and how he handles them. Hamlet shows his madness through the killing of Polonius, his treatment of Ophelia, his thoughts of suicide, and the treatment of his mother Gertrude. The first example of Hamlet’s obvious madness is the killing of Polonius. â€Å"After the closet scene, the Queen comes to speak to Claudius. She tells him, as Hamlet has asked her to, which he, Hamlet is mad, and has†¦show more content†¦Gertrude realizes Hamlet’s madness after this and speaks to Claudius about it. Hamlet is so paranoid that he kills the once love of his lives father and doesn’t even feel guilty about it even after he finds o ut who it truly was behind that curtain. Another example of how Hamlet is truly insane is his treatment of Ophelia. â€Å"Others argue that Prince Hamlet goes over the edge into madness at times during the play. His treatment of Ophelia, a woman he had loved, is extremely cruel, and driver her to insanity and then death either though a mad accident or suicide.† (Shakespeare)Throughout the play Hamlet’s treatment of Ophelia worsens. Ophelia was once Hamlet’s girlfriend and true love. After Ophelia randomly ends her relationship with Hamlet, Hamlet won’t accept it and starts to change his attitude towards her. Hamlet starts to use harsh language towards Ophelia and questions her decision many times. Hamlet doesn’t respect Ophelia and her decisions and thinks she’s a phony and has been throughout their entire relationship. Because of this, Hamlet begins to go mad and behaves mad, Due to Hamlet’s treatment and behavior Ophelia also begins to show signs of being mad and later this drives her to commit suicide. Hamlet also shows the theme of his madness after the killing of Polonius and his treatment of Ophelia by spreading his madness over to Ophelia. â€Å"The gentle