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hamlet essay In the play "Hamlet," Hamlet states that he is only mad north-north-west. I think that this means that he is only partially insane, and I believe that this statement is true. According to my definition of insane, Hamlet doesn't directly fit into the category of insane. Whether or not we should believe him depends on whom he is saying this statement to. In my eyes Hamlet had every reason to act the way he did, because no one could really understand him. In my opinion during the whole play Hamlet had an idea of what he should do concerning the king, but he kept questioning himself because he didn't now whether or not it was the right thing to do. Hamlet had two very big reasons why he should have gone crazy even if he didnt.
The reason I think that Hamlet was only partially in ane is because every time he acted crazy it was around other people. He did act a little okward while he was by himself but it wasn't that much, and when he did he was only acting out his anger. I think Hamlet was just deeply confused and angry, and to my knowledge acting out of anger is not a smart idea. An example of that is when he was talking to his mother and Polonius was behind the curtain. He just killed Polonius without any hesitation, he acted on anger and I guess instinct also. I thin one of his other goals besides revenging his fathers death was to confuse everybody and make them thin he was crazy, but he also wanted to reveal his true anger. My definition of insane is when people do highly illogical things for no reason at all. Hamlet does say highly illogical things but he doesn't necessarily do highly illogical things. So to me Hamlet barely fits the description of being insane.
The reason that I think it depends on who Hamlet is saying this phrase to ("I am only mad north -north west") is because he lies to certain people and he tells the truth to another small amount of people. He lies to most people like Claudius, Polonius, and even Ophelia, but if he said it to Horatio or maybe even his mother, he was most likely telling the truth. It's not just that he lies to these people, he just doesn't tae them seriously. So why would he tell the truth to somebody that he doesn't even believe should be taken seriously? That's why I believe whether or not Hamlet is telling the truth depends on who he is telling the phrase to.
I think Hamlet had a justifiable reason to act in what ever manner he acted. First of all nobody in his surroundings could really now how he felt. So he must have felt alone, and when you are deeply sad you should always have someone to comfort you. Well that's only my opinion. Another reason is that he didn't want anyone to find out what his plans were and also what information he had. How could Hamlet be insane when he thought of such a brilliant plan to find out whether or not king Claudius really killed his father. This plan being the little skit he had the actor's play to reinvent his father's murder. I mean that was ingenious. I know I would have never thought of a plan like that, considering that I'm only 15. And it worked too. So if being insane gives you ideas like that, maybe everyone should go insane for a little while.
After Hamlet found out from the ghost that Claudius killed his father, Hamlet has been fixated on murdering King Claudius. I guess that could turn anyone a little crazy. Almost every time he was about to do it he hesitated because he didn't think it would be right if Claudius went to heaven and then he went to hell for trying to revenge his fathers death. That's only one of the things that set him back. Because after that he started to question whether he was a coward or not. In my opinion that didn't really matter. I mean who cares as long as you reach your goal. I guess that's why he killed Polonius with no hesitation, even though he didn't really know who he was killing. Hamlet killed him because he was tired of questioning himself, I guess he was on the edge of going insane. At this point he didn't care whether or not he was making the right decision.
When the ghost told hamlet that he was killed by Claudius, he lso told Hamlet not to tell anyone and to keep it a secret. Think how it must feel to have to hold that in. I would have wanted to tel someone right away. That must must have been driving Hamlet at least a little crazy. Plus the fact that Hamlet have to live knowing that his mother was marryed to his fathers killler, and he couldnt tell her. That would have really drove me insane. So you can see the amount of pressure that was on him.
So from my perspective Hamlet was not insane but maybe on the edge of going insane. He did act crazy around people but he wasn't showing his true colors. I think the phrase he said was true because I think it means that he was only a little crazy, but not like insane. Most of the time he is only acting insane, and this was only to throw