It's pretty strange, the difference between Hamlet's "madness" and Ophelia honest-to-goodness craziness. I mean, Hamlet's idea of going crazy was just to be rude and crude and generally tick people off, whereas Ophelia was prancing around, singing about this and that, honestly being insane. When Hamlet goes "mad," his friends and family do what they can to try and figure out the caue of his craziness, but to no avail. They can never figure out what was this impetus for his disturbance, and he does very little to show what's bothering him (that is, until the actors come to town). Ophelia, however, has no problem letting everyone around know what's on her mind and what's bothering her. She sings on and on about her father and his grave and so on and so forth. Hamlet's fake insanity was angry and vengeful. Ophelia's real insanity was pure and honest, and much more sad.
I don't really have a main idea that I'm trying to convey here, I'm just musing. Maybe the type of insaity suffered by Hamlet and Ophelia reflects the cause of their respective insanities? Because Hamlet's was fake, a part of a vendetta scheme, his craziness was louder, causing him to say vulgar things, and just generally be a nuisance. Ophelia's craziness, however, was true, and the effect of suddenly having her father killed, not in an attempt to avenge him. Perhaps this shows the innocence of the characters? Hamlet was a sneakier person, while Ophelia represented a purer person? I don't know, really, haha.
4 comments:
"Hamlet's fake insanity was angry and vengeful. Ophelia's real insanity was pure and honest, and much more sad."
Meghan,
this is certainly a good start (and a fine post--thanks!). I think that what you might first want to do is locate a short speech (or a section of a longer one) that addresses this very issue of madness (I'd be happy to help you) and then use it as a sort of 'standard' by which to measure the respective 'insanities' of these two characters.
This could have the making of a great essay!
I like this post because I agree that Ophelia's madness is revealed as more "pure and honest" but at the same time is this Shakespeare further emphasizing that ""Frailty, thy name is woman."
Is Ophelia's real madness a stab a women, claiming that they can't deal with the realities of life, like father's death? Is Shakespeare trying to demonstrate that women are so unequal to men that their craziness due to death will lead them to suicide instead of revenge like Hamlet?
Just something to think about..
I know Megs! As we read Hamlet's portrayed 'madness' I had to ask myself, "Does insanity give someone an automatic right to be as shameless as Corinne?" :)
Yet, I can't help wonder if Hamlet truly does go mad, as a result of post-traumatic stress. Ophelia was just as distressed as Hamlet because of the death surrounding them, and her madness does seem to focus upon loss. All of her singing, as you should know, is about dying.... The death of love, as she believes Hamlet no longer loves her, the death of her father -they had an interesting relationship- it all influences her madness. And then you look at Hamlet's insanity, and suddenly you begin to see the desire for revenge. Hamlet thinks so much about the essence of life, and his insanity reflects upon that. He is angry with Claudius, and he targets his insane rudeness towards him. He feels betrayed, and all those who have betrayed him receive no mercy. Is there method to madness? Does Hamlet feign this instability of mind? I think both illnesses affecting the minds of Ophelia and Hamlet are real and poisonous.
What I just didn't get through the whole book was why Hamlet had to go "mad" to avenge his father. Can't he just kill Claudius and be done with it? As soon as the ghost speaks to him he decides to act insane, which really only slows him down with the whole revenge thing. Maybe that was his sub-conscious point, just another way to delay. But his craziness really only hurt Ophelia, and him.
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