THEMES
MADNESS
Essay Plan
P1) Ambiguity over feigned madness
Charles R Forker - "what is real seems false, and what is false seems real… the very court of
Denmark is like a stage"
Hamlet acts out of character even with those like Ophelia who he does not need to hide his
truth self from
o "get thee to a nunnery"
o "oh what a noble mind is here o'erthrown"
Madness is put on (dramatic irony - audience knows) --> context - mirrors story of Roman Brutus
who wants to avenge the rape and death of his cousin Lucretia
o "to put an antic disposition on"
o "I know a hawk from a handsaw"
o "that I essentially am not in madness, but mad in craft"
o "though this be madness, yet there is method in't"
o Line between insanity and feigned madness --> context - Timothy Bright
Melancholy - 'state of sadness turns into madness - frenzied joy'
o "how weary, stale, flat, and unprofitable seem to me all the uses of this world" -
"tis nobler to suffer or to bear"
o "I loved Ophelia. Forty thousand brothers could not with all their quantity of love, make
up my sum"
o Did love Ophelia and wants everyone to know that how he treated her was an
act put on to manipulate people
Roland Frye - "mirrors are familiar metaphors for knowledge and understanding"
o "purpose of playing is to hold a mirror up to nature"
--> Theme of madness goes hand in hand with the theme of appearance vs reality
Don’t know if Hamlet is feigning madness and putting on "an antic disposition" or if he truly
has gone mad
o "to be or not to be, that is the question"
o Reflection on whether it is nobler to live or to commit suicide
o Indicates that maybe he is not mad, just depressed
o Acting out at people because he think life is pointless - doesn’t want them coming too
close and seeing beneath this façade
P2) Ophelia's madness caused by mistreatment by men
David Leverenz - Ophelia was "driven mad by having her inner feelings misrepresented, not
responded to, or acknowledged through chastisement and repression"
(A3,Sc1) "I was the more deceived"
o Heartbroken over Hamlet
(A4,Sc5) "you promised me to wed"
o Betrayal
"You speak like a green girl… do you believe his tenders as you call them?"
o Infantilised
o "you'll tender me a fool" - overbearing + high expectations - worried more about image
, o "come go we to the King… Ophelia walk you here… read on this book" - control over
Ophelia and decides things for her, forcing her to read personal letters and embarrass
herself when she is heartbroken
Fischer - "Ophelia's… conflicting loyalties irrevocably tied to a self image that tried to
accommodate her closest males expectations"
Laertes (A4,Sc7) "too much water hast thou, poor Ophelia"
o Ophelia drowned
o Implications of suicide
o Driven by the madness
Gertrude (A4,Sc7) "There's on the pendant bough her crownet weeds"
o Ophelia wears "weedy trophies" --> mourning the loss of her father and herself
P3) Shakespeare uses madness as a theatrical device to enable both to speak truth
Maynard Mack - "Hamlet can be privileged in madness to say things about the corruption of
human nature… madness has further dimension - true also of Ophelia"
Hamlet's madness was political - considered strategic move to navigate the political turmoil
within Denmark
o "What's Hecuba to him, or he to Hecuba, That our great court-like tragedy is turned Into
an absolute jest?" (Act 2, Scene 2) - Hamlet laments at the fact the real tragedy at court
is trivialised within the play
o Hamlet calls Polonius a "fishmonger" (cares more about advancement than his
daughter) and "tedious old fool"
o "catch the conscious of the King"
Inga Stina Ewbank - "Hamlet is trying to find a language to express himself through… the court of
Elsinore is engaging in acts of translation"
Ophelia is finally able to speak her mind - could not as a women - actions controlled by men
o Ophelia uses flowers to make political statements
o "violets - they all withered when my father died" (faithfulness)
o Rue = repentance - “there’s rue for you, and some for me”
o Daisy = innocence and purity - “there's a daisy”
Does not give it away
o Horatio: (A4,Sc5) "She speaks much of her father, says she hears / there's tricks in the
world"
o The death of her father sent her over the edge - She doesn’t trust the court
anymore - paranoid
P4) Hamlet's madness reflects his tragic story
Initially an "antic disposition" until reality is blurred
o Context - Timothy Bright Melancholy - 'state of sadness turns into madness - frenzied
joy"
o "how weary, stale, flat, and unprofitable seem to me all the uses of this world"
o Inga Stina Ewbank - "Hamlet is trying to find a language to express himself through…
court of Elsinore is engaging in acts of translation"
His sense of morality is abandoned despite being so hardline throughout the play - feels no
regret for Polonius as he is a "fool" when his corruption is not on par with the regicide
committed by Claudius - he also hurts Ophelia in doing this and "get thee to a nunnery"
Hamlet's need to enact revenge meant he had decide to pursue vengeance over his love for
Ophelia hurting her in the process leading to her suicide
, o Samuel Johnson - "Hamlet is an instrument rather than an agent"
o "as if loosed from hell to speak of horrors"
o David Leverenz - Ophelia "driven mad by having her inner feelings misrepresented, not
responded to, or acknowledged through chastisement and repression"
o "how should I your true love know"
Unhappy ending means it was all for nothing
o A C Bradley - "one person's suffering affects the next until it affects the nation"
o "on Fortinbras he has my dying voice" (downfall of Hamlet and the kingdom)
Key Quotes about Hamlet's madness :
(A1,Sc5) "O villain, villain, smiling, damned villain"
o First time the madness is shown
(A3,Sc1) "get thee to a nunn'ry"
o Hamlet lashes out at Ophelia - unlike his true character / how he was before
Hamlet seems mad when he appears before Ophelia is disorderly clothes
Polonius: "this is the very ecstasy of love…leads the will to desperate undertakings"
o Thinks Hamlet has gone mad because of Ophelia's rejection
Ophelia: (A3,Sc1) "Oh, what a noble mind is here o'erthrown"
Key Quotes to prove Hamlet is feigning madness:
(A1,Sc5) "to put an antic disposition on"
o He said this after seeing the ghost
o Actively telling the audience he is going to employ this strategy
o Mirroring story of Roman Brutus who wants to avenge the rape and death of his
cousin Lucretia
"I am but mad not north-west when the wind is southerly…I know a hawk from a
handsaw"
Polonius about Hamlet's madness:
(A2,Sc2) "that he's mad, tis true, tis true, tis pity"
"though this be madness, yet there is method in't"
o Line between insanity and feigned madness
Hamlet tells his mother that he is not mad but put on:
(A3,Sc4) "that I essentially am not in madness, but mad in craft"
"I loved Ophelia. Forty thousand brothers could not with all their quantity of love, make
up my sum"
o Did love Ophelia and wants everyone to know that how he treated her was an
act put on to manipulate people
--> Theme of madness goes hand in hand with the theme of appearance vs reality
Don’t know if Hamlet is feigning madness and putting on "an antic disposition" or if he
truly has gone mad
Madness often a feature of Shakespeares tragedies
Key Quotes about Ophelia's madness:
(A3,Sc1) "I was the more deceived"
MADNESS
Essay Plan
P1) Ambiguity over feigned madness
Charles R Forker - "what is real seems false, and what is false seems real… the very court of
Denmark is like a stage"
Hamlet acts out of character even with those like Ophelia who he does not need to hide his
truth self from
o "get thee to a nunnery"
o "oh what a noble mind is here o'erthrown"
Madness is put on (dramatic irony - audience knows) --> context - mirrors story of Roman Brutus
who wants to avenge the rape and death of his cousin Lucretia
o "to put an antic disposition on"
o "I know a hawk from a handsaw"
o "that I essentially am not in madness, but mad in craft"
o "though this be madness, yet there is method in't"
o Line between insanity and feigned madness --> context - Timothy Bright
Melancholy - 'state of sadness turns into madness - frenzied joy'
o "how weary, stale, flat, and unprofitable seem to me all the uses of this world" -
"tis nobler to suffer or to bear"
o "I loved Ophelia. Forty thousand brothers could not with all their quantity of love, make
up my sum"
o Did love Ophelia and wants everyone to know that how he treated her was an
act put on to manipulate people
Roland Frye - "mirrors are familiar metaphors for knowledge and understanding"
o "purpose of playing is to hold a mirror up to nature"
--> Theme of madness goes hand in hand with the theme of appearance vs reality
Don’t know if Hamlet is feigning madness and putting on "an antic disposition" or if he truly
has gone mad
o "to be or not to be, that is the question"
o Reflection on whether it is nobler to live or to commit suicide
o Indicates that maybe he is not mad, just depressed
o Acting out at people because he think life is pointless - doesn’t want them coming too
close and seeing beneath this façade
P2) Ophelia's madness caused by mistreatment by men
David Leverenz - Ophelia was "driven mad by having her inner feelings misrepresented, not
responded to, or acknowledged through chastisement and repression"
(A3,Sc1) "I was the more deceived"
o Heartbroken over Hamlet
(A4,Sc5) "you promised me to wed"
o Betrayal
"You speak like a green girl… do you believe his tenders as you call them?"
o Infantilised
o "you'll tender me a fool" - overbearing + high expectations - worried more about image
, o "come go we to the King… Ophelia walk you here… read on this book" - control over
Ophelia and decides things for her, forcing her to read personal letters and embarrass
herself when she is heartbroken
Fischer - "Ophelia's… conflicting loyalties irrevocably tied to a self image that tried to
accommodate her closest males expectations"
Laertes (A4,Sc7) "too much water hast thou, poor Ophelia"
o Ophelia drowned
o Implications of suicide
o Driven by the madness
Gertrude (A4,Sc7) "There's on the pendant bough her crownet weeds"
o Ophelia wears "weedy trophies" --> mourning the loss of her father and herself
P3) Shakespeare uses madness as a theatrical device to enable both to speak truth
Maynard Mack - "Hamlet can be privileged in madness to say things about the corruption of
human nature… madness has further dimension - true also of Ophelia"
Hamlet's madness was political - considered strategic move to navigate the political turmoil
within Denmark
o "What's Hecuba to him, or he to Hecuba, That our great court-like tragedy is turned Into
an absolute jest?" (Act 2, Scene 2) - Hamlet laments at the fact the real tragedy at court
is trivialised within the play
o Hamlet calls Polonius a "fishmonger" (cares more about advancement than his
daughter) and "tedious old fool"
o "catch the conscious of the King"
Inga Stina Ewbank - "Hamlet is trying to find a language to express himself through… the court of
Elsinore is engaging in acts of translation"
Ophelia is finally able to speak her mind - could not as a women - actions controlled by men
o Ophelia uses flowers to make political statements
o "violets - they all withered when my father died" (faithfulness)
o Rue = repentance - “there’s rue for you, and some for me”
o Daisy = innocence and purity - “there's a daisy”
Does not give it away
o Horatio: (A4,Sc5) "She speaks much of her father, says she hears / there's tricks in the
world"
o The death of her father sent her over the edge - She doesn’t trust the court
anymore - paranoid
P4) Hamlet's madness reflects his tragic story
Initially an "antic disposition" until reality is blurred
o Context - Timothy Bright Melancholy - 'state of sadness turns into madness - frenzied
joy"
o "how weary, stale, flat, and unprofitable seem to me all the uses of this world"
o Inga Stina Ewbank - "Hamlet is trying to find a language to express himself through…
court of Elsinore is engaging in acts of translation"
His sense of morality is abandoned despite being so hardline throughout the play - feels no
regret for Polonius as he is a "fool" when his corruption is not on par with the regicide
committed by Claudius - he also hurts Ophelia in doing this and "get thee to a nunnery"
Hamlet's need to enact revenge meant he had decide to pursue vengeance over his love for
Ophelia hurting her in the process leading to her suicide
, o Samuel Johnson - "Hamlet is an instrument rather than an agent"
o "as if loosed from hell to speak of horrors"
o David Leverenz - Ophelia "driven mad by having her inner feelings misrepresented, not
responded to, or acknowledged through chastisement and repression"
o "how should I your true love know"
Unhappy ending means it was all for nothing
o A C Bradley - "one person's suffering affects the next until it affects the nation"
o "on Fortinbras he has my dying voice" (downfall of Hamlet and the kingdom)
Key Quotes about Hamlet's madness :
(A1,Sc5) "O villain, villain, smiling, damned villain"
o First time the madness is shown
(A3,Sc1) "get thee to a nunn'ry"
o Hamlet lashes out at Ophelia - unlike his true character / how he was before
Hamlet seems mad when he appears before Ophelia is disorderly clothes
Polonius: "this is the very ecstasy of love…leads the will to desperate undertakings"
o Thinks Hamlet has gone mad because of Ophelia's rejection
Ophelia: (A3,Sc1) "Oh, what a noble mind is here o'erthrown"
Key Quotes to prove Hamlet is feigning madness:
(A1,Sc5) "to put an antic disposition on"
o He said this after seeing the ghost
o Actively telling the audience he is going to employ this strategy
o Mirroring story of Roman Brutus who wants to avenge the rape and death of his
cousin Lucretia
"I am but mad not north-west when the wind is southerly…I know a hawk from a
handsaw"
Polonius about Hamlet's madness:
(A2,Sc2) "that he's mad, tis true, tis true, tis pity"
"though this be madness, yet there is method in't"
o Line between insanity and feigned madness
Hamlet tells his mother that he is not mad but put on:
(A3,Sc4) "that I essentially am not in madness, but mad in craft"
"I loved Ophelia. Forty thousand brothers could not with all their quantity of love, make
up my sum"
o Did love Ophelia and wants everyone to know that how he treated her was an
act put on to manipulate people
--> Theme of madness goes hand in hand with the theme of appearance vs reality
Don’t know if Hamlet is feigning madness and putting on "an antic disposition" or if he
truly has gone mad
Madness often a feature of Shakespeares tragedies
Key Quotes about Ophelia's madness:
(A3,Sc1) "I was the more deceived"
