Wednesday, February 4, 2015

Is Hamlet really mad in this play, or is merely pretending to be mad? (Find lines that support your answer.) Act 4

I would argue that he is not mad, and in fact sees things rather clearly.  One great passage that helps to demonstrate his sanity is in his soliloquy while gazing out at Fortinbras' army.  He reflects on the very nature of man and man's ability to reason as a great thing, and one not to go unused:



What is a man,(35)
If his chief good and market of his time
Be but to sleep and feed? A beast, no more.
Sure, he that made us with such large discourse,
Looking before and after, gave us not
That capability and godlike reason(40)
To fust in us unused.



I don't think that he would be discoursing at such length about the great capacity of man for reason were he really caught up in a madness himself.


One might also point to his ability to think clearly in the face of discovering the plot for his own murder and to arrange for the letter to find Horatio and to get himself back safely to Elsinore as good demonstrations of his sanity.

No comments:

Post a Comment

How far is Iago justified in hating Othello?

Iago hates Othello for some of reasons. First reason could be that Othello promoted Cassio in his place; however, Iago wants it and he cosid...