In TWO well developed paragraphs answer the following (25 points):
The big question of all of English literature: why does Hamlet drag his
feet so long to avenge his father's murder? Is Hamlet "mad" or is he really just faking it? Sure, plenty of
scholar-types have tried to answer that, but maybe they've missed
something. Give it a shot.
Respond to two of your classmates in a well developed paragraph (5 points each). Due November 30th Midnight.
Hamlet's elaborate plan to find out if Claudius really did murder his father was very drawn out and complicated. Even though Hamlet was very detailed about how he would expose his uncle there wasn't much planning on how he would kill him. One reason could be he was so emotionally disturbed by the death of his father and his mother's sudden marriage. Another reason could be pure cowardliness. Maybe Hamlet isn't strong or man enough to do the deed. The opportunity to kill his uncle was probably slim to nothing because of his status of king and the potential witnesses to the murder.
ReplyDeleteHamlet said in act 1 scene 5 "How strange or odd I bear myself (As I perchance hereafter shall think meet to put an antic disposition on)" He says this to Marcellus and to Haratio. In this point of the play Hamlet is saying he is going to fake his insanity. Hamlet's mental state is questionable though because of the way he reacts to certain situations. He could be considered mad when he murdered Polonius in cold blood without a warning. I think Hamlet is emotionally distraught with the pain of his father's death and the way his mother has reacted to it. When someone is pushed to their limits they can act out in a "fit of madness." Emotions can get the best of people sometimes and maybe Hamlet was pushed to far. Acting crazy could have potentially pushed Hamlet into insanity.
I agree pretty much with everything you have said. All the points you made are valid and definitely could have been contributing factors to both his insanity and the prolonged murder of Claudius. However, I do not believe that he killed Polonius in cold blood. That kind of insinuates that he knew who he was killing and he did it for no known purpose. Hamlet believe the person behind the curtain was Caludius, meaning he would have gotten the job done much sooner than he actually.
DeleteLike I said to Anessa, Hamlet is a coward. You could read that reply because it’s pretty much the same thing I am going to say here about that. So because I still have to reach the five sentence minimum of a comment, I am going to talk to you about your last paragraph. I agree with you. I, too, think that emotions get the best of people and that Hamlet pushed himself into madness. You know that saying “fake it ‘til you make it?” Well, Hamlet faked it and he made it. He was already emotional and all this spooky stuff and betrayal pushed him into his now dark place in craziness like what happened to Ophelia.
DeleteHamlet avoided killing his uncle for a few reasons. Although he had a very set and clear plan as to how he was going to expose his uncle, he never planned how he was going to kill him if he did, in fact, murder his father. Part of the reason Hamlet took so long to kill him was because of the newfound title of his uncle. Seeing as kings are very important people, his uncle would have been surrounded by guards at all times, making it hard to get him alone and vulnerable. Perhaps Hamlet was playing the waiting game and was just waiting on the right moment to take advantage of or maybe he was simply too much a coward to murder his uncle.
ReplyDeleteAs for Hamlet's "madness," I believe that although he started out acting as if he had gone crazy, it eventually turned into true madness. Evidence of this can be found in his reaction to Polonius spying on him and his mother. Why would he just stab away at a curtain without knowing exactly who was behind it? A normal, healthy-minded person would have checked behind the curtain with a weapon of self-defense, just in case something were to go wrong. I believe he truly did not how to handle the death of his father, and his mother's reaction to it just set him over the edge, so to speak.
I think Hamlet was too much of a coward to murder his uncle. Hamlet did everything to make sure that what the ghost said was true. He knows that Claudius killed his father. Hamlet, however, never goes and actually tries to avenge his father. He goes to tell his mother to stop being with Claudius. Maybe because it was in the moment, Hamlet killed Polonius thinking it was Claudius. Perhaps, Hamlet did it because Polonius was hidden behind a curtain. It’s easier to stab a curtain than a person. I agree with you, Hamlet did not know how to handle the death of his father. Hamlet was just a failure.
DeleteThat is a good point Anessa. He never did plan on how he would kill his uncle if he got the chance. That does show that he could be a coward and wouldn't go through with it. Yes, he had to be crazy to just stab at a curtain. What if it were his mother? He was definitely out of his mind. His uncle being a king now would be around guards at all times, but being that they are family, Hamlet could have asked for privacy from them and kill him that way. I don't know. It's anyone's guess. But we can all agree he is crazy!
DeleteI agree with you that Hamlet could have delayed killing his uncle because he was waiting for the right moment. It would have been very difficult to get Claudius alone and away from all his guards so that he could murder him. Even though at the end of the play Hamlet does succeed in murdering his uncle, it was by poison and not as brutal as one would expect to avenge someone's death. I also agree with you that Hamlet did not know how to deal with his father's death. He couldn't turn to his mother for help because she was damaging him even more by being with Claudius.
DeleteSomehow I knew I would be doing this on Sunday. Alright, so, Hamlet. A name I haven’t heard in a not long enough time. Hamlet was being a Moody Trudy even before his father’s ghost appeared. It’s been what a month sense his father died and he still hasn’t moved on. My guesses are that grief and sadness are driving him insane. Something like what happened to Ophelia. Then his daddy’s ghost came in like “Boo! Avenge me!” Of course, the already conflicted Hamlet got more conflicted and confused. He took his time because he didn’t know what to do. It was too much for his fragile self.
ReplyDeleteThen he got mad. Not angry mad but insane mad. The poor guy began to act insane but then he became insane with his own obsession to avenge his father. He was obsessed. Maybe his own madness made him reckless. Planning a murder isn’t as hard as it seems. If you’re in your right mind, it would probably take you less than a month to make a decent murder that you won’t get caught. Except Hamlet’s plan ran in circles so many times that I wonder if in the end if he really wanted to murder Claudius. Because in the end, it was through Claudius’s plan that all that poisonfest happened not through Hamlet’s plan.
Hamlet was just a crazy, depressed, moody guy who had no idea what to do or what he was doing.
You're right, Hamlet simply could not deal with his own conflict to carry out his plan. He was running in circles trying to figure out if he should indeed kill his uncle Claudius. His grief is what drove Hamlet insane and eventually Hamlet would have no clue on what to do next. Hamlet was a very troubled person with no one to turn to for a solution. Hamlet also went mad when he learned of his mother's marriage to his uncle, which may have contributed to his confusion.
DeleteI agree with you on your point about him becoming obsessed with avenging his father. It came to the point where he just wanted to be right and for everyone to know it; not so much as to him killing Claudius anymore. His plan to reveal his uncle as the murderer of his father was well thought out, but was too much of a coward to actually go through with killing Claudius. Like you said, his plan on killing Claudius did not work, but Claudius' plan that ended up with everyone dying.
DeleteYet another Hamlet discussion. Alright Mr. Lear fine. Hamlet was truthfully an interesting character. He pretended to be insane and drove himself to actually be insane all just to avenge his fathers death. I think Hamlet waited so long to avenge his fathers death because he wanted to make his uncle, feel guilty first and make sure he knows that Hamlet knew that he killed his father. I think Hamlets plan was to actually drive everyone to a point of his very same insanity. After the play, the whole family did just that. Hamlets mother and ex girlfriend went quite insane. In the end everyone dies due to Hamlets "fake" insanity.
ReplyDeleteNow when it comes to being "mad", Hamlet had to versions of being that. Hamlet was in fact mad that he knew his very own uncle killed his father. This type of mad of obviously anger. The other type of "'mad", that Hamlet was displaying was his insanity mad. Hamlet played off his pretend insanity to the point where it drove him to be madly insane. There I'm done, now back to my left over turkey
The point you made about Hamlet waiting so long so that his uncle could feel guilty is one I hadn't thought of before you mentioned it. Sometimes guilt alone could drive someone crazy or in to depression. Maybe Hamlet wanted Claudius to feel so guilty he would confess or be exposed to those around him. I don't quite agree with you though that Hamlet's ultimate goal was to drive everyone to insanity. Maybe he was angry enough that he wanted everyone to suffer like he had. But I don't believe he wanted everyone to go mad and kill each other.
DeleteI agree with you. The point you made about Hamlet prolonging the murder of his uncle to make him feel guilty is a really good one. I hadn't thought of it before, but it really does make a lot of sense. Maybe the mental torture of knowing someone is coming after you makes up for the lack of brutality of the murder that Gloria mentioned in one of her responses.
DeleteI agree with you. Hamlet did seem as if he wanted everyone to go mad along with him. Him waiting so long to kill his uncle so that he could make him guilty could drive Claudius to insanity himself. After all, Claudius did not know what Hamlet's plan was and with all of that worrying, it could drive Claudius insane.
DeleteHamlet definitely drags his feet for a very long time to avenge his father's murder. I believe a lot of factors can contribute to this though. If you recall, Hamlet found out the way his father died from his ghost.. That in itself can prolong it because how did he know the ghost really was his father? Or, he could have thought that it was a dream or he was crazy. Another factor that makes him drag his feet is his conscience. I don't think that he could actually pull it off. Could you imagine living the rest of your life knowing that you killed someone, even for revenge?
ReplyDeleteNow as for if Hamlet really was mad... I think its anyone's guess. I believe Hamlet was mad. The way he was acting was very weird. A sane person can't even pull off being that crazy, so I believe he was mad. I believe his anger at his uncle for murdering his father, and the thought of killing him for revenge drove Hamlet into pure insanity.
I agree with you in how Hamlet does decide to prolong the murder of Claudius. He didn't know if the ghost was really his father and was not going to risk his neck so soon after his father had passed away. This by itself plus the fact that he had to deal with his emotions from realized that his father had died and adding the fact that his father was murdered weighted Hamlet's conscience even more, causing even more delays to find a method of avenging his father.
DeleteYeah, Hamlet prolonged it. I agree it that more than one thing probably factored into that happening. I'm totally on your side about Hamlet being mad. I said something similar about a sane person not being able to act the way he did. I agree, his anger and his desire for revenge drove him to insanity.
DeleteYou made a very good point about the difficulty of ridding a conscience of the guilt of death. In all honesty, the weight of that decision probably made Hamlet hesitate about all the ramifications of his actions. Hamlet is a loon. All of the pent up anger and fear and other emotions drove Hammy over the edge.
DeleteThe idea of avenging his father is complicated for Hamlet, he had to figure a way to deceive Claudius and yet be able to plan a way to murder him without being discovered by him. Also he is hesitant because he is told by the supposedly ghost of his father and in reality there was no way of telling if it was really his father or not. Hamlet finally decides to act when he put on the play to observe Claudius's reaction. By then, Hamlet's faking of being insane seems to actually have occurred hence, his actions in the last act.
ReplyDeleteHamlet in the beginning could of been faking the madness. Since he was determined to avenge his father and when the opportunity arose where he could of killed Claudius but didn't because he was praying. This supports him faking the madness. As time went on though, I believe he actually did go insane from faking it, he no longer knew what was considered sane or not.
Maybe Hamlet was scared to actually kill Claudius. In the end, Claudius was murdered due to his own plan rather than Hamlet's forever-long plan to kill Claudius. Hamlet was indecisive throughout the book and part of this was because Hamlet did not know whether murdering Claudius was right. Hamlet saw the chance of opportunity rise at the end and took it, he did not plan that out. Overall, if it wasn't for Claudius's plan to kill Hamlet, Hamlet wouldn't have had the chance to avenge his father.
DeleteI agree with wilmer with the whole idea of hmalet avenging his father to be quite difficult and complicated and with the whole of hamlet faking the insane and finally driving himself to become insane with the avenging.I wouldnt say that hamlet was scared to kill claudius but he couldn't have the idea of him killing his own blood, even if claudius didnt hesitate to do it
DeleteTo begin with, the lost of a love one can really hurt a person, especially if that person was fragile to begin with (Hamlet). Trying to cope with his father's death, Hamlet soon learned that his uncle murdered his father. The idea of killing his own family member may have caused him confusion and frustration. Not to mention that his mother later married his uncle. Although Hamlet meant to act insane, he soon came to believe that he was actually going insane.
ReplyDeleteHamlet's plan to avenge his father took some time because Hamlet wanted to make sure that the new king wasn't going to be killed just for fun. Hamlet also pondered on the idea of suicide, which can be used to argue whether he was going mad of grief and pain. Hamlet's plan for murdering Claudius never really happened on Hamlet's terms, instead because of Claudius, who planned to have had Hamlet killed since forever.
I agree with Hamlet learning everything in such short time that his father was murdered and his mom was marrying his uncle so soon was hard for Hamlet to grasp, therefore it lead to him being hesitant to make up his mind about avenging his father and how to act to achieve this goal. This in total led Hamlet to having to fake his insanity but as you said he started to ponder the idea of suicide. Overall I agree with you in the reasons why Hamlet acted in the way he did.
DeleteHamlet from the beginning was depressed due to the death of his father then his mother married his uncle which made him feel angry towards them. How could she have forgotten about his father so easily. After hearing the ghost say that his uncle killed him it broke Hamlet even more.
ReplyDeleteHamlets plot to avenge his father was mostly forced on figuring out if it was his uncle in reality then the actual plan to kill his uncle. Hamlet was kind of second guessing himself afterwards he was set that he was going to kill Claudius. The plot to kill claudius was random, Hamlet did not think about the way to kill him it just happened. Hamlet was more sane then insane. He knew what he was doing and the outcome of his actions he was just going mad because of all the pain and confusion in his mind.
Hamlet had a plan developed to find out if Claudius really did kill his father, but he never planned out how to kill him. Hamlet wanted to know if the ghost was really telling the truth before "murdering" his uncle. He also "dragged his feet" so long, because the king would not be an easy person to kill. I believe that he did not want to avenge his father, it was more about his problems with his uncle getting married with his mother as soon as his father died.
ReplyDeleteHe began to act insane as a part of his plan to expose his uncle. Somewhere along the line of acting, it became a reality and he actually became insane. His obsession with carrying out his plan actually drove him insane.
Hamlet is a very special character. He was angry when he found out his father was killed by his uncle. Then he probably got even more furious once he found out that his uncle marrying his mom. During those times Hamlet began to flip out on anyone and everyone. Like for example, his girlfriend came and he began to crazy. Or how in other words Jay-Z would say "cray." He was faking this crazy/madness to an extent to where everyone around him thought he was insane. While Hamlet was doing all this craziness he was also thinking of a way to avenge his fathers death.
ReplyDeleteBeing the interesting character he is, Hamlet decides to make Cladius feel some type of way for killing his father. Since he got that message from the ghost telling him to avenge his fathers death, he begins to postpone killing Cladius by acting like he was insane. All those times of him having a chance to take out Claduis went away and he probably did start faking it. Hamlet really confused us all with his mysterious acting but by the end he should have already killed Claudius once that ghost showed him wassup.
Hamlet's plan to kill his uncle was thought in a very thorough sense. However the killing of his uncle was drawn out for a while. Mostly, because he is a coward who actually did become insane. At first, he made this plan to make himself come across as insane, but throughout the play, his insanity becomes reality. Honestly, Hamlet is a emotional roller coaster and does not know how to deal with everyone around him and their reaction to the death of his father. It has been one or two months since his father's passing and he is still in mourning, probably not over his fathers death, but because of everything else that is going on. Such as, his mother marrying his uncle soon after his fathers death and his uncle becoming king. Since his uncle is the king now, that could also be another possibility as to why he is taking so long to kill his uncle. Hamlet wants to prove he is right before anything, not just kill him and him suffer the consequences for the "mistake" he made.
ReplyDeleteHamlet is also getting pressured by everyone in the castle because of his insanity. It comes to the point where no one really believes him because everyone thinks he is just crazy. Everyone's non-caring attitude after the death of his father makes him go mad. He wants to prove himself, yet does not think of how he could actually kill his uncle. The huge plan about his play is merely a distraction from the plan of him actually killing Claudius.
I agree with you. Hamlet did go off the deep end, and his cowardice was his kryptonite. I did not think about Claudius' royal status, and it probably will be hard to commit murder in the middle of the royal court. Also, the lack of concern probably bothered the living crap out of Hamlet, and just distracted him from stabbing Claudius.
DeleteHamlet had a very, very, very unnecessarily complicated plan to kill Claudius. In all honesty, I cannot imagine the motivation the Hamlet received to want to act insane, as his insanity would have little or no benefit towards killing Claudius. In my opinion, his father's untimely death and the hasty remarriage of his mother to Claudius shook the foundations of his sanity, and the appearance of his father's ghost broke what was left of his damaged psyche.
ReplyDeleteAs the play progresses, Hamlet descends deeper and deeper into rampancy, culminating in his haste is stabbing the curtain, killing Polonius, and his obsession with his mother pushed the limits of his mental state any more. Hamlet also forgoes his common sense and intelligence, as he is presented a perfect opportunity to stab Claudius in the back, but decides not to, as Claudius is praying, and Hamlet thinks that he will end up with salvation if he killed him during this divine act. Hamlet is a loon. End of story.
I agree with both of your answers completely and especially with your point that Hamlet faking insanity would not have been beneficial in his plan to kill Claudius, which works well into the idea that Hamlet was actually mad. Yeah. Hamlet is a bad guy. He's crazy and rude and just not someone I would want to be friends with. Everyone around him ends up dead anyways.
DeleteHamlet is a prick. He took his sweet time avenging his father because it allowed greater dramatics and complexity to ensue. It would have been an awfully short play if he murdered his uncle right after seeing the ghost of his father. I also believe that the time was necessary because it allowed Hamlet's anger to ferment and his insanity to worsen. Timing is important.
ReplyDeleteAn outlook that I see no one has really taken yet is that Hamlet could have been mad from the very beginning. It started with him seeing ghosts, being paranoid (rightfully, but still), having awful mood swings (poor Ophelia), and just ended with a great big blood bath. He was mad at the beginning of the play and, as the play progressed, so did his insanity. His obvious mental instability showcased itself frequently, great examples being all of the times he pretended to be insane. Although his “fake” madness was a valiant effort to mask the sinister plotting he was doing, how could one sanely fake being insane so well (and continue doing so) when it drove ones primary love interest to insanity and lead to the death of innocents(well, sort of innocent..eavesdropping isn't that serious. I'm talking about Polonious here)...That's just insane.
I do not agree with your point that Hamlet was mad from the beginning. I think he was just faking his madness at the beginning due to its necessity for his revenge. However, as the story progresses, he started to move into real insanity. The factor that drove him to insanity is his obsession with revenge. He no longer think logically and will do anything for revenge. At the end of the story, he is now definitely insane.
DeleteIn the play, Hamlet took a long time to carry out his revenge. This could be due to two reasons. First of all, he want to confirm that Claudius did actually kill his father and that the ghost was actually his father. He don't want to kill the wrong person. He wants everything to be done right. Second of all, he wants his revenge to be perfect. For example, after Claudius ran away from the play (Hamlet), he could have kill Claudius while he was praying. But he didn't, he want to kill Claudius when he is committing sin and want his revenge to be perfect.
ReplyDeleteAt the beginning of the play, Hamlet was just faking his insanity. However, as the story progresses, Hamlet is moving toward real insanity. His desire for revenge drove him to madness, and he threw away a lot of stuff just for his revenge. For example, he neglected Ophelia and killed Polonius. His desire for revenge made his mad. At the end of the play, his "madness" is not longer fake.