Analysis of William Shakespeare’s Hamlet

Hamlet, in his fits of desperation and grief, drowns in the sea of his emotions. An already troubled mind, his downward spiral The poisoning of Hamlet’s mind, addressed in Pliny the Elder’s The History of the World, further Insanity is a “catch-all” term that encompasses all psychotic behaviors. Hamlet “was aware of the essential principles of logic and used them… excessively”, and through this excess of introspection, his madness begins to surface. He gets lost in cogitation, for it serves as a shelter from reality in his time of grief.

This very shelter, however, serves as the grounds in which a heavy rift is formed between Hamlet inconsistent thoughts speaking about his mother’s sudden marriage thoughts are inconsistent prior to ever considering the idea of feigning insanity The Ghost is the conglomeration of Hamlet’s fears and suspicions; it’s pale likeness a reflection of In Pliny the Elder’s “Natural History”, it is stated that the extract of “hebenon”, the poison used in the murder of King Hamlet, when poured “into the eares, is “ynough to trouble the braine. ” The impairment of understanding caused by this poison is telling of the impairment of Hamlet’s cognitive processes at the hands of. It solidifies the foundations of mistrust, reaffirming pre-existing notions of a betrayal at the throne, and consequently instills warped thoughts in the mind of Hamlet about all those under the command of his uncle. Hamlet’s deep seated reservations about those around him, heightened upon meeting the spirit of Hamlet Sr. , overcome his already weakened links with reality.

Hamlet’s psychosis causes him to delve deeper and deeper into irrational behaviors Polonius, afters he speaks to Hamlet, exclaims“Though this be madness/ yet there is method in ’t”, realising that despite the muddled speech, Hamlet still keeps some sort of structure in I. ii. 205-206). It is worth remarking the fact that “his psychosis was that of an intellectual, hypertrophy of that inner eye whose function it is to perceive meanings, relations and implication.