Hamlet’s Cause Of Madness

King Claudius, who is Hamlet’s uncle, assumes the throne after the death of Hamlet’s father and marries Queen Gertrude, who is Hamlet’s mother and the widow to Hamlet’s father. The madness that Hamlet shows is very noticeable because he can’t seem to get over the actual death of his father and still wears black, nor the fact that his mother is married to Claudius. Claudius finally notices Hamlet who is standing in black robes of mourning for his father. He tells Hamlet that it is not normal for a man to mourn for such a long period of time. Queen Gertrude agre

Rosencrantz and Guildenstern tries to discover where Hamlet has hidden Polonius’s body but instead Hamlet refuses to answer. Ophelia then arrives upset about the death of her father. Horatio, Hamlet’s friend, tries to care for her and asks Gertrude for help but Claudius and Gertrude orders him to keep an eye on her. Laertes returns from France intending on killing the murderer of his father and Claudius explained to him that Hamlet murdered his father and he was sent to England so there wasn’t anyone there to kill. (Uskalis2)

When Hamlet returns he and Horatio came across two gravediggers digging a fresh grave. Hamlet watches as the man tosses up the remaining skulls and runs and hide when he sees Laertes, Claudius and Gertrude arrive with Ophelia’s coffin. When the coffin is placed in the ground, the priest refuses to say any prayers for Ophelia because she committed suicide and did not die by natural death. Laertes argues with the priest and jumps into the grave in grief. When Hamlet realizes that it was Ophelia who was dead and being buried he comes out from his hiding place and jumps in the grave with Ophelia’s coffin and Laertes. Laertes then grabbed Hamlet around the neck, but Claudius ordered other men to separate them. When they returned back to the castle Hamlet told Horatio that before he got of the ship he stole letters that Claudius had given to Rosencrantz and Guildenstern. The letters were asking the English king to kill Hamlet which made Hamlet very angry and betrayed, so Hamlet decided to write new letters in place of the old ones asking the English king to kill Rosencrantz and Guildenstern which were the messengers. (Prosser8)

The ghost of Hamlet’s father appears and tells hamlet that it is now time to seek revenge against King Claudius. Hamlet asks his mother to stop sharing Claudius’ bed and demands her to go inform Claudius about the death of Polonius, he leaves the room dragging behind him the body of Polonius. Gertrude is now even more convinced that her son has gone mad and tells the king about the death of Polonius. The king now knows for a fact that he was suppose to be Hamlet’s target and not Polonius (Prosser3).

Claudius received a letter from Hamlet telling him that he would soon return to Denmark once again. Claudius began to plot a way to kill Hamlet by arranging a fight between Hamlet and Laertes. Laertes plans to put poisonous on the tip of his sword so if he cuts Hamlet it would kill him, and Claudius plans to put poison wine in a cup and give to Hamlet just in case the poisonous from the sword didn’t kill him. While making plans to kill Hamlet Gertrude enters the room and tells them that Ophelia went mad because of the death of her father and killed herself. (Prosser7)

Hamlet is confused about whether to believe the ghost or not. Hamlet decided to pretend to be mad in order to fool Claudius and Gertrude long enough to know whether Claudius really killed his father or not. (Stanley3)

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