Is Hamlet Truly Insane? Jealousy, Revenge, and Tragic Heroism

One of the most enduring questions surrounding Hamlet by William Shakespeare is whether its protagonist is truly insane. Hamlet is a deceptively simple character whose insatiable need for vengeance makes him appear insane to the casual reader, but in reality he is not insane — he is simply consumed by jealousy and the desire for revenge, and these qualities color his life and the lives of those around him. This makes Hamlet the consummate tragic hero, whose actions lead to his own downfall and the downfall of those closest to him.

Hamlet is a tragic hero because his actions lead to his downfall and the downfall of many around him. He recognizes that he has character flaws that will ultimately drive him toward jealousy, despair, and death. He notes: "I am very proud, revengeful, ambitious, with more offences at my beck than I have thoughts to put them in, imagination to give them shape, or time to act them in. What should such fellows as I do crawling between heaven and earth?" (Shakespeare 2049). Hamlet recognizes his own flaws, yet he is powerless to overcome them, and so he self-destructs by the end of the play, taking many other characters with him.

Tragic heroes also exhibit characteristics that endear themselves to the audience, and Hamlet has many of these. Anyone who has suddenly lost a family member can understand Hamlet's grief at his father's death and his mother's swift remarriage. He laments: "But two months dead! — nay, not so much, not two: / So excellent a king; that was, to this" (Shakespeare 2013). Immediately, he captures the audience's sympathy, and it is clear that Hamlet is suffering deeply. His emotional state may be fragile, but he is not insane — unless one means insane with grief and woe.

In addition, Hamlet is a victim of circumstance, which makes him still more sympathetic. He could not have anticipated or prevented his father's murder. Because he could not stop fate, his downfall arises not from the events themselves but from his reaction to them. He is clearly not an evil man; he is simply a man reacting to circumstances he cannot control, and jealousy is one of his most dangerous reactions.

This play is saturated with jealousy and betrayal. Queen Gertrude has waited less than a month to marry the new king — the murderer of Hamlet's father — and Hamlet's overwhelming jealousy over this drives him toward murder, deceit, and revenge. Gertrude herself understands the danger of jealousy and guilt: "So full of artless jealousy is guilt, / It spills itself in fearing to be spilt" (Shakespeare 2076). To make things worse, Gertrude appears happy in her new marriage, which Hamlet finds even more difficult to accept.

His distress at his mother's actions leads him to distrust his love for Ophelia, and this too is a tragic flaw in his character. He is jealous, guilty over his jealousy, and he takes his unhappiness out on those closest to him. Just because his mother betrayed his father does not mean that all women are untrustworthy, but Hamlet cannot make that distinction. As a result, he ruins Ophelia's life by murdering her father, an act that leads directly to her suicide. Blinded by jealousy, Hamlet destroys the lives of others and ultimately himself. His reactions are emotional rather than reasoned, and he allows his feelings to override his common sense.

He rants at Ophelia: "Get thee to a nunnery. Why, wouldst thou be a breeder of sinners? I am myself indifferent honest, but yet I could accuse me of such things that it were better my mother had not borne me" (Shakespeare 2049). He is weak and emotional, vengeful and jealous — but none of these qualities makes him mad, even though many of the other characters come to believe that Hamlet is losing his senses.

By the end of the play, Hamlet's actions cause those around him to become convinced of his depravity. Queen Gertrude laments, "Alas he's mad!" (Shakespeare 2066) after one of his outbursts following an encounter with his father's ghost, and others throughout the play begin to question his mental state as he plots against his uncle, the new king. It is easy to see why they think Hamlet has gone beyond reason — his actions are frightening and seem unbalanced. He murders Ophelia's father by accident, an act that causes her suicide; he sees and speaks to a ghost; and he delivers a famous soliloquy to the skull of Yorick, his father's jester:

"Alas, poor Yorick. I knew him, Horatio, a fellow of infinite jest, of most excellent fancy. He hath borne me on his back a thousand times. And now how abhorred in my imagination it is! My gorge rises at it. Here hung those lips that I have kissed I know not how oft. Where be your gibes now, your gambols, your songs, your flashes of merriment that were wont to set the table on a roar?" (Shakespeare 2091).

Hamlet certainly gives those around him ample reason to believe he is mad, and perhaps that is the only way they can rationalize his behavior. However, it is quite clear that Hamlet is not mad. He is simply a victim of circumstance and of his own emotions. He is not in control of his life — his emotions are controlling him — and one of the most damning of those emotions is his hunger for vengeance against those who murdered his father. The ghost of Hamlet's father serves as the catalyst that transforms his grief into a consuming obsession.