Psychological Deterioration and Madness in Shakespeare's Hamlet

Introduction: Madness as Central Theme

The psychological deterioration of the title character is the cornerstone of Shakespeare's Hamlet. Consumed by a desire for revenge, Hamlet loses his already tenuous grip on reality. Starting the play with a scene in which Hamlet sees a ghost, Shakespeare shows that Hamlet might not have been psychologically stable to begin with. The emotional strain of losing his father at the hands of his uncle, and losing the love and respect of his mother, might have been too much for the delicate prince to handle. Coupled with Hamlet's inability to sincerely court Ophelia, his emotions related to his family issues eat away at him until he behaves in criminal ways. The madness of Hamlet is a central theme of the play, naturally contributing to the essential meaning of the work as a whole. As he succumbs to madness, Hamlet becomes a classical tragic hero.

Hamlet's devolution from a seemingly rational heir-apparent to a totally irrational man begins with his seeing the ghost of his father. Madness is presented as the antithesis to reason. Horatio advises Hamlet to not allow himself to be too lured by the message of the ghost or too tempted on the quest for revenge, lest the "toys of desperation...draw you into madness" (I, I, 707). Horatio's metaphor of descent into the sea parallels the descent of Hamlet into the pits of despair that torment him and cloud his judgment.

The Descent into Madness: Imagery and Context

The imagery of "descent" into madness is again used by Polonius: "Thence to a lightness, and, by this declension, into the madness wherein now he raves" (II, ii, 1248). The play itself is character-driven, its primary theme the knowledge that obsessive desire for revenge can lead to the disintegration of reason. This recurring imagery of downward motion reinforces the play's central concern with mental and moral collapse.

Yet at first, Hamlet's desire to take revenge on Claudius is understandable, and audiences easily sympathize with the hero because of the righteousness of his cause. His initial determination to exact revenge seems like a perfectly rational response to the death of his father, even if prompted by an irrational event: the sighting of a supernatural creature. The audience soon learns that the ghost speaks the truth, and that Hamlet is certainly justified in ensuring justice for Claudius.

Initial Sympathy and Justified Revenge

Because Hamlet does not seem motivated by his own personal quest for power, the audience feels doubly sympathetic. Hamlet's desire to avenge his father's death stems more from a sense of moral righteousness than from lust for the throne. This ethical foundation makes his initial actions appear reasonable and even necessary given the circumstances.

The psychological deterioration of Hamlet is mainly witnessed and described by others. Hamlet does not reach awareness of his condition on his own until the end of the play, when he reaches rock bottom, first dealing with the death of Ophelia and later facing his own death. Yet the audience is prompted to view Hamlet's growing obsession with revenge as a form of mental illness.

External Observations of Mental Deterioration

Polonius at one point tells Claudius, "Your noble son is mad. Mad call I it, to define true madness. What is't but to be nothing else but mad?" (II, ii, 1187). Throughout Act II, scene ii, Polonius calls Hamlet "mad," both behind his back and to his face. At this point in the play, Hamlet does not perceive himself as mad, only justified. Hamlet remains perched on the brink of regaining his sanity when he is exiled, and tricks Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, who call Hamlet's behavior a type of "crafty madness" (III, I, 1690). A truly insane person cannot make the type of clever mental machinations Rosencrantz and Guildenstern have witnessed. Thus, the audience does not yet know that Hamlet's mental state has completely deteriorated.

Even after Hamlet accidentally kills Polonius, the notion that he is insane seems preposterous because he is still motivated by the same sense of justice and truth-seeking. Hamlet cannot avail himself of the court system to prosecute his uncle. Not only is his uncle the King and fairly immune from prosecution, but also Hamlet's only witness is a ghost. Taking matters into his own hands would have been historically and culturally appropriate under the circumstances.

However, Hamlet's getting Rosencrantz and Guildenstern killed in order to save himself does seem like crossing the line. At this stage in the play, Hamlet has made a clearly immoral decision. His sanity is being called into question as Hamlet allows his emotions to get the better of him.

Moral Ambiguity and Comparative Madness

Yet Hamlet is being continually contrasted with the coldness of the King. Whereas Hamlet's emotions are volatile, his behavior unpredictable and hasty, the King is calculating and fully psychopathic. Ironically, it is Hamlet that comes across as being the "mad" one, not Claudius, who killed his brother in order to gain power. In one of the more ironic lines of the play, Claudius states, "Madness in great ones must not unwatched grow" (III, I, 1880).

Claudius's actions can be deemed more genuinely mad than Hamlet's because Claudius feels no remorse. Like a true sociopath, he cannot feel guilt, but Hamlet certainly does. Hamlet is described as being "mad" because of his emotional state, which is actually a reasonable and natural response to the trauma he has endured. The play thus raises a profound question: is madness defined by irrational behavior, or by the absence of moral feeling?