Revenge and Madness in Shakespeare's Hamlet: Identity Lost

Introduction: The Insanity Defense and Displacement of Identity

Even in contemporary society, there are certain crimes for which an individual does not receive punishment because he or she was insane at the time of the offense. The insanity defense holds that because the defendant was not truly him- or herself, he or she cannot be held responsible for the actions that transpired. Madness implies a kind of displacement of identity — the madness, not the perpetrator, is to blame.

This idea is reinforced at the end of the tragedy that bears his name, when Prince Hamlet says to Laertes, the man whom he has wronged — albeit accidentally — by killing Laertes' father Polonius:

Was't Hamlet wrong'd Laertes? Never Hamlet:
If Hamlet from himself be ta'en away,
And when he's not himself does wrong Laertes,
Then Hamlet does it not, Hamlet denies it.
Who does it, then? His madness: if't be so,
Hamlet is of the faction that is wrong'd;
His madness is poor Hamlet's enemy (V.2).

Hamlet's Madness: Real or Performed?

To paraphrase: I was not myself when I killed your father; it was my madness that "did it," and therefore you should not take revenge upon me. Because Hamlet claims he was mad when he mistook Polonius for a rat and stabbed him behind the arras, he disavows responsibility for his actions — and thus negates Laertes' obligation to enact vengeance for his father. However, in the Elizabethan era, to be an avenger was to take on a new identity at the expense of one's old identity. To be an avenger was a necessary but not a pleasant task — to become a kind of scourge of God (Pennington 23). Thus madness and vengeance are closely allied, and throughout the play it is difficult to determine how responsible Hamlet is for any of his actions: from killing Polonius, to his mistreatment of Ophelia, to his use of cruel and disrespectful words directed at his mother and at Claudius.

The events surrounding the murder of Polonius do suggest that Hamlet was in an unbalanced state, particularly because of his reaction to the second appearance of his father's ghost. The ghost is not visible to his mother Gertrude, suggesting that Hamlet may be hallucinating. Hamlet seems to have killed the old man in a state of passion, apparently having mistaken him for Claudius. Hamlet clearly feels remorse for his action, even though he had called Polonius an old fool and made jokes about worms eating his corpse. When he and Laertes fight during Ophelia's funeral, Hamlet later observes to his friend Horatio: "That to Laertes I forgot myself; / for, by the image of my cause, I see / the portraiture of his." He adds that "the bravery of his grief did put me / Into a towering passion" (V.2).

This suggestion that Hamlet's madness was real contradicts what Hamlet says earlier in the play. After first seeing his father's ghost, Hamlet claims he will put on a simulation of madness as a kind of protection for his vengeful aims — or to conceal his unbalanced state of mind, or to enable him to critique his stepfather Claudius even more vociferously: "As I perchance hereafter shall think meet / to put an antic disposition on" (I.5). However, although this madness is supposed to be assumed, Hamlet does not eagerly embrace the shift in identity from ordinary man to scourge of God, and this reluctance seems to truly unbalance his mind: "The time is out of joint: O, cursed spite, / That ever I was born to set it right!" (I.5).

Vengeance as Identity: Becoming the Avenger

By becoming both an avenger and a madman, Hamlet has become "not himself." To act in a murderous, vengeful way that is contrary to his true nature, and to assume madness, creates madness. At first, Hamlet suggests that vengefulness in a corrupt court is a kind of sanity when he vows to put on an antic disposition. Yet as the play progresses, he acts in ways increasingly contrary to his moral nature: he rebukes his mother against the ghost's first injunction not to harm her and to leave her to her conscience; he kills Polonius on impulse after sparing Claudius at prayer; he speaks harshly to Ophelia beyond what she deserved when he suspects he is being observed; and he claims to her brother that he loved Ophelia more than a brother ever could.

Both madness and the nature of vengeance, then, displace the individual's true identity and spur him or her toward uncharacteristic actions. When Hamlet tries to assume madness, his first act is to behave strangely toward Ophelia, causing her to run to her father. Yet even without assuming madness, he speaks still more cruelly to her after musing on the likely absence of a heaven in his "To be or not to be" speech — one of the most celebrated passages in all of Shakespearean tragedy.

Conclusion: Madness, Revenge, and the Loss of Self

The association between madness and revenge in Hamlet suggests that both forces displace the individual's true identity and spur him or her on to uncharacteristic actions. Shakespeare uses this interplay not merely as a dramatic device but as a profound psychological insight: to commit oneself to revenge in a corrupt world is, in itself, a kind of madness, and to feign madness is to risk making it real. This theme resonates across all the major characters of the play, from Hamlet himself to Laertes, Claudius, and the tragically genuine madness of Ophelia, giving the tragedy a thematic coherence that continues to compel audiences and scholars alike.