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Replies | Post Reply | Shakespeare Queries From Genuinely Interested Students 4.2.97: Top | Help
There were times in the play that Hamlet's behavior would lead you to believe that he really was mad.
But, I think a different way to look at his behavior is manic-deppressive. (Harry Levin's "The Question of Hamlet" can help you with the manic-depressive theory, if you like it.
I believe it is Polonius who says the line that you are analyzing to Claudius and Gertrude.
It is ironic that he says that to the Claudius and Gertrude, when the king is the one who killed his brother for his wife and the throne.
Claudius' behavior is more strange than Hamlet's, but since he is able to hide it and Hamlet is not, he temporarily gets away with murder.
Also, Emily Dickinson wrote a poem about madness being in the eyes of the beholder. I don't remember the number of the poem, but it supports your
theory on madness being defined by the masses.Posted by SH on April 14, 1997 at 00:27:06
In Reply to ""Madness in great ones..."-What Shakespeare meant by this?" posted by Greg Huffman on April 10, 1997 at 21:08:29
Replies | Post Reply | Shakespeare Queries From Genuinely Interested Students 4.2.97: Top | Help