The Complexity Of Vessity Insanity In William...

The word Renaissance means â€Å"rebirth† and is used to represent a period in which there was tremendous growth in literature, poetry, and drama. During that time, there were many great playwrights; one of them was William Shakespeare, who wrote different genres of play, such as comedy, tragedy, and histories. One of his famous tragedies play is Hamlet, which based on Prince Hamlet’s revengeful plan against his uncle, King Claudius. However, some critics question Hamlet’s insanity and they believe Hamlet is actually pretending to be insane. The purpose of this essay is to examine the extent to which the character, Hamlet, is insane. Despite different critics’ opinions regarding Hamlet’s insanity, it seems Hamlet is not insane at the beginning†¦show more content†¦He only feels grief and sorrow because his father’s death is too sudden that he does not know how to handle and response. Yet, the death of Hamlet’s father is one o f the factors that cause Hamlet to become insane. Hamlet’s mother marriage with King Claudius is another reason that indirectly contributes to Hamlet’s insanity. This is because Hamlet’s mother, Gertrude, marries to his father’s brother quickly after his father has just died. Hamlet simply thinks his mother’s remarriage to King Claudius is disgusting because it is incest and he thinks his mother has betrayed his father. According to Johnson Samuel, he argues it is necessary to evaluate character Gertrude in order to understand how her remarriage to Claudius eventually leads to his son madness (Johnson). First of all, one of the critics, Niamh J. O’ Leary, thinks Shakespeare depicts Gertrude as an independent woman who is able to make her own judgments and overcome panics. This is because when King’s Hamlet dies, it does not take Gertrude a long time to recover as she marries to his husband’s brother quickly. Moreover, Niamh argues Gertrude decides to marry King Claudius because she wants to protect his son. She needs to protect his son because she knows Claudius has murdered her husband (O’Learny). In the play, audiences can see Hamlet describes his mother, Gertrude as a disloyal woman who betrays her husband. It is this betrayal that causes Hamlet to become insane when he confronts his