Madness is one of the most pervasive themes in Shakespeare’s Hamlet. Although many characters in Hamlet could be considered as mad, Hamlet and Ophelia most notably characterize the true idea of madness based on consequential actions in this play. Their madness finds common ground and is driven by traumatic family dynamics. However, they each display their madness in different ways, which ultimately ends in tragedy.
Hamlet’s madness is fueled in his desire to avenge his father’s death. Ophelia’s madness is originated in her lack of identity and feeling of helplessness created by the men in her life. The readers experience unfamiliarity when Hamlet’s character fakes his madness which ultimately plunges him into deep artificial madness questioning his mental state.
The artificial madness causes him to be torn between taking revenge on Claudius and his own internal conflict. Developing a role between his conscious and unconscious mind, Hamlet comes to a conclusion stating, “My thoughts be bloody, or be nothing worth!” (Act 4, Scene 4) Bergler believes that Hamlet is mad, but not because he is contemplative, or incapable of a decisive action. Instead, Bergler claims that Hamlet simply cannot will himself to complete a task because he harbors an intense disgust towards the task given to him by his father’s ghost. His repugnance comes from an unconscious awareness of its source.
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Those opposed to the idea that Hamlet’s actions are unconsciously swayed may believe that his task to expose Claudius, Hamlet’s uncle, was rendered impossible due to external circumstances. Hamlet can be seen as a representation of the type of man whose power of direct action is paralyzed by an excessive development of his own intellect. In the play, the intensity is built upon Hamlet’s hesitation to fulfill his revenge.
This intensity is easily sensed in Hamlet’s soliloquy saying, “ Is sicklied o’er with the pale cast of thought, And enterprises of great pith and moment With this regard their currents turn awry, And lose the name of action.–Soft you now!”(3.1) Furthermore, the argument to claim that Hamlet is incapable of taking action can be deferred through two different occasions.
The readers can witness Hamlet’s capability to make quick, yet impulsive, decisions and actions in the separate settings. Hamlet can be seen to easily take action when he drives his sword through the eavesdropping Polonius behind the arras. The second occasion occurs when Hamlet tricks two advisers, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, in a trap of death that was originally planned for himself. These examples proves Hamlet’s ability to take action without any indecisive setbacks, which leads to the main question, why does Hamlet have trouble fulfilling the task of taking vengeance on the man who took his father’s life and place with his mother?”
Psychoanalysis is a series of theories and treatment techniques associated with unconscious psychology, which together constitutes a method of treating mental illness established by neuroscientist Sigmund Freud. Freud and psychoanalysis provides methods of reading sexuality and death in Hamlet. On the contrary, psychoanalysis helps the readers direct their focus towards the dramatization of the play based on the problem of unconscious and repressed desires, which leads to how desires work to relate with family relationships. This gives a deeper understanding to the motives behind the characters’ words and deeds. Hamlet’s actions can be connected to the treatment of psychoanalysis through the unconscious mind.
