Introduction
In the play Hamlet written by William Shakespeare, he mostly explores the concept of madness. This concept is well depicted by the characters in the play, namely Hamlet and Ophelia; in addition, the concept is still depicted by other characters who are somehow related to Hamlet and Ophelia. Their madness appears to be so real to other people close to them that it causes them to behave in a manner that they would not behave in case Hamlet and Ophelia were sane (Avi, 23). For instance, Hamlet employs well-thought-out characterization, a prediction of forthcoming events that has everything to do with both of them going insane. The comparison of various characters to each other to both Hamlet and Ophelia exemplifies a duality in a manner that makes going insane is seen as real and at the same time seen as fake.
In an Elizabethan tale which is deemed as cruel and twisted, both Hamlet and Ophelia have the opposite of a love story. An instance of madness is depicted when both of them have unimaginable desires to be with each other in some way. In addition, the communication that goes on between them lacks any strong base for mutual respect to each other (Martin, 54). In other words, we can say that the perspective of the couple is skewed. In this play, Hamlet is the main character; therefore, the audience is blinded by the side of Hamlet on how he cares and protects Ophelia and forgets about how Ophelia also cares for Hamlet. Ophelia is seen as the desperate mistress who falls in love very easily. Ophelia thinks that Hamlet loves and cares for her while in the real sense, Hamlet does the opposite. Hamlet may want to protect Ophelia from being heartbroken by marrying him since he clearly knows and is aware that he is not a suitable husband for her in his very own eyes.
Madness Instinct
That instinct of wanting to marry Ophelia is driven by his state of madness. Hamlet believes that he is unreliable and at the same very indecisive, a state which significantly affects their relationship with Ophelia. “To be or not to be” in Act 3 Scene 1, Hamlet is not mad as a result of the love he has for Ophelia; his madness is the cause that prevents him from genuinely loving Ophelia. This form of madness can be said to be a form of emotional and mental manipulation. Hamlet does not like telling Ophelia the truth so as not to hurt her; instead, he lies to her for the purpose of getting her off his case (Avi, 45). If Hamlet really loved Ophelia, he would be with her for the entire period of their madness and taking her feelings heavily and into consideration.
Hamlet is driven further crazier by Ophelia for not taking her feelings into consideration as well as taking her love for granted. Hamlet still does not want to face and deal with his emotions. From Ophelia’s perspective, we can clearly see that she starts receiving this emotional manipulation of the heart. This makes her start acting strange an in an insanity manner. In reality, we can see that Hamlet is the cause of Ophelia descending into her state of madness. It is clear that Ophelia is romantically attracted to Hamlet because she is always yearning for his love and attention, but Hamlet is not concerned and rejects her love since he is busy mourning the death of his father. In secret, we see that Hamlet does love Ophelia, but he is easily consumed with rage and anger as a result of his father’s death. Ophelia starts spying on Hamlet and informs people of his strange behaviors, this annoys Hamlet and forces him to reject her with insults including asking her to join nunnery which was the slang for a brothel (Avi, 27).
There are various themes depicted in this play, including political conspiracies, religious theme, Familial relationships, revenge, madness and procrastination. By reading the play carefully, it is obvious that Hamlet is a political drama. Hamlet is dragged by his uncle Claudius in his political conspiracies. Claudius is determined to kill King Hamlet, who is Hamlet’s father and take the throne and in addition, marry Gertrude, who is Hamlet’s mother. Claudius is aware that Hamlet will avenge his father’s death and therefore decides to conspire with Lord Polonius in spying Hamlet. Polonius uses his daughter Ophelia to spy on Hamlet through falling in love with him; however, he banishes her from his life. The political conspiracies end with the deaths of Claudius, Gertrude, Laertes and Hamlet.
Religious Theme
In the religious theme, Prince Hamlet is depicted as a religious drama. Hamlet involves a series of incidents that prove theological interpretations. One of the incidents is the marriage that occurs between Gertrude and Claudius while according to Christian teachings, it is wrong to marry a brother’s wife. The second incident is the suicidal case. Prince Hamlet is depressed as a result of his father’s death but manages to control his impulses due to his Christian faith. At the end of the play, Hamlet hears the confession of Claudius as the man who killed Gonzago; therefore he halts the murder of Claudius since as a praying man, and he believes Claudius will ascend to heaven (Martin, 67).
Theme of Revenge
The theme of revenge depicts Hamlet as a revenge drama. The whole plot revolves around Hamlet exacting revenge from his uncle Claudius for killing his father. On the other hand, Laertes, who is Polonius, the son is ready to avenge his father’s death and that of his sister Ophelia. Another instance of revenge is depicted in the arrival of Fortinbras; this was because it is revealed in the play that Claudius had once attacked his people during the rule of his father.
Familial relationships is yet another theme depicted in this play. This theme runs parallel to the themes of political conspiracies and that of religious. King Hamlet has a son by the name Hamlet who is the nephew to Claudius and son to Gertrude, Gertrude is the wife of King Hamlet which makes her the Queen. Procrastination is another theme that takes troll in the play — Hamlet delays in taking revenge for his father’s death (Avi, 38). As a result of the delay, other deaths occur in the process, which includes the deaths of Polonius, Ophelia, Laertes and Gertrude. It is, however, of utmost importance to note that Hamlet delayed in avenging his father’s death because he wanted to seek the truth first. Hamlet did not want to kill Claudius without enough proof and evidence. Hamlet’s procrastination depicts his other traits like being intelligent, self-disciplined and an individual who takes control of situations at hand.
