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Hamlet - Madness - Coggle Diagram

- - - - Ophelia attempts to give flowers away
      - Showalter claims this is evidence that her and Hamlet had pre-marital success, as Ophelia attempts to cling onto the freshness and purity that flowers symbolise, that she had before she was 'deflowered'
      - she is also shrouded in 'phantasical garlands' when she dies, as an attempt to cling onto the femininity that she lost when she sinned
      - Indeed, in this time it was essential that women keep their 'chaste treasure' as this made them valuable for marriage, with large dowries being paid for virgins
      - this is why Laertes claims that 'best safety lies in fear' as he wishes for his sister to stay innocent and uncorrupted
      - the loss of this caused Ophelia's madness, amplifying the importance of it at this time, as she considers herself without purpose anymore
- - - - however, Horatio says 'these are wild and whirling words, my lord'
        
        the use of alliteration and elongated 'w' sounds showcase his concern for Hamlet
        
        Horatio is Hamlet's closest friend, shown by the use of 'my lord' which implies great respect
        
        therefore he knew him closely and was able to notice the change in his behaviour, and believes his madness to be real
        
        this is scaffolded by the fact that 'wild' can be used as a synonym for 'mad' or 'insane'
        
        it has been said that Horatio acts as a voice of reason to contrast Hamlet's madness, and is in a sense his foil
        
        'Horatio is the harbinger of truth' (Mabillard)
      - such belief and concern is echoed by Ophelia
        
        she suggests he has been 'loosed out of hell'
        
        not only has she unknowingly pinpointed the cause of his antic disposition as the ghost, perhaps from hell
        
        she also expresses great concern, amplified by the hellish imagery which suggests a seriousness to her words
        
        it also implies there is danger and sin to come out of his madness, which is eventually proven right as one could suggest his madness leads to hers
        
        the religious imagery is repeated when Ophelia appeals to 'heaven and earth' to help Hamlet
        
        the use of religious imagery suggests that even the most powerful and authoritative forces cannot save hamlet, as his madness is certainly real
    - - this contemporary text details the symptoms of those suffering from madness
        
        he suggests they see 'fantastical apparitions', such as the ghost
        
        this may suggest why the ghost appeared to Hamlet, rather than the person who wronged him, Claudius, as this was the literary convention
        
        it also explains why Gertrude cannot see the ghost, as it is merely a representation of Hamlet's madness
        
        Bright also suggests that sufferers view their homes as a 'prison or dungeon' rather than a place of 'repose'
        
        this is reinforced by Hamlet's claim that 'Denmark is a prison, in which there are many confines, wards, and dungeons'
        
        the use of asyndeton here amplifies Hamlet's view of corruption in Denmark, but also how much this could be imagined by Hamlet, with the hyperbolic imagery scaffolding the view that he is mad
        
        Moreover, in this time prisons were merely used as holding cells to await execution, and so this comparison by Hamlet may simply show that he is fearful for his own life as he predicts the plot against him
        
        this could be viewed as a cause of his madness, as he recognises his vulnerability when he is exposed to the truth of the ghost, with the knowledge and the danger of it driving him mad
        
        this all suggests that Hamlet is really mad
        
        However, the Treatise also suggests that it is wrong to mock those who are truly mad, which could be evidence of Hamlet's craft, as he uses satire in his conversation with Polonius
        
        this suggests he is not truly mad, as he sees no problem in satirising his own condition, as it is fake
        
        Critics are unsure whether Shakespeare was familiar with this work, but it is clear he wanted to include elements of madness in Hamlet's character
        
        perhaps he did so to represent the effects of unnatural murder on a country, using the theory of body politic. After all, Hamlet is the closest figure to Claudius, and so would have been quickly and most severely effected by the disease and corruption that slowly permeated the state
        
        Alternatively, Shakespeare may have done this to make Hamlet's trustworthiness questionable, so that the audience was subjected to the same kind of mental torture that he was, as we do not know whether we can trust him, just as he does not know whether to trust the ghost
        
        in this sense, 'it is we who are Hamlet' (Hazlitt)