Hamlet's State of Mind
English Lit: OCR A Level - Hamlet, topic 3.1.3
Hamlet's Emotion & State of Mind
We first see Hamlet in A1S2 as a gloomy, brooding figure incapable of hiding his feelings of grief and resentment.
Hamlet's disgust & melancholy
- Hamlet is disgusted by his mother’s decision to remarry and the sarcastic responses he gives to Claudius (e.g. in the pun that he is “too much in the sun”) shows nothing but contempt for his stepfather.
- His first soliloquy reveals his suicidal feelings and, deep into the play, he suffers from what he describes as “melancholy”.
Hamlet's view of women
- To the very end, Hamlet is unable to reconcile himself with his mother’s remarriage. This colours his attitude to all women in the play.
- Hamlet is sickened by the sexuality of women (what John Dover Wilson termed as his ‘sex-nausea’) and many critics see a powerful misogynistic strain to his abuse of Ophelia, Gertrude and womanhood in general.
- He criticises them for what he sees as their lustfulness and propensity to deceive.
Critics on Hamlet's 'madness'
- Hamlet’s madness is another point of fierce debate.
- Critics have long argued the extent to which Hamlet’s behaviour is simply a performance of feigned madness (his “antic disposition”) or if it is symptomatic of a mind poisoned by knowledge of his father’s murder, his mother’s incest and the Ghost’s call for revenge.
Hamlet's view of "madness"
- Hamlet himself blames his “madness” for his wrongs towards Laertes.
- As a result, many critics debate where Hamlet’s “antic disposition” ends and his genuine “madness” begins.
Test yourself on Hamlet's State of Mind
What is Hamlet like when we first meet him in A1S2?