Madness Flashcards
Ophelia retells to her father , Polonius a first hand account of Hamlets madness
“My lord, as I was sewing in my closet,
Lord Hamlet, with his doublet all unbraced;
No hat upon his head; his stockings foul’d,
Ungarter’d, and down-gyved to his ancle;
Pale as his shirt; his knees knocking each other;
And with a look so piteous in purport
As if he had been loosed out of hell
To speak of horrors,—he comes before me.”
throughout play Ghost suggests insanity. many Elizabethans thought that those who suffered from melancholy were at risk for experiencing hallucinations (thought to have been caused by too much “black bile” in the body). This could leave them vulnerable to the devil’s power and deception.
“The spirit that I have seen
May be the devil: and the devil hath power
To assume a pleasing shape; yea, and perhaps
Out of my weakness and my melancholy,
As he is very potent with such spirits,
Abuses me to damn me: “
Polonius believes Hamlets love for Ophelia is ‘far gone’. hamlets mocks polonius in calling him a fishmonger , a antic
“He knew me not at first; he said I
was a fishmonger: he is far gone, far gone: and
truly in my youth I suffered much extremity for
love; very near this. “
Hamlet admits he still has his wits about him to Rosencratz and Guilderstern , knows they are spying on him
“I am but mad north-north-west: when the wind is
southerly I know a hawk from a handsaw. “
Ophelias mental deterioration
”[…] poor Ophelia
Divided from herself and her fair judgment,
Without the which we are pictures, or mere beasts: “
Royal court is seriously concerned with the ramblings of Ophelia
“Follow her close; give her good watch,
I pray you.”
A suggestion that Ophelias babbling’ s of her fathers murder have serious political implications
“for she may strew / Dangerous conjectures in ill-breeding minds”
