Hamlet and madness in Shakespeare's tragedy

Hamlet

What causes Ophelia to go mad? Does Shakespeare portray Ophelia's real madness differently than Hamlet's feigned madness?

The factors that drive Ophelia towards madness and the way that Shakespeare presents this madness are important elements in the structure of the play. In one sense Ophelia's madness takes place as a direct result of Hamlet's feigned madness and also acts as a dramatic and philosophical contrast to his attempts to revenge his father's murder.

The main reason for the madness of Ophelia is the death of her father, Polonius, at the hands of Hamlet.

However, her descent into madness is also the result or rather a consequence of the way that Hamlet behaves towards her. In the play Hamlet has decided to pretend to be mad in order to gather proof that his uncle killed his father. He therefore has to stop his normal behavior and this includes his romance with Ophelia. He therefore begins to act towards her is a way that adds to the impression of madness that he wishes to project but which also begins to destroy her sense of reality. The final event that sends Ophelia into madness is when Hamlet kills Polonius.

Shakespeare uses the blatantly genuine and tragic madness of Ophelia as a foil or a contrast to the pretended madness of Hamlet. Therefore it follows that the way that Ophelia's madness is presented in the play differs to that of Hamlet's madness.

The preamble to Ophelia's madness lies in the apparent cruelty that hamlet shows towards her. He utters hurtful statements that deeply affect her sense of self-worth and her rational stability. For example he states that "...I loved you not." (III.i.119). "Get thee to a nunnery." (III.i.121) "... you jig, you amble, and you lisp, and nickname God's creatures, and make you wantonnes your ignorance. Go to, I'll no more on't;" (III.i.146-48)

All of these harsh statements cause Ophelia to edge closer to madness.

Throughout the play Shakespeare presents Ophelia as the symbol of innocence who is destroyed by the evil and harshness of the world; which has its origins in the murder of the King. We experience her slide towards insanity in terms of the terrible predicament of her situation. It is also tragically ironic that the real cause or her madness is the murder of Hamlet's father, which has also driven Hamlet towards madness for revenge. Once Ophelia find that the father has been murdered by Hamlet, this pushes her over the edge and she loses contact with reality. This is portrayed in the pathetic nonsensical songs that she sings, which suggests that her loss of faith in Hamlet and the murder of her father have destroyed her senses. "He is dead and gone, lady, he is dead and gone..." (IV.V.29-30).