The Tragedies Of
Shakespeare
20 December, 1996
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"Your noble son is mad -
'Mad' call I it, for to define true
madness,
What is't but to be nothing else but
mad?"
(Wells and
Taylor, 665)
In Act two, scene two of William Shakespeare's
play Hamlet, Polonius uses these words to inform Hamlet's parents of their
son's insanity. He then continues on, telling Gertrude and Claudius that the
cause of this madness is lovesickness over his own daughter Ophelia (665). From the privileged perspective of the
audience, we know that Polonius is mistaken and that Hamlet is far from insane,
but rather, "playing mad" for a purpose of his own. Madness in
Shakespearean plays, and in tragedies in particular, is rarely what it seems on
the surface. Instead, both madness and the characters experiencing it are
layered with meaning; like an onion, layer after layer can be peeled off,
eventually allowing a glimpse at the core concealed within.
Shakespeare's treatment of the character Hamlet
is typically multi-faceted and complex-Hamlet appears insane, ostensibly over
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Ophelia, however,
his madness is feigned-a cover for
internal conflicts, rooted not in thwarted affection, but rather in desire to
avenge his father's murder. Hamlet even goes so far as to say his apparent
madness is an act when he says "I am but mad north-north-west; when the
wind is southerly, I know a hawk from a handsaw"(667).
Shakespeare often used madness, either feigned
or actual, as a teaching tool or vehicle to advance his plot. Sometimes this madness was feigned, as
evidenced by Hamlet and Edgar (the legitimate son of Gloucester in The Tragedy
of King Lear), but other times it was genuine insanity. Ophelia and Lady MacBeth are obvious examples
of Shakespearean characters that have slipped into madness-Ophelia due to the
loss of all those dear to her, and Lady MacBeth from guilt over the part she
played in King Duncan's murder. In Hamlet, Ophelia's madness ultimately leads to her demise, and
this, in turn, plays a part in Hamlet's willingness to engage in what will be
his final battle. In this sense, it helps advance the play towards its climax.
While Lady MacBeth's madness also leads to
death, its focus is more on teaching than propelling the story to conclusion.
While Lady MacBeth is initially seen as a cold, conscienceless, calculating
woman,
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intent on
advancing her husband politically (by any means necessary), her character changes as the play progresses.
Early on in the play, she is full of ambition; indeed, upon reading MacBeth's
letter, she complains about his nature and inaction:
Yet do I fear thy nature,
It is too full o' th' milk of human
kindness
To catch the nearest way. Thou wouldst be
great,
Art not without ambition, but without
The illness should attend it. What thou wouldst highly,
That wouldst thou holily; wouldst not
play false,
And yet wouldst wrongly win. (980)
The social and
moral lesson here isn't difficult to get: too much ambition leads to downfall,
either through enemies or through one's own conscience. Lady MacBeth's descent into guilt and
subsequent madness illustrates this well.
King Lear, yet another Shakespearean character
that goes mad, also dies at the end of his play, however, he differs from Lady
MacBeth and Ophelia in that it is heartbreak that causes his death, rather than
suicide. Lear further differs in that he,
unlike Ophelia and Lady
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MacBeth, regains
his sanity in the course of the play.
Unlike either of them, his madness is a catalyst for self
realization-emotional growth and personal insight hitherto undeveloped. The very privilege of his position as king
had sheltered him from the real world around him, and stunted any growth that
might have normally occurred. In his
case, madness served a positive function rather than a destructive one. I believe it also served to protect him,
psychologically if not physically, from the horrors going on around him-at
least until he was capable of dealing with them.
These instances of actual madness differ
markedly from characters such as Hamlet and Edgar, both of whom use madness as
a cover to suit their own purposes.
Hamlet, mentioned earlier, affects madness as a ploy to distract those
around him from his true intent, namely, avenging his father's murder by
killing Claudius. Edgar's motives, on
the other hand, are different; by playing the part of a bedlam beggar, he hopes
to camouflage himself, and thus preserve
his life from the fratricidal impulses of his half brother, Edmond (955).
The madness of these characters is presented in
different ways: Ophelia wanders about, singing bits of bawdy songs and making
such
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irrelevant and
nonsensical statements as "They say the owl was a baker's daughter. Lord, we know what we are, but not what we
may be." (679), while Hamlet dresses crazily and plays with Polonius'
mind, initially greeting him as a fishmonger (665), and later spouting insane
sounding, yet carefully chosen pointed comments. Polonius indeed, thinks Hamlet mad, yet at
the same time, notices the barbs in his speech: "Yet he knew me not at first,
. .
. [he] is far gone, far gone. . . Though this be madness, yet there is method
in't. .
. How pregnant sometimes his replies are!" (666).
Lear's temporary insanity manifests itself in
odd behavior-speaking to dogs not present in the room ("Tray, Blanche, and
Sweetheart-see, they bark at me." (962)), wandering about in the woods
fending for himself, and making flower
garlands. While this behavior is utterly
uncharacteristic of a dignified elderly king, it is this release, the freedom
to fend for himself, that allows Lear to finally attain self knowledge.
Edgar, having narrowly escaped the hunting
parties sent out after him, realizes that as long as he is himself, he will
never be safe.
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To that end, he
decides to affect the costume and demeanor of a bedlam beggar (thus escaping
detection and almost certain death), saying:
"I will
preserve myself, and . . . [will] take the basest and poorest shape
that ever penury in contempt of man
Brought near to
beast. My face I'll grime with filth,
Blanket my loins,
elf all my hairs in knots,
And with
presented nakedness outface the winds and persecutions of the sky." (955)
He noted that
bedlam beggars throughout the country have provided him precedent, being
generally left alone by townspeople, though sometime pelted and driven out
of town by those same people. All in all, it was a small price to pay for
the preservation of his life.
Lady Macbeth's madness, almost not a true
madness, like those of Ophelia and Lear, but rather a nervous breakdown caused
by guilt, manifests mainly in sleepwalking before ultimately ending with her
suicide. She wanders the hallways at
night, muttering "Out, damn'd spot; out, I say. .
. . The Thane of Fife had a wife.
Where is she now?
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What, will these
hands ne'er be clean?" (996). She
further sees visions during the day, never at peace, starting at the least
little thing. Eventually, she succumbs
to the internal torments and commits suicide by leaping from a building.
Whether real or feigned, irrespective of the
manifestation, all of these instances of madness serve a purpose greater than
merely being madness for the sake of madness.
Each of these characters teaches us something, or, through their own
actions, causes us to look inside ourselves for some insight. Victorian audiences expected as much, and the
lessons and insights are, for the most part, as valid today as they were when
Shakespeare first put pen to paper.
Of the various devices Shakespeare used to
convey these messages, madness is one of the more effective. All these years later, Ophelia's death still
wrings a tear, causing us to fume at it's futility. Lady MacBeth's suicide still seems a fitting
punishment for her actions, while Lear's derangement, though temporary,
poignantly draws our attention to the pointlessness and heartbreak of family feuds.
Somehow, the great speeches made by other characters to rally troops
(e.g., the St. Crispin day speech by Henry V) just don't have the
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same visceral
impact as seeing a once strong character in the grips of insanity.
Often, Shakespeare uses the psychological
aspect of this to advantage not only on the audience, but on other characters within the play itself. Gertrude, for example, perhaps more open to
Hamlet's words out of pity for his madness, shows remorse for her actions:
"Thou turn'st mine eyes into my very soul, And there I see such black and
grained spots As will not leave their tinct" (676).
Shakespeare was masterful when it came to tying
strands of the plot together using insanity.
Edgar's "Poor Tom" act not only preserved his life, but in
doing so, it allowed him to right some
of the wrongs caused by Edmond.
Gloucester would not have been open to Edgar's care after being blinded,
but he was grateful to accept the company and guidance of "Tom". As "Tom", Edgar was able to not
only prevent his father's attempted suicide, but to snap him out of the despair
and self pity he was trapped in (966).
Furthermore, the persona of "Poor Tom" allowed Edgar to be alive to duel with Edmond at the
very end of the play. Edmond admits his
wrongs ("What you have charged me with,
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that have I done,
And more much more." (972)), and attempts to stop Cordelia's hanging before he dies.
Ophelia's drowning, a tragedy that would likely
not have occurred had she not gone mad, deeply affected both Hamlet and
Laertes, causing them both to be eager to duel when a duel was proposed. This very duel was to conclude with Hamlet
finally taking action and avenging his father's murder.
In turn, Claudius would likely have been more
suspicious of Hamlet and have attempted to murder him more quickly than he did
had he not felt pity for Hamlet's evident madness. Thus, several strands of the story are interwoven,
all leading to the climactic death scene that ends the tragedy.
In short, madness in Shakespeare, particularly
in Shakespearean tragedy, is never what it appeared to be on the surface. It is always a vital aspect of the plot,
interwoven throughout, having layer upon layer of meaning. Polonius was uncannily accurate when he stated
of Hamlet "Though this be madness, .
. . there is method in't";
on a broader scope, that very sentiment can be applied to all of Shakespeare's
applications of madness, and not just to the character Hamlet. There is a method
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and a meaning for
every incidence of insanity, and indeed, often more than one. Insights we might glean from an examination
of these meanings are among Shakespeare's lasting gifts to us, even many
hundreds of years later. This is a
profound gift, and one to be treasured.
Work Cited
Wells and
Taylor. William Shakespeare The Complete
Works.
New York: Oxford University Press, 1988.
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