1. Shakespearean Criticism: Madness in Hamlet

Main Points:

• Madness in Hamlet serves as both a plot device and a reflection of psychological states.
• Shakespeare uses Hamlet’s madness as a way to explore deep existential questions, especially concerning death and truth.
• Ophelia’s madness is often contrasted with Hamlet’s feigned madness, representing true mental breakdown as a response to societal and familial pressures.

Evidence:

• Hamlet’s use of madness as a guise to explore the true nature of his father’s death (Act 1, Scene 5).
• Ophelia’s madness, by contrast, reflects a more tragic and emotional descent, particularly influenced by the loss of her father (Act 4, Scene 5).

Citation:

• Shakespearean Criticism, Volume 10, Gale Publishing

Elaine Showalter - "Representing Ophelia: Women, Madness, and the Responsibilities of Feminist Criticism" (1985)

Main Points:

• Showalter argues that Ophelia’s madness has been interpreted through the lens of gendered madness—symbolizing women’s silence and oppression in patriarchal society.
• While Hamlet’s madness is given intellectual weight, Ophelia’s is dismissed as purely emotional and irrational.
• Showalter emphasizes that Ophelia’s madness reflects the limited roles available to women in Elizabethan society.

Evidence:

• Showalter discusses the visual and symbolic representations of Ophelia’s madness, particularly in Act 4, Scene 5, where her fragmented songs and gestures represent societal views of female madness.
• The use of flowers and natural imagery in Ophelia’s breakdown is linked to historical medical discourse on female hysteria.

Citation: