Is Hamlet Overreacting?
Coping with a death is one of the most personal parts of life. Everyone has a different reaction and channels their emotions in their own ways. Hamlet is dealing with a lot of internal struggles, indecisive about whether he should get revenge for his father, or accept the wrongdoing of his uncle and move on. This indecisiveness causes Hamlet to go into a "mad" state. I don't think Hamlet is overreacting to the death of his father, however his behavior is strange. It is hard to grasp how "mad" he has become when reading, but after watching Act II in class, it is clear he is not himself, and is acting childish in a way. Hamlet seems to go into a self-destructive state, ruining his relationships with Ophelia and his friends, because he does not know how to handle his emotions. This is very reflective of human nature as well, which definitely ties into one of Mack's main arguments in "Why Read Shakespeare." Although this behavior is strange and ...