Monday, March 31, 2014

The Insanity Within: The Internal Conflicts of Hamlet and George Zimmerman

The Insanity Within: The Internal Battles of Hamlet and Zimmerman
            
                There’s a bit of insanity it everyone, Hamlet experiences it and Zimmerman let it get the best of him. There is no bigger struggle than the conflict that exists within you. Everyone deals with it, however some handle it better than others. Hamlet lets his insanity control him and it take him to dreadful places throughout the novel. George Zimmerman’s murder of Trayvon Martin is a good example of the dangers that come from this insanity. He was paranoid, he had an internal conflict, didn’t work it out and tragedy followed. The Trayvon Martin case helps illustrate what is expressed in Hamlet. Everyone is conflicted and when they fail to properly deal with it, insanity results, and often tragedy. 
                In Hamlet, there are multiple characters battling this internal conflict and throughout the play this insanity starts to creep its way into their heads. After Hamlet’s father dies he becomes hysterical and tries to avenge him. He is so deeply depressed and insane that he acts absurd and has wild thoughts running through his mind. “To be or not to be-that is the question” (III, I, 64) Hamlet’s famous line is him contemplating suicide. He has driven himself mad and is so deeply conflicted, He wants to avenge his father who was murdered by his uncle and at the same time he is depressed by his father’s death and his mom marrying his uncle. There is so much going on in our minds at all times and sometimes it drives us near the point of madness. Zimmerman was going through a similar conflict on how to deal with Trayvon Martin, sadly he let his paranoia get the best of him and pulled the trigger. “O, that this too, too sullied fish would melt, thaw, and resolve itself into a dew” (I,II, 133-134) This displays Hamlets early conflict with the death of his father and his mother’s remarriage to his uncle. This bothers him and this conflict plants the seeds of insanity.
             George Zimmerman had a defining moment of insanity. He was dealing with the situation, Trayvon was “causing trouble” and he didn’t know what to do. He was conflicted he called the police for back up but then let his suspicion and paranoia take over and took the matter into his own hands. He didn’t properly deal with the conflict and the end result was horrifying. In, The Trayvon Martin Case: A MultiMedia Timeline, Zimmerman says, “Shit, he’s running” at this point he is very concerned with this boy and is started to feel threatened. This is where he is really started to be conflicted on whether he should act or let the police handle it. Zimmerman says, “Help, help, someone help me!” At this point he was starting to panic and really was conflicted and had to start to consider drastic measures. He says Trayvon was fighting with him and when he felt so helpless and threatened, he fired. He was freaking out because he wasn’t sure what to do. Hamlet does this throughout the play and is driven insane by all of his conflicted emotions.
                Both Zimmerman and Hamlet experience the internal conflicts that everyone has, pushed to the extreme. Their back and forth mindset when dealing with these decisions pushes their sanity overboard. Hamlet is insane for a majority of the play. Zimmerman loses his sanity for a brief moment. Everyone has the capability of insanity; these big internal conflicts are what bring it out.
Link to Trayvon Martin Timeline:
http://www.usatoday.com/interactives/news/nation/trayvon-martin-zimmerman-case/