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/
