Too Much Madness

This week in class we read the poem “Much Madness is Divinest Sense” by Emily Dickinson. The poem’s main message is having madness in life will keep one sane, while constant sanity will drive one mad. While reading this poem, people in our class could relate to going mad because we are at a very stressful, crucial, scary point in our lives. As we hit those big submit buttons and as we venture off into our next journeys, we will experience many new emotions. Currently, most people in our English class are experiencing madness. Whether that madness comes from trying to pass AP physics or tying to push our parents limits, we are all experiencing madness. Needless to say this madness does not make us mad, but rather as Emily Dickinson stated the assent to madness will help maintain sanity in your life. For if we did not have college applications, papers in English and struggles at home, our life would be far too boring and as Dickinson says, many people would be driven to madness by their sanity.

Likewise, this week’s poem can also be related to Hamlet. Many people think Hamlet has lost his mind completely and has already descended into madness. However, as we have seen recently, Claudius is truly the outlandish character and as seen through his outburst during “The Mousetrap,” he has become mad. Emily Dickinson was crazy as well and she defends the eccentric. She explains that if you accept your madness you will maintain sanity in your life, but if you shun it, your sanity will drive you crazed. Claudius shunned his madness and kept his secrets quiet, therefore his guilt and unfaithfulness lead him to madness.