Hamlet

During Shakespeare's play Hamlet, the main character Hamlet has to deal with the responsibility of revenging his father's murder. He learns of his tragic death when the ghost of King Hamlet comes to him and tells him the truth of his murder: he was killed by his brother Claudius, for his crown and his wife. Hamlet decides that the best plan of action is to fake madness to attain his father's vengeance by murdering Claudius. As the play develops, Hamlets act of being a madman becomes more and more believable, and his friends and family react as you'd expect someone who is discovering that their loved one is slowly turning insane would. As we read the play and begin to understand Hamlet's mentality, his inner thoughts, and the reasons for his actions, it becomes clear to the reader that Hamlet is, in fact, totally and healthily sane. It becomes evident that he is simply simulating insanity so that it is easier to fulfill his duties to his father, and that Claudius's murder doesn't rest so guiltily on his conscience.

Hamlet only feigns madness because it allows him to do and say things that he otherwise could not say without severe repercussions and suspicion being held against him. It also prevents people from blaming him for his ridiculous antics, and from taking him seriously. We first see Hamlet's initial plan of faking insanity falling into place when he is talking to Horatio and Marcellus, telling them not to comment to anyone about his "antic disposition (Shakespeare, 75)." Hamlet's supposed madness allows him to talk to his friends, family, and especially to Ophelia in a manner that is totally unsuitable for a human being to act, especially a prince. He is completely disrespectful and insulting in his remarks, and although his antic disposition backfires while he is talking to his mother, it allows him to severely reprimand her actions and criticize her for her disloyalty to her deceased husband because Gertrude thinks he is insane. She therefore is very passive in her response to Hamlet, being very dismissive of his actions and harsh words because of his supposed insanity.

Throughout the play, Hamlet also makes some very sexually inappropriate remarks to Ophelia such as "That's a fair thought to lie between a maids` legs (Shakespeare, 157)." He can inappropriately vent his anger toward Ophelia for her abandonment in any way he pleases, being emotionally, verbally, and at times almost physically abusive towards her. In another scene but in a similar scenario, he is able to tell Polonius his true feelings because of this mask of madness. When Polonius decides to "take leave" of Hamlet, Hamlet replies with "You cannot, take from me anything that I will more willingly part withal (Shakespeare, 157)." Also, it seems Hamlet is using his insanity as an excuse, and definitely and apology, when he is speaking to Laertes of the murder of his father Polonius which was committed by Hamlet himself. This is where we need to take into consideration the conditions of being mad; would a madman realize his predicament, realize that he was, in fact, mad and unable to control his actions? If it wasn't for his madness Hamlet would be reprimanded, punished, perhaps even killed rather than pitied for his crimes. His master plan to maintain the appearance of a man gone insane is ingenious, and the veritable fact is that the amazing portrayal of a madman that he completes, the amazing show of insanity that he puts on just makes him more ingenious, not more

insane.

However, Hamlet acts perfectly sane when it is not necessary or beneficial for

him to act otherwise. He says "Give him heedful note, for I mine eyes will rivet his face, and, after, we will both our judgments join in censure of his seeming (Shakespeare, 155)," when he is discussing watching Claudius for signs of guilt during the play with Horatio. His words spoken to Horatio were most definitely the words of a sane man. Horatio, being his best friend and seemingly one of the few people that Hamlet actually trusts, is the only character in the play to whom Hamlet does not need to prove his insanity. During the part of the play where Hamlet is explaining to the players how to act for the 'play within the play,' he sounds surprisingly organized and clear. He asks "You could, for a need, study a speech of some dozen or sixteen lines, which I would set down

and insert in `t, could you not (Shakespeare, 123)?" The question is direct and clear as all his questions and instructions to the players seem to be. The player also seems not only understanding of everything that Hamlet says, but also completely comfortable with him. It is much more believable and conceivable that a sane man could play an insane one, rather than a madman playing the role of a prince, and so the reader would rule that Hamlet is perfectly sane.

More proof for the argument that Hamlet must be sane is that, even during his

spells of madness he is sarcastic, clever, and at time humorous in his speech. He also has a cast knowledge and full understanding of what is going on around him. He plays his invented character of a man gone insane almost too convincingly, and every word he speaks seems to be intended to convey his madness and confuse his audience, making his phrases sound too thought out, too well put together, too unconvincing. Hamlet doesn't make a single remark to Claudius that could be interpreted as coherent and sane. When he speaks to Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, Hamlet is not only smart enough to realize their true purpose for visiting, but he denies his insanity in a manner that could only be viewed as insane. "I am but mad north-north-west. When the wind is southerly, I know a hawk from a handsaw (Shakespeare, 115)." Hamlet is once again able to mask the truth of his sanity from his two friends. By convincing them that he is insane he avoids their questioning and suspicions. Also, by doing this, Hamlet is able to have both Rosencrantz and Guildenstern killed in his place, in a way that is highly intelligent and well thought out even for a sane man, let alone a madman. Hamlet's incessant role-playing of a madman and his cunning wit combine to make too witty of an exaggerated case of insanity for him to actually be insane.

Hamlet's actions leading up to Polonium's murder, and the murder itself, may lead people to believe that it was all caused by Hamlet's insanity. According to this belief, Hamlet's actions during Polonius's murder were extemporaneous and thoughtless, unlike all his other actions. This is not true.