Was Hamlet Mad?

From the very beginning of the play Hamlet gives the impression that he is insane. Whenever he interacts with the characters he is wild, crazy, and plays a fool. However in other instances when he is alone, or with Horatio he is civilized and sane. The reason for this is simple, Hamlet is not mad but rather he just pretends to be mad in order express his feelings, formulate new plans, and to gain information. Hamlet is sane from the moment the play begins to the moment he dies. At the beginning of Hamlet, before Hamlet is told by the ghost that Claudius killed his father, Hamlet is broken up over his father's death, and the "hasty marriage" of his mother and Claudius. "The funeral baked meats did coldly furnish forth the marriage tables." At this time he doesn't show any signs of madness, only sorrow. "Together with all forms, moods, shapes of grief, that can denote me truly." After some time passes Hamlet is visited by the ghost of his father. The ghost instructs Hamlet that he must "[r]evenge his foul and most unnatural murder." Thus Hamlet has his quest; to revenge the death of his father. Hamlet believes what the ghost tells him. "It is an honest ghost let me tell you." From this moment we, as readers, question his sanity. Could a man who sees the ghost of his dead father truly be sane? Of course, but only if he pretends to be insane. As Hamlet contemplates killing Claudius, he begins to doubt the words of his father's ghost. As he is trying to determine if the ghost is a "friendly" or "evil" spirit, the players arrive at the castle. At greeting the players, Hamlet forms a plan that he intends to use in order to prove that Claudius guilty. Hamlet's plan is to "have these players play something like the murder of my father before mine uncle," and then have Horatio observe Claudius' reaction. Hamlet acts most insane when the play is preformed than at any other point in the entire play. He even goes as far as placing his head in Ophelia's lap muttering phrases like: "[l]ady should I lie in your lap" and "[f]or look you how cheerfully my mother looks, and my father died within 's two hours." Hamlet pretends to be insane to draw the attention of Gertrude and Claudius. He acts like a fool to make them