Examination of Hamlet's Madness
Examination of Hamlet's Madness
The madness of Hamlet is one of the most oft-debated aspects of William Shakespeare’s Hamlet. Was Hamlet really mad, or was he feigning madness the entire time as part of his plan to kill Claudius? Through Hamlet’s conversations with Horatio it is seen that he plans to pretend to be mad, but his actions later in the play call the reality of his madness into question.
After finding out that Claudius killed his father, Hamlet vows revenge. In order to further this plan, he tells Horatio he will put on an “antic disposition”. The first explanation for Hamlet’s strange behavior is spurned love. Ophelia tells the story of how Hamlet came to her looking very disheveled, and simply ran his hand down her arm, stared at her, and left. Polonius immediately reasons that love for Ophelia has made Hamlet mad and tells the king of his discovery. Polonius decides to test his theory and plants Ophelia in the path of Hamlet, before speaking to Hamlet himself. When speaking to Polonius, Hamlet sounds mad, although Polonius does admit “Though this be madness, yet there is some method in’t”. Hamlet’s ranting may sound mad, but he uses this conversation to warn Polonius to keep his daughter away from the king (“the sun”) as well as to insult him. These veiled insults and warnings seem to suggest that his madness is a façade. Also, when speaking to Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, Hamlet drops some of the mad characteristics he displays with other characters, and tells them that “I am but mad north-north-west: when the wind is southerly I know a hawk from a handsaw”. He then proceeds to quote a large portion of a monologue he had heard some time before when the players arrive on the scene. He also shows complete lucidity when speaking to himself in his soliloquies, where he plots revenge and plans how to test the guilt of the king. He goes about this by inviting the king and queen to a play which mirrors the murder of his father, and uses his madness to make sly remarks which are meant to prick the conscience of the king. The remarks are seen by the spectators as mad ramblings, but they have the ring of truth which, coupled with Hamlet’s previous...