Table of contents
1. Introduction
2. The Question of Hamlet Madness
3. Evidence Supporting and Refuting Madness in Hamlet
4. Madness or Craft?
5. Conclusion
Supporting evidence to Hamlet’s madness essay
Introduction
Shakespeare’s Hamlet has become a story for the ages. The play, written sometime
between 1599 and 1601, has been produced thousands of times on stage and adapted
into countless musicals, films, ballets, and the past four centuries. The story behind
Shakespeare’s Hamlet has been around for longer than the play, predating it by more
than 500years. The purpose of this essay is to discuss if Hamlet is truly mad or is just
merely acting to be mad.
In this play, we are introduced to Hamlet’s character as a sad protagonist. He has just
returned from school and has been informed that his father has deceased and his uncle
Claudius has taken his mother’s hand in marriage. I think Hamlet is not mad; he is just
pretending to be mad. Throughout Shakespeare’s play, the main character, Hamlet, is
confronted with the obligation of attaining vengeance for his father’s murder. He decides
to feign madness as part of his plan to gain the opportunity to kill Claudius. As the play
progresses, his depiction of a madman becomes increasingly believable, and the
characters around him react accordingly. However, through his inner thoughts and the
apparent reasons for his actions, it is clear that he is not really mad and is simply an
actor simulating insanity in order to fulfill his duty to his father.
Evidence of Hamlet’s sanity appears in several scenes. In the (fifth scene of Act I),
Hamlet says, “How strange or odd some I bear myself.” He is telling Horatio that he
plans to behave like a crazy person so that he has the freedom to determine if Claudius
is responsible for his father’s death. Acting like a madman would make him appear as
less of a threat, drawing attention away from his investigation. Both Claudius and
Polonius admit that Hamlet’s actions, while odd, do not seem to be related to genuine
madness. Polonius even says, “Though this is madness, yet there is the method isn't,”
indicating that there seems to be a reason for Hamlet’s strange behavior. Finally, Hamlet
only behaves like a madman when he is around certain characters. His madness
1. Introduction
2. The Question of Hamlet Madness
3. Evidence Supporting and Refuting Madness in Hamlet
4. Madness or Craft?
5. Conclusion
Supporting evidence to Hamlet’s madness essay
Introduction
Shakespeare’s Hamlet has become a story for the ages. The play, written sometime
between 1599 and 1601, has been produced thousands of times on stage and adapted
into countless musicals, films, ballets, and the past four centuries. The story behind
Shakespeare’s Hamlet has been around for longer than the play, predating it by more
than 500years. The purpose of this essay is to discuss if Hamlet is truly mad or is just
merely acting to be mad.
In this play, we are introduced to Hamlet’s character as a sad protagonist. He has just
returned from school and has been informed that his father has deceased and his uncle
Claudius has taken his mother’s hand in marriage. I think Hamlet is not mad; he is just
pretending to be mad. Throughout Shakespeare’s play, the main character, Hamlet, is
confronted with the obligation of attaining vengeance for his father’s murder. He decides
to feign madness as part of his plan to gain the opportunity to kill Claudius. As the play
progresses, his depiction of a madman becomes increasingly believable, and the
characters around him react accordingly. However, through his inner thoughts and the
apparent reasons for his actions, it is clear that he is not really mad and is simply an
actor simulating insanity in order to fulfill his duty to his father.
Evidence of Hamlet’s sanity appears in several scenes. In the (fifth scene of Act I),
Hamlet says, “How strange or odd some I bear myself.” He is telling Horatio that he
plans to behave like a crazy person so that he has the freedom to determine if Claudius
is responsible for his father’s death. Acting like a madman would make him appear as
less of a threat, drawing attention away from his investigation. Both Claudius and
Polonius admit that Hamlet’s actions, while odd, do not seem to be related to genuine
madness. Polonius even says, “Though this is madness, yet there is the method isn't,”
indicating that there seems to be a reason for Hamlet’s strange behavior. Finally, Hamlet
only behaves like a madman when he is around certain characters. His madness
