Was Hamlet mad??

Essay by ironcoop125High School, 12th gradeA+, October 2003

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Was Hamlet Mad?

Hamlet was a very sane man. There is a clear reason why Hamlet had to act crazy. He was to further his plans for revenge on King Claudius. Hamlets words were so carefully thought and spoken that everyone else in the play would think of him as being crazy. Can an insane person be so genius? Many people agree that Hamlet was brilliant.

After Hamlet, Horatio, and Marcellus see the ghost, Hamlet tells Horatio that he is going to put on an antic disposition. "How strange or odd some'er I bear myself (As I perchance hereafter shall think meet To put an antic disposition on) That you, at such times seeing, never shall, With arms encumbered thus, or this headshake, Or by pronouncing of some doubtful phrase..." From that point, Hamlet is basically warning Horatio to ignore all of his crazy actions and words for they are only pretend.

Only a person in their right mind could come up with a plan like this and convince others that he is insane.

Hamlet only acts mad when he is around certain people. Gertrude, Claudius, Polonius, Ophelia, Rosencrantz, and Guildenstern are the characters. When Hamlet is around Horatio, the players, and the gravediggers, he is completely in control of his mind and acts sane. There are many occasions when Hamlet puts on an antic disposition. Hamlet speaks to his mother, Gertrude. He scolds Gertrude and then kills Polonius behind the arras. Hamlet is so enraged that he didn't kill Claudius that his father's ghost comes in. He warns Hamlet not to harm his mother. Talking with the ghost reveals to his mother that he is mad only because she cannot see it. She says "alas, he's mad". In Act 3 scene 1 Hamlet says to Ophelia, "You...