Hamlet Is Not Mad

While many unanswered questions were raised throughout our class reading of Hamlet, none were as significant in the reading of the play as whether or not Hamlet was in fact crazy. The two main possibilities when answering this question are that he was either truly crazy, or it was pretense for certain people. Indications of his madness come in multitude as early as Act I. After seeing the ghost of his father, Hamlet begins to speak “wild and whirling words” (Scene V, line 127).  Hamlet’s behavior throughout the play is the most noticeable indication of madness. His behavior is nothing less than erratic, especially towards Ophelia. Hamlet first bursts into Ophelia’s chambers looking disheveled, grabbing Ophelia and staring her down. Seconds later he abruptly leaves without a word. Soon after, as Claudius and Polonius listen, Hamlet explodes with anger as Ophelia returns his tokens of affection to him. He claims to have loved her right before saying he never did. During the showing of The Murder of Gonzago, Hamlet taunts Ophelia line after line, making crude sexual jokes that are unbecoming of a prince in his right mind. Soon after the play, Hamlet uses verbal “daggers” to antagonize his mother and brutally murders Polonius on impulse. This erratic and impulsive behavior sharply contrasts the philosophical and calculated Hamlet from the beginning of the play. In that same scene, Hamlet also sees another vision of the ghost in Gertrude’s chambers. However, Gertrude does not see the ghost. This is a strong indication that while the ghost may have been real at first, it may now just be a creation of Hamlet’s mind, dragging him further into madness each time it appears. Finally, Hamlet orders that Rosencrantz and Guildenstern be executed under the king’s name. He does so because he found a letter destined to them, ordering that they kill him. However, we cannot know that they had already read the letter, or that they were going to follow that order. Therefore, Hamlet ordered the execution of two innocent men that supposedly were his long time friends. This rash decision can be interpreted as a sign of impulsive madness as Hamlet loses control of his decision-making abilities. I, however, am a proponent of the other side of the argument, which is that his madness was only pretense. At about the same time that Hamlet began to speak his “wild and whirling words,” he also warned his friends that he would “feign madness” (Scene V). He has good reasons to do so. With the royal unrest, there must be no sign that Hamlet is aware that Claudius murdered the rightful king, or action would be taken against Hamlet to make sure the truth was not revealed. In fact, Hamlet is only “mad” around certain characters (mainly the royal court and Ophelia), showing that the madness is focused. His madness is not remotely similar to true madness, such as the one exhibited by Ophelia after her father’s death. For these reasons, I believe that the madness was only a ploy to avoid suspicion by Claudius as well as to create an opportunity to strike revenge on an unsuspecting opponent.