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Hamlet only feigns madness because it allows him to do and say things that he otherwise could not say without severe repercussions and suspicion being held against him. It also prevents people from blaming him for his ridiculous antics, and from taking him seriously. We first see Hamlet's initial plan of faking insanity falling into place when he is talking to Horatio and Marcellus, telling them not to comment to anyone about his "antic disposition (Shakespeare, 75). " Hamlet's supposed madness allows him to talk to his friends, family, and especially to Ophelia in a manner that is totally unsuitable for a human being to act, especially a prince. He is completely disrespectful and insulting in his remarks, and although his antic disposition backfires while he is talking to his mother, it allows him to severely reprimand her actions and criticize her for her disloyalty to her deceased husband because Gertrude thinks he is insane. She therefore is very passive in her response to Hamlet, being very dismissive of his actions and harsh words because of his supposed insanity.
Throughout the play, Hamlet also makes some very sexually inappropriate remarks to Ophelia such as "That's a fair thought to lie between a maids' legs (Shakespeare, 157). " He can inappropriately vent his anger toward Ophelia for her abandonment in any way he pleases, being emotionally, verbally, and at times almost physically abusive towards her. In another scene but in a similar scenario, he is able to tell Polonius his true feelings because of this mask of madness. When Polonius decides to "take leave" of Hamlet, Hamlet replies with "You cannot, take from me anything that I will more willingly part withal (Shakespeare, 157). " Also, it seems Hamlet is using his insanity as an excuse, and definitely and apology, when he is speaking to Laertes of the murder of his father Polonius which was committed by Hamlet himself. This is where we need to take into consideration the conditions of being mad; would a madman realize his predicament, realize that he was, in fact, mad and unable to control his actions? If it wasn't for his madness Hamlet would be reprimanded, punished, perhaps even killed rather than pitied for his crimes. His master plan to maintain the appearance of a man gone insane is ingenious, and the veritable fact is that the amazing portrayal of a madman that he completes, the amazing show of insanity that he puts on just makes him more ingenious, not more insane.
However, Hamlet acts perfectly sane when it is not necessary or beneficial for him to act otherwise. He says "Give him heedful note, for I mine eyes will rivet his face, and, after, we will both our judgments join in censure of his seeming (Shakespeare, 155), " when he is discussing watching Claudius for signs of guilt during the play with Horatio. His words spoken to Horatio were most definitely the words of a sane man. Horatio, being his best friend and seemingly one of the few people that Hamlet actually trusts, is the only character in the play to whom Hamlet does not need to prove his insanity. During the part of the play where Hamlet is explaining to the players how to act for the 'play within the play, ' he sounds surprisingly organized and clear. He asks "You could, for a need, study a speech of some dozen or sixteen lines, which I would set down and insert in 't, could you not (Shakespeare, 123)?" The question is direct and clear as all his questions and instructions to the players seem to be.
The player also seems not only understanding of everything that Hamlet says, but also completely comfortable with him. It is much more believable and conceivable that a sane man could play an insane one, rather than a madman playing the role of a prince, and so the reader would rule that Hamlet is perfectly sane. More proof for the argument that Hamlet must be sane is that, even during his spells of madness he is sarcastic, clever, and at time humorous in his speech. He also has a cast knowledge and full understanding of what is going on around him. He plays his invented character of a man gone insane almost too convincingly, and every word he speaks seems to be intended to convey his madness and confuse his audience, making his phrases sound too thought out, too well put together, too unconvincing. Hamlet doesn't make a single remark to Claudius that could be interpreted as coherent and sane.
When he speaks to Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, Hamlet is not only smart enough to realize their true purpose for visiting, but he denies his insanity in a manner that could only be viewed as insane. "I am but mad north-north-west. When the wind is southerly, I know a hawk from a handsaw (Shakespeare, 115). " Hamlet is once again able to mask the truth of his sanity from his two friends. By convincing them that he is insane he avoids their questioning and suspicions. Also, by doing this, Hamlet is able to have both Rosencrantz and Guildenstern killed in his place, in a way that is highly intelligent and well thought out even for a sane man, let alone a madman. Hamlet's incessant role-playing of a madman and his cunning wit combine to make too witty of an exaggerated case of insanity for him to actually be insane. Hamlet's actions leading up to Polonium's murder, and the murder itself, may lead people to believe that it was all caused by Hamlet's insanity.
According to this belief, Hamlet's actions during Polonius's murder were extemporaneous and thoughtless, unlike all his other actions. This is not true. Almost immediately before Hamlet entered his mother's bedroom, Hamlet's attempt to kill Claudius and been routed because when Hamlet entered the room to commit the murder, Claudius had been praying. However, at the time Hamlet had felt prepared to extract his revenge, so when he enters his mother's bedroom he most likely still had this rage and determination within him, and the way Gertrude responds to his attempt to explain his feelings towards her probably only further impassion's him with anger for her and for Claudius.
Hamlet begins to act in a threatening way towards his mother, and she calls for help. Polonius's muffled voice calls back from behind the curtains, and Hamlet assumes he is Claudius and kills him with absolutely no necessity or any additional thought. Even if we were to assume that Hamlet did know for certain that it was Polonius behind the curtain, it still made sense for Hamlet to kill him. He had spied on Hamlet and heard his conversation with King Hamlet and with Gertrude which could have possibly jeopardized the secrecy of his feigned madness and his plans for his father's revenge. Therefore killing Polonius was a rational action.
The most important aspect in the debate of whether or not Hamlet is sane is if he things as a person who is mad would think, and he does not. He hesitated in his actions to kill Claudius upon seeing him praying because he thinks very logically and realizes that if he were to kill Claudius while praying, Claudius would go to heaven and he will not attain the full extent of his father's revenge. "Now I might do id, now he is a-praying, and now I'll do't. And so he goes to heaven, and so I am revenged... A villain kills my father and for that I, his sole son, do this same villain send to heaven (Shakespeare, 183). " Hamlet obviously still has a grip on his common sense, and his thoughts follow a logical progression and are not erratic in the least. He is living like an actor in a movie or a play, a sane man playing the part of a madman for all his audience which is his family and friends. Further proof of Hamlet's sanity is that in each of his soliloquies, he thinks through the same inner debate that a sane man would think through.
He realizes that there is some possibility that the ghost of King Hamlet could have in reality been the devil or a demon in disguise so he decides to study Claudius during the play that he has put together for his own benefits. "I'll have these players play something like the murder of my father before mine uncle. I'll observe his looks; I'll tent him to the quick... The spirit that I have seen may be a devil... (Shakespeare, 127). " Hamlet wants to study the reactions of Claudius during the play to see if he shows any signs of remorse or guilt, just to be sure that he actually was the man who murdered King Hamlet, and to see if he will give some sort of confession. Horatio is asked to watch for Claudius's reactions also in case by some chance Hamlet is biased without realizing it. A madman definitely would not have the thought process or the caution to think of things such as being biased, a truly insane person probably wouldn't even think to care about such things.
Even when Hamlet questions whether "to be or not to be (Shakespeare, 137), " he is thinking completely sanely. He is trying in vain to determine the pros and cons of his situation, and although he is still appearing to the characters in the play to be insane, it is most definitely the contrary. Hamlet cannot be considered any worse than just a confused, determined, and possible single-minded man, who was made so by his discovery of human tragedy, and his father's murder and request for revenge. He starts off in the play sane, normal, healthy, loving, but with the discovery of his father's murder and his mother's remarriage, he dies selfish, distraught, and cold-hearted. His feigned madness is maintained throughout the entire play because it allows him to follow through with his plans, which makes Hamlet not only completely sane, but truly genius. Maybe Hamlet thought too much, but he thought (and acted) as only a sane man could.
He commits no actions whatsoever without much thought and reason, and he is far too organized, particular, and articulate to be proclaimed insane. His one downfall is also responsible of his many successes: his intelligence. Hamlet thinks far too much and has too much of a conscience to behave as a madman would, and going on a murdering rampage to kill Claudius. His hesitation in doing so is the main key that allows the reader to realize that Hamlet's insanity is a complete farce, used to help Hamlet to maximize his father's revenge against Claudius in the most efficient and effective way possible, leaving few repercussions for Hamlet.
Hamlet's portrayal of a mad man is also very complicated because it not only gets his point made, but in a believably insane way.
Free research essays on topics related to: antic disposition, hamlet actions, kill claudius, feigned madness, rosencrantz and guildenstern
Research essay sample on Rosencrantz And Guildenstern Antic Disposition
