Is Hamlet Really Mad Essay

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In the very famous play, Hamlet, written by William Shakespeare, the young prince Hamlet is known throughout the story as, “mad”, but is he really mad? Looking closer at Hamlet’s actions and words towards the other characters in the play, he may seem to be mad, but that is what he wants. Hamlet’s madness is all an act. He wants everyone to believe he is mad. Rather than mad he is a genius, and looking closer at his interactions with the other characters it is obvious. Looking closer, Hamlet only acts as if he is mad around certain characters: Polonius, Claudius, Gertrude, Ophelia, Rosencrantz, and Guildenstern. He does not act mad around: Horatio, Bernardo, and Francisco. Although, throughout the play Horatio is the only one of the three who sticks around to see this. There are also many points in the play in which other characters suggest they think Hamlet is not truly mad, and it is an act. Hamlet tells Horatio he is going to, “feign madness”, (Act I, Scene V). Hamlet is basically telling Horatio his plan to fake madness. The king even say, “Actions although strange, do not appear …show more content…
Here it is asked how an actor of Hamlet should perform. From there the purpose of Hamlet’s madness is explained. “ It isn't that he simply goes crazy: he utilizes his sharp wit to get at Claudius and the new king's chief spy, Polonius. Hamlet's madness is very different from the madness Ophelia suffers. Heartbreakingly, Ophelia really does go mad - she loses her wits. Hamlet on the other hand remains lucid but uses a disguise of madness (the 'antic disposition') to get him to where he needs to be. Polonius tells Claudius straight away that Hamlet is mad because, the company decided, if Hamlet is known to be mad, he is no longer a threat to the king and cannot accede the throne. That is why Claudius latches on to the idea of Hamlet's madness and why Gertrude is so reticent to believe her son has lost his

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