Percy/Mr. KinnieENG-OA1-0120 October 2000Is Hamlet Mad? Not LikelyMadness is a condition of the mind which eliminates all rational thought leaving anindividual with no proper conception of what is happening around him/her. Madnesstypically occurs in the minds of individuals that have experienced an event or series ofevents that their mind simply cannot cope with and, thus, to avoid their harsh reality, theyfall into a state of madness. In William Shakespeare’s masterpiece Hamlet, there is muchdebate around the protagonist, Hamlet, and whether or not his madness in the play wasreal or feigned. It was a disastrous time in the prince, Hamlet’s life as his father had justpassed away, his uncle then took the kingship and wed Hamlet’s mother, then the ghost ofhis deceased father appeared to him with instructions for revenge and, finally, the love ofhis life was no longer permitted to see the prince by order of the lady’s father. This wouldseem to many to be reason enough for an individual to lose touch with reality and fall intomadness, but this was not the case with the brilliant strong-minded Hamlet. Though theprince displayed numerous signs of madness during the play, Hamlet never lost touch withreality as he continued acting rational both in his thoughts as well as while speaking withcertain individuals. If Hamlet were truthfully insane, he would not have been able tosuddenly stop displaying his insanity as he did in the play after his altercation with Laertesin the graveyard. He also had motive for putting on the contrivance as it would disguisehis investigation of his father’s strange death and his plans for revenge against his uncleClaudius if he found him to be guilty.After Hamlet witnessed the appearance of his dead father’s ghost and heard whatthe spirit had to say, Hamlet’s sole mission in life was to uncover the truth behind his Williams 2father’s death and avenge it accord...
