Hamlet: Mad or Sane?
...Ophelia considered Hamlet to be mad when he barged into her room, grabbed her by the wrists, and without saying a word, sighs and leaves. When Hamlet is with his mother in her bedchamber she believes he has gone mad because he alone sees his father’s ghost. Every other time the ghost appeared, someone else had seen it also. During this scene, he finally shows his madness because his mother does not see the ghost. She reacts to the situation by saying, “Alas, he’s mad!” (III.iv.106). It would seem that he was mad when he confronted her in her room and killed Polonius. When his mother asked him what he had done he replied, “Nay, I know not: Is it the king?” (Act III, scene iv, 26-27). The last character that we have evidence of considering Hamlet mad is Polonius. Polonius attributes Hamlet’s insanity to the disappointed love for Ophelia. His hypothesis, which he believes deeply and tries to convince the king and queen of, is that Hamlet is insane without Ophelia. He says, “The origin and commencement of his grief/Sprung from neglected love” (III.i.169-170). Polonius also tells the king “Your noble son is mad/mad call I it; for, to define true madness/What is’t but to be nothing else but mad?” (II.ii.91-93). Initially one of the most accepted causes for Hamlets instability is that of denied love, conjured by the self fulfilling Polonius. The main characteristic of his insanity is his obsessive nature, and his manic moods. At the beginning of the play, Hamlet already seems to have mental problems, and as the play progresses, the events that occur, and people he encounters only feed his insanity. He is hesitant and indecisive in his decision making process because of this, and this is the reason for the long delay in his revenge. Hamlet's madness only manifests itself when he is in the presence of certain characters. When Hamlet is with a trustworthy friend, he is rational and symptom-free; as soon as those persons appear, however, whom he wants to convince that he is mad, he changes his behavior so as to implant different explanations in their minds for his noticeable irrational behavior. With Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, he makes believe that the reason for it is frustrated ambition; with the Queen and King that it is their marriage that has upset him; and with Polonius and Ophelia, that it is frustrated love that has driven him mad. These rapid and clumsy changes from rational speech with those he trusts to irrational conversation with those whom he wishes to impress are strong evidence of fraud. Polonius admits that Hamlet’s actions and words have a method to them; there appears...