Is Hamlet Sane Or Insane Essay

899 Words4 Pages
The first example that shows that Hamlet was still firmly sane, and that he was only feigning madness, while he clumsily conspired against his uncle Claudius, is that Hamlet, after his “antic disposition” began to arouse Claudius’s suspicion rather than deflect it, decided to appear love-stricken in front of Ophelia in order to convince Claudius – and his entourage – that he was simply mad in love with Ophelia (even after – or perhaps because – she had rejected his advances) (Wilson 109-110). Such an ingenious plan could not have been formulated by a truly insane individual. To realize this, one must first remember that, as Wilson points out, around two months had passed between the end of Act 1 (when Hamlet had met with the supposed ghost…show more content…
This can be inferred because at the end of Act 1, Ophelia had been advised by both Polonius and her brother Laertes to eschew Hamlet’s constant advances – “From this time, / Be somewhat scanter of your maiden presence; / Set your entreatments at a higher rate / Than a command to parley … This is for all: / I would not, in plain terms, from this time forth, / Have you so slander any moment leisure, / As to give words or talk with the Lord Hamlet.” (1.3.120-124,131-135), Polonius tells his daughter. Ophelia, being characterized as very obedient throughout the play, can be assumed to have closely followed her father’s and brother’s firm suggestions, and therefore Hamlet probably almost no contact with her in the weeks between Acts 1 and 2. Therefore, when he appeared lovesick before her at the beginning of Act 2 – “with his doublet all unbraced; / No hat upon his head; his stockings foul'd, / Ungarter'd, and down-gyved to his ancle; / Pale as his shirt; his knees knocking each other; / And with a look so piteous in purport / As if he had been loosed out of hell” (2.1.76-81) – it was almost certainly the first time that he had done so; this suggests that Hamlet did it simply to provide an excuse to Claudius for his increasingly suspicious “antic…show more content…
Hamlet’s actions did actually succeed in convincing Polonius that his insanity was due to unresolved love, so if this theory is true, why – one may ask – did Hamlet begin viciously attacking Ophelia in his subsequent conversations with her and Polonius (and thereby ruin his façade even more)? According to Wilson, this was because a short time later, while Polonius was telling Claudius that he planned to use Ophelia herself to prove his theory for Hamlet’s madness – “At such a time I'll loose my daughter [Ophelia] to him: / Be you and I behind an arras then; / Mark the encounter: if he love her not / And be not from his reason fall'n thereon, / Let me be no assistant for a state, / But keep a farm and carters.” (2.2.163-168) – “Hamlet must have overhead what Polonius said to the King [Claudius]” (Wilson 106). This is a very reasonable conjecture, because Hamlet almost immediately enters the scene, reading a book – but he was probably only pretending to while eavesdropping; Hamlet’s feigned madness would definitely have helped divert suspicions of overhearing from him
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