Fernando Tanioka

Period 5
Ap Literature
02/24/16
Madness in Hamlet
The play Hamlet by William Shakespeare is one of the best and most famous plays of all
time. One of the possible reasons for the play to be so famous is the way Shakespeare uses
Hamlet to demonstrate the complicated way our minds work, and how one must use deception in
order to deceive others to get to the real truth. In Hamlet, Shakespeare uses the theme of madness
to serve a motive. In fact Hamlet was not actually insane, but used the madness as a way to
achieve what he wanted. Hamlet himself says, "That I essentially am not in madness, but mad in
craft."
Hamlet thought before about everything he was doing, and everything he was going to do
later on. Hamlet did in fact act like he was mad, just so that he could follow through on his plan
to avenge his father's death. Hamlet acted like he was insane because he wanted to make his
uncle believe he was indeed mad, and Hamlet wanted to make him suffer like all the pain
Claudius caused to him by killing his dad and not bringing him peace.
Hamlet's despise and disapproval with his mother's remarriage to his uncle helps develop
to his insanity. In many occasions, Hamlet will comment about the short time that it took for his
mother to move into his uncle's bed. Sarcastically, Hamlet says, "What should a man do but be
merry? For look you how cheerfully my mother looks, and my father died within's two hours".
Unlike Hamlet, Laertes has developed a different kind of madness, a madness that was
created due to revenge. Laertes behavior is caused by the murder of his father, and his sister who
has turned totally mad, those two things collaborated to Laertes madness. With Claudius being
the puppet master and Laertes being his puppet, Claudius turns Laertes into a total different man,
wanting only to kill Hamlet to avenge for his fathers' death. Laertes has a form of madness that
keeps getting bigger because Laertes knows that he is able to do what no one seems to be able to,
which is kill Hamlet.
Ophelia has a different form of madness unlike Hamlet and Laertes because it's an mixture
of love and hate. Ophelia's madness is clearly seen by the way she acts after her father dies, and
how her actions of sadness aren't of a sane person suffering from depression.

In conclusion, Hamlet was not actually mad. In fact, he was wise and knew what he was
doing. Cleverly, he predicted the aftermath of his actions, in such a way that the people close to
him would eventually believe that he was actually insane. In fact, he was making a huge plan to
revenge his father's murder by murdering his Uncle Claudius. Laertes was being hugely mind
controlled by the king Claudius, making him easily able to do whatever he wanted as long as
Claudius told him to do so. Ophelia was the most innocent victim of all because she did not do
anything wrong to anyone, but still suffered like she had some blame and she had no idea that
she was going mad. In the beginning of the play she is a innocent girl but develops into a insane
person, with a really messed up mind and no control of her emotions.
In the play (Act 3 scene 3 page 167) Hamlet spots his uncle Claudius praying and Hamlet
attempts to murder him, but he stops and thinks about the consequences he would have to deal
with if he killed Claudius while he was praying. Hamlet says:
"And so he goes to heaven,
And so am I (revenged.) That would be scanned:
I, his sole son, do this same villain send
To heaven.
Why, this is (hire) and (salary,) not revenge.
He took my father grossly, full of bread,"
(Act 3 scene 3 page 167)
This quote talks about how Hamlet's father not going to heaven is because he did not
confess his sins before he died, so he has no peace. Hamlet could not kill Claudius while he was
praying because he would go to heaven and leave forever in peace. He doesn't kill him, and
decides that he would rather wait and kill him later so he can suffer like his father did. This
shows that Hamlet is not really mad because if he were really mad he would not have thought
about the consequences of killing Claudius; he just would have done it right then and there
without thinking about it .
After (Act 3 scene 4 page 183) Hamlet talks to his mother and the ghost while Polonius is
secretly hiding behind the curtain. Hamlet thinks that it is Claudius who is behind the curtain. He
then draws his knife and stabs the curtain, killing Polonius. Then Hamlet says: (Act 3 scene 4
page 183)
"Make you to ravel all this matter out
That I essentially am not in madness,

But mad in craft. "Twere good you let him know,"

This quote from Hamlet is very important because he confesses to his mother that he was
not mad and he was only pretending to be mad.
In conclusion, Hamlet was never really mad, but turned mad after he killed Polonius and
showed no remorse, and also when he saw his love, Ophelia dead because of his actions. The
theme of madness is all over the play, and without the theme of madness the play would not be as
significant and interesting to read.