Deciphering Madness: Analyzing Hamlet's Sanity

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Many argue that Hamlet was truly mad, but was he really? There are many scenes throughout Hamlet that push more toward the idea that Hamlet himself, is in fact mad, but the more in depth you read into Hamlet, the more you come to notice that it is all just an act. A good way to decipher this is to compare his counterfeit madness to Ophelia’s potential genuine madness. When doing this, it becomes crystal clear whether or not Hamlet is truly mad. Starting from the very beginning, Hamlet tells his friends in Act 1, Scene 5, “No matter how strangely I act (since I may find it appropriate to act a little crazy in the near future), you must never, ever let on - with a gesture of your hands or a certain expression on your face - that you know …show more content…

Many believe that Ophelia genuinely lost her mind and became suicidal towards the end of the play. This is very self explanatory due to the fact that both her father and brother died and they seemed to play a big part in her life. Ophelia’s genuine madness exposes Hamlet’s counterfeit madness because Ophelia shows signs. In Act 4, Scene 5, Ophelia is constantly singing songs about death and basically ignores anything that anyone says to her. For example, in Act 4, Scene 5, she sings, “He is dead and gone, lady, he is dead and gone. At his head is a patch of green grass, and at his feet there is a tombstone.” This continues on and on until one day she is in a meadow and she ends up drowning. She ends up dying before she can even see her brother, Laertes ever again. When Laertes finally returns, he wants to say his final goodbyes to his younger sister and while he’s doing this, Hamlet is hiding in the bushes listening and he begins to cry. This is another way that Hamlet exposes that he isn’t truly mad the way he made himself seem. He forced himself to treat Ophelia poorly so many times throughout the play and it was all just a part of his madness act. Him releasing his emotions for Ophelia in this moment showed everyone that he truly did care for her. Even if he wasn’t madly in love, he definitely cared for her. This is the last main event that shows that Hamlet wasn’t truly a mad, emotionless, heartless

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