The Power Of Madness In William Shakespeare's Hamlet

A great controversial point of the play Hamlet, is whether Hamlet is mad or in fact acting mad. The definition of madness is a chaotic state where one is unable to distinguish right from wrong. Hamlet comes up with the idea to fake madness in the beginning of the play in order to confuse his enemies and avenge his father's death. However, for Hamlet to fulfill his duty of getting revenge, he must be totally sane. Hamlet’s intellectual brilliance makes it impractical for him to actually be mad, for to be insane one must be irrational and without any sense. Verifying that there's structure with his madness, and that hamlet is very much in control of his fate. William Shakespeare’s, Hamlet, demonstrates the power of Hamlet’s intelligence to achieve avengement for his father's death. Demonstrating qualities such as composure, intelligence, and restraint to carry out his plans.

In order for Hamlet to carry out his goal of revenge, he has to be totally sane. In Act I, he is warned by the ghost not to go mad and not to harm his mother ”Against thy mother aught; leave her to heaven” (I.V.87.shakespeare). If Hamlet were truly mad, he would have done many unorthodox acts, which would

Hamlet’s intellect is first seen brought out in Act I, scene V when he plans on acting mad to confuse his enemies. “I know the good King and Queen have sent for you” (I.iv.37). Hamlet is quick figuring out who his friends and enemies are, knowing that Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are not paying a social visit to Hamlet; but in fact where spying on him for claudius. Hamlet immediately knows that he cannot trust his former friends, taking caution with what he says around them. Rosencrantz and Guildenstern talk with Hamlet, "with a crafty madness [Hamlet] keeps aloof" (I.iv.37), and they are unable to find the cause for his odd behavior. This is another display of Hamlets brains, being able to convince others that he is mad when he actually is