Was Hamlet Really Mad

Shakespeare’s Hamlet is seen by some people as being a story about a prince named Hamlet going mad after the ghost of his father, the king, tells him that he was murdered by Hamlet’s uncle, Claudius. This is all very distressing for Hamlet, and some suggest that this is the point where he goes insane. Indeed, Hamlet’s behavior throughout the remainder of the play is erratic and unpredictable. However, this is seen by many scholars as simply being the way that Hamlet wished to be perceived by those around him. Many scholars feel that Hamlet’s behavior is actually very logical and calculated, stating that “If Hamlet was really mad, his psychosis was that of an intellectual… while if he was only feigning his insanity, then he did it by taking things too strictly, too literally, by a general social perverseness manifested in a desire to quibble and split hairs. His madness, whether real or feigned, was an excess of sanity” (Davis 630). Therefore, instead of being mad, Hamlet is simply aware of and thinking about things that those around

These are not differing interpretations of one play, but interpretations of different plays (Hamilton 171). What this means is that, in a way, Hamlet is both sane and mad in this play – depending on which interpretation of the play one wishes to read from. Some might read Hamlet and see him as being “mad as the sea and wind” (4.1v.6), while others might see him as being in full possession of his right mind. One thing is certain, however, and that is that Hamlet, at the very least, attempts to come across as mad. The reasons for this become clear as one continues to analyze his actions and words throughout the course of this