Hamlet's Feigned Madness

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Hamlet’s feigned madness The greatest debate about Shakespeare’s Hamlet is whether Hamlet was faking his madness or not. A person who is insane does acts of extreme foolishness or irrationality while being unaware that he or she is performing such out of the box acts. Hamlet could not have possibly been insane as there is evidence throughout the play that he can control his actions and choose the moments when his ‘madness’ appears. Hamlet uses this “antic disposition” (Hamlet I.v.172) to throw off the other character such as Polonius and Claudius and gain the upper hand in the grand scheme of things. If it weren’t for Hamlet’s supposed insanity then the King would have seen that Hamlet knew the truth about the old King’s murder and would have had him dealt with immediately. In society, if someone is insane, then that person can get away with just about anything. Hamlet is a scholar and a thinker; he knew that in order to not let anyone on about his plan for revenge he would have to act insane. “I am but mad north-northwest: when the wind is southerly I know a hawk from a handsaw,” (Hamlet II.ii.377-378). This quote is an example of the nonsense with which Hamlet hopes to persuade others that he is truly mad. However, there is a lot of logic to this particular quote; these words prove that Hamlet is sane. Through these words depicting the points of the compass, the weather, and birds, he is revealing that the times when he appears mad are in fact chosen by him. When he says “I know a hawk from a handsaw” (Hamlet II.ii.378), he means that he can recognize his enemies just fine and that his insanity has a purpose. Hamlet warned Horatio that he was planning to fake madness, but Claudius and the other character have to believe him mad so that he will be safe to carry out his plan of revenge. Seeing the Ghost was in no way the factor of which Hamlet could

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