Madness and Insanity in Shakespeares Hamlet - A Sane Man :: Shakespeare Hamlet Essays

crossroads A Sane Man       hamlet was indeed a very sensible man. He was only bearing madness to furtherhis own plans for revenge. His talking to were so cleverly constructed that otherswill perceive him as mad.  It is this consistent chichi that is the ultimateevidence of his complete sanity. Can a mad psyche be so clever? No, a mad personcannot. Hamlet is sane and brilliant.         After Hamlet, Horatio, and Marcellus see the ghost, Hamlet tells Horatiothat he is going to feign madness. If Horatio is to notice Hamlet acting antic it is because he is putting on an act. How strange or odd someer Ibear myself/(As I perchance hereafter shall think meet/To put an antic inclination of an orbit on)/That you, at such times seeing, never shall,/With armsencumbered thus, or this headshake ,/Or by pronouncing of some doutfulphrase,/As Well,well,we know, or We could an if  we/would,/Or If we list tospeak, or There be an if they/might,/Or such dubious giving-out, tonote/That you know of me-this do swear,/(I,v,190-201).Hamlet states that fromthis point forward I whitethorn act weird but to ignore my acts of madness for they are further that, acts, and are in no way a sign of received madness. Only a sane andrational person could devise such a plan as to act insane to convince othersthat he is insane when he actually has complete control over his psyche.         Hamlet only acts mad when he is in the presence of certain characters.When he is around Polonius, Claudius, Gertrude, Ophelia, Rosencrantz, andGuildenstern he acts all irrational. When Hamlet is around Horatio,Bernardo, Fransico, the players, and the gravediggers Hamlet acts completelysane.         When Hamlet and Polonius meet in II,ii Hamlet calls Polonius afishmonger and makes strange conversation with him. In IV,iii Hamlet refuses totell Claudius were he has hidden the ph ysical structure of Polonius and goes on about howPolonius is at supper. When Hamlet encounters Gertrude in her closet, an unusualplace, in III,iv. He yells at his own mother. In II,i Hamlet enters Opheliascloset, a passing unusual act, he is dressed badly, and acts very strange towardsher. Claudius and Polonius set up a clandestine meeting between Hamlet andOphelia in III,i. Ophelia because tries to return some gifts that Hamlet gave toher and Hamlet claims that he did not part her any gifts and that he never lovedher at all. During the play in III,ii Hamlet sexually harasses Ophelia in frontof the entire audience of the play. In IV,ii Hamlet refuses to tell Rosencratz