Hamlet - Essential #7

1. Do you think that Hamlet has created his own insanity, or has he lost his sense of reality completely?

• Although Hamlet may appear to be insane because of his seemingly irrational responses to others, the incisiveness of his responses shows that he is far more clear-headed than any character in this play could imagine. It is clear that he has control over his insanity because even himself has declared, "I am but mad north-north-west. When the wind is southerly, I know a hawk form a handsaw" (II.ii.402-403). This means that he is only mad at certain times - he can distinguish between things that do not resemble each other. Therefore, Hamlet's madness is just a disguise he puts on in order to distract people, especially his enemies, from his anguish and despair of losing his father and being betrayed by his friends, his lover, and his family.
• However, from another perspective, Hamlet's insanity is a display of his intense and conflicting state of mind to the utmost. The high tensity of his mind will, in the end, tip the prince over the edge of breakdown, thus leads him into real madness which could be irreversible.