Characters in Hamlet

What Would Hamlet be without Insanity? The play Hamlet is without a doubt an odd story to read based on what society today has become accustomed to. A brother killing another brother, and then marrying his wife. It is not a typical story in the modern world today. There is a vast variety of different themes that can be traced throughout the play, however the most popular is madness and sanity. Madness and sanity shape the play into what it is, without madness and sanity the play would have no life. Certain actions would not occur, certain events would not occur, and certain statements would not occur. Hamlet is a perfect example in the thought of is he acting insane or is he truly insane? Hamlet could be considered a brilliant actor, only if you believe that he is not insane, he was not! Hamlet was always the smartest person in the room, whether he was two steps ahead of someone of one step behind, he always knew what to do. It can easily be interpreted that Hamlet is acting insane just to not leave a trail for anyone to follow. Hamlet opens up to the Horatio and Marcellus and tells them that he will act mad: “How strange or odd soe’er I bear myself—As I, perchance, hereafter shall think meet To put an antic disposition on” (1.5.177). Hamlet is clearly doing this so Claudius will not see him as a threat and will think of him as harmless. Hamlet is insane while actually sane. This is a perfect example of Hamlet being the smartest person in the room, as well as a perfect example of how madness shaped the play. If Hamlet did not act mad Claudius could have seen him as a threat much earlier and attempted to kill him much earlier. Even to the reader Hamlet seems insane, remember the reader knows what Hamlet is thinking. What Hamlet decides to do is “pronounced to be so atrocious and horrible, as to be unfit to be put into the mouth of a human being.” (Coleridge 4). Hamlet here has the reader believing that he is insane, however he could just be blinded by rage

Cited: Coleridge, Samuel T. "Lecture on Hamlet" Hamlet: A Norton Critical Edition, New York: WW Norton and Company, 1812.  Shakespeare, William.Hamlet. Norton’s Anthology. New York: WW Norton and Company, 2011. Print. Showwalter, Elaine. "Representing Ophelia: Women, Madness, and the Responsibilities, of Feminist Criticism" , A Norton Critical Edition. New York: WW Norton and Company, 1985.