Ophelia's Madness In Hamlet

Certainly Hamlet’s various outbursts, especially his chastisement of his lover Ophelia, whom he says should “seek a nunnery” (Shakespeare 3.1,v.162), show that he is indeed emotionally distressed. While Hamlet tends to seem as if he goes from being deliberate and logical to an illogical and fevered state, “it is not always clear if or when Hamlet is pretending to be crazy or when indulging in a bizarre humor or when expressing his desperate but sane anguish” (Bell 314). Therefore, what appears to many as insanity is actually more likely to be Hamlet attempting to balance his understandable emotions about the death of his father and later his lover Ophelia with the knowledge that something must be done about what Claudius has been accused of
Eventually they begin to wonder if he is unwell mentally. His lover Ophelia is the first to face his new change in mood. Immediately after meeting his father’s ghost he is very logical and gives his guards detailed orders about what to do. However, after this it is reported by Ophelia that Hamlet ran to her room and grabbed her wrists and “raised a sigh so piteous and profound / As it did seem to shatter all his bulk / And end his being (Shakespeare 2.1, v.106-108). Clearly Hamlet is in distress, but because he cannot tell Ophelia what he knows for fear of ruining his plans all he can do is stare at her face and sigh heavily near her to let her know that something is wrong. She and her father conclude that he is likely unwell mentally. Although being accused of being insane is not necessarily a good thing, this front allows Hamlet to hide what it is that he is really having to consider. In this case, madness would be easier to explain than the fact that he is considering whether he should avenge his father and kill his uncle based on the testimony of a ghost. This is not something that he can discuss openly – ironically enough, because it would make the people around him think that he was