Madness was a reoccurring theme throughout the play and these were the two characters which portrayed it more than others. In Act 3 Scene 1 Hamlet encounters Ophelia and calls her “fair”, creating a calm atmosphere. Later Hamlet rapidly changes his attitude, raging towards Ophelia and telling her “Get thee to a nunnery” implying he loved her once but now denies her love. Hamlet was acting mad in front of her in an aggressive manner and says “God hath given you one face and you make yourselves another”, Hamlet is suggesting that all women are two faced. Hamlet finds out that this was a setup of Claudius and Polonius to spy on him, so they can find out if he is truly mad.
Before Hamlet kills him, he wants to make sure that Claudius is truly guilty. Hamlet invites players to the castle to perform a play, but Hamlet makes some changes, so that he can watch Claudius’s reactions. As the players arrive, Hamlet turns to his old friend Guildenstern and says “my uncle-father and aunt-mother are deceived… I am but mad north-north west. When the wind is southerly I know a hawk from a handsaw” (II, 2, 385-389). Again, Hamlet admits his insanity is all an act.
One of the most prominent times we see Hamlet’s anger is when he murders Polonius, the father to Ophelia, his lover, thinking that it was Claudius. He is arguing with his mother and things begin to get physical. Gertrude then calls out and so does Polonius, giving away his location behind the tapestry. Thinking it was the king in his wifes bedroom, Hamlet stabs the mystery person behind the curtain and unfortunately for Hamlet, it was
A villain kills my father; and for that, I, his sole son, do this same villain send to heaven” (III, 3, 85). He realizes that if he kills him while he is confessing his sins then it wouldn’t be full revenge because Claudius would go to heaven while King Hamlet is in Purgatory. Someone who is consumed with insanity would just impulsively act without thinking rationally or considering the consequences beforehand. Therefore, Hamlet is merely acting insane to fool those around
After finding out all this information, Hamlet was in a dark spot that lead him to acting insane to investigate the accusations that his father had made. It was hard for Hamlet to act crazy because he was still grieving over his father 's death and his mother not showing that she cares. Hamlet also lost Ophelia which makes his situation even worse than it was because he has no one in his. No family, no girlfriend, no one. Hamlet feels betrayed by his mother and feels like he can 't trust anyone.
Hamlet is clearly distressed about his father’s death, but what brings about his suspicions is a visit from his father’s supposed ghost, who tells him that Claudius, Hamlet’s uncle, poisoned him. From that point on, Hamlet plots and plots how to reveal his uncle’s guilt and get his revenge. But Hamlet is not a violent, murderous person. He is a scholar. And thus he decides to feign craziness -- or so he believes.
“Though this be madness, yet there is method in it.” Polonius’ quote to Hamlet displayed his first occurance with his insanity by throwing books and saying sarcastic things to Polonius. During the play, Hamlet displays his insanity very clearly. He is almost hard to recognize to his closest peers and family because he let revenge almost fully takes over his conscience. His only goal is to get revenge on his uncle, King Claudius who had recently poisoned and killed his father. Hamlet never really went fully crazy because he always thought about the consequences instead of just making a move without thinking.
As Hamlet expresses his anger at his mother, he hears a noise from the tapestry, and, thinking it is a rat, kills Polonius with his sword (3.4.24). Hamlet is overcome with revenge, and becomes easily irritable. As a result, he kills Polonius inadvertently. The fact that revenge overrides any rational instinct in Hamlet reminds students that vengeance causes illogical thinking, and, in turn, serious consequences. Removing Hamlet’s cautionary exemplar would significantly impede a teenager’s apprehension of a critical life lesson.
Hamlet's Heightening Insanity In Hamlet by William Shakespeare, it is clear that Hamlet was once sane, but the tragic events of his life led him to be insane. Grieving over the loss of a loved one, yet a parent, is extremely difficult. These hardships can cause a lot of problems in one’s life. In Hamlet, Shakespeare incorporates a theme of madness to serve a motive. In fact, Hamlet is not initially crazy, but plans to use the insanity as a trick to achieve what he wanted-- revenge.
He acted strange when he was around the king and his attendants and this is evident when he tells his friend Guildenstem that "his uncle-father and aunt-mother are deceived" (Shakespeare). In addition, when they enter the court party, Hamlet tells Horatio that "I must be idle," meaning he is trying to feign his madness. He also confesses to his mother that "I essentially am not in madness, but mad in craft" (Shakespeare). For Hamlet, he had to pretend to be mad in order to plan and execute his revenge against Claudia. Hamlet’s madness played an important role in the play because he later on became insane after he had feigned his insanity.