Hamlet by William Shakespeare

Many theories and questions arise as one reads Hamlet by William Shakespeare; some are more obvious than others, but all equally important to gain an understanding of the masterpiece. In my paper of underlying themes I will guide the reader into answering the question Is Hamlet mad? There are many points in the book that prove that he did go mad, but Hamlet himself states that the act of him being mad is exactly that, an act. This theory is left in the air and can pretty much go either way, but I see it as Hamlet not being mad and I will illustrate the underlying theme that brings me about my conclusion.

In my personal opinion Hamlet is not mad. Had Hamlet actually gone mad he wouldn’t have thought out so much to prove the Kings guilt, he would have acted on impulse and done the first thing that popped into his head like a madman. Throughout the play there are a few instances in which it is clear that Hamlet is not mad. Hamlets soliloquies throughout the book prove that he still he is sane and that it’s not an actual madness.

One example that shows that Hamlet is not mad is when he is speaking to Horatio and Marcellus after he has seen the ghost of King Hamlet. In this scene Hamlet makes Marcellus and Horatio swear upon his sword to not speak of what they have seen, he also tells them that he plans to put on an act so they everyone thinks he has gone mad.

And therefore as a stranger give it welcome.

There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio,

Than are dreamt of in your philosophy.

But Come;

Here, as before, never, so help you mercy,

How strange or odd soe’er I bear myself,

As I perchance hereafter shall think meet

To put an antic disposition on. (Act I, Scene 5, Line 163-170)

This quotation is where Hamlet comes up with the ingenious plot to act as a madman, so that the people of the castle could think that he has actually gone mad. By getting Horatio and Marcellus swearing by his sword, we see that Hamlet isn’t actually mad because he could have just as easily pretended to be mad in front of them as well.

Another example that illustrates that Hamlet is not mad is when he enters King Claudius’ room, where the King is on his knees praying to the lord, expressing his guilt and grief about the sin he committed. At that chance Hamlet has the perfect opportunity to kill the King but he decides otherwise.

Now might I do it pat, now he is praying

And now I’ll do’t: and so he goes to heaven:

And so am I revenged. That would be scanned;

A villain kills my father; and for that,

I, his sole son, do this same villain send

To heaven.

O, this is hire and salary, not revenge.

He took my father grossly, full of bread,

With all his crimes broad blown, as flush as May; (III, 3, 74-82)

When he is drunk asleep, or in his rage,

Or, in the incestuous pleasure of his bed;

At game, a-swearing, or about some act

That has no relish of salvation in’t;

Then trip him, that his heels may kick at heaven

And that his soul may be as damned and black

As hell, whereto it goes. My mother stays:

This physic but prolongs thy sickly days. (III, 3, 89-97)

What is going through his mind in this soliloquy is that which the ghost of King Hamlet told him in the beginning of the story. The ghost of Hamlet wants Prince Hamlet to kill the uncle but leave the wife to live. The ghost says “Revenge his foul and most unnatural murder” (I, 5, 25) about the current King. As for Queen Gertrude the ghost of Hamlet says “Against thy mother aught: leave her to heaven, And to those thorns in her bosom lodge, To prick and sting her”