Why Hamlet acts mad

[Saturnalia]

I belive that Hamlet doesn't just act mad, in fact I believe he IS mad. Let me explain. I read the play for class a couple of years ago and as I was going over it before an exam I came up with this theory with a friend. Throughout the play there are two groups of characters, those who see Hamlet's ghost (Horatio, Bernardo, Marcellus...etc.) and those who don't (Claudius, Polonius...etc.). This is where it gets interesting; these two groups of characters never interact with eachother until the final scene of the play. It's as if Horatio & co. are as inexistant to the others as is the ghost. Hamlet interacts with all the characters and this leads me to think that the ghost and all the characters who see the ghost are just a fragment of Hamlet's imagination, his madness.
Of course, this is all very Freudian which may seem anachronic, but there is also quite a strong allusion to the Oedipus complexe, Hamlet hates his (step) father who stole his mother's love and he now wants to kill him. To sum it all up; I think the ghost is Hamlet's way of persuading himself that it is right to kill his step father.
This is a little far fetched but it did get me a great grade for the exam, he he.

It reveals more about you than it does about Hamlet buddy. I read nothing of the sort, he cares more for his father's death than who is mum's f#$k buddy.

[Janine]

Jagtig,
Good point - mental illness was not recognised in Shakepeare's time as it is today; nor was it catergorized, such as: post traumatic stress, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, depression, etc. This is always a very complex question and probably one we will never fully answer by today's standards. Personally, I do not think that Hamlet was insane. I think he was affected by extreme events and he was not always acting rationally, but it was not a permanent state of being. One can not generalize it that way - insane.

Interesting site - thanks for the link. I will investigate it, in depth, later on.

[Janine]

Sorry, I did not see the second page on this thread so I am answering Jagtig. I don't agree with you at all, Saturnalia, but glad you got a good grade for you theory. The opening scene confirms that the guards and Horatio see the ghost. The scene in which Hamlet sees the ghost, for himself, also confirms again they all see the ghost, and that includes Horatio. Horatio speaks to Hamlet about seeing the ghost in scene two. So how can you say no one else sees the ghost but Hamlet? Yes, Gertrude claims she does not see the ghost. If you go to the thread "The Ghost" you will see that we have been disgussing some of these issues in that thread for sometime now.

[Evermore]

It seems that Hamlet doesn't act mad because he is angry. After looking a the original script, it seems that Hamlet acts mad so that his friends won't come over to him and say, "remember what the ghost said?" or some other slip that would let Claudius know that Hamlet knows he killed Hamlet's father. Correct me and please tell what I'm misinterpreting if I'm wrong.

I have been studing Shakespeare for a while, being one of my favourite writers and being part of my Degree, I can say that after he made sure that his father had indeed been murdered by his own brother, the best way to fulfiling his revenge, as it was, was to pretend to be mad, such madness brought Ophelia's love and depression to a limit, specially with her father's sudden death and Hamlet's sudden change, but it was needed for him to act insane for his uncle had already tried to have him killed overseas with a 'negotiations trip' as an excuse.
It was a resolution he had taken and only he could do it, ¿why then did he not kill his uncle when he could right after the play he presented him and his mother? simply because if his father damned himself he was not to kill his uncle and among prayers send him to heaven. It all, even as it seemed simple in act or to analyse, took him much time to think and plan, and so his father was revenged but many died that day.

[htownsend]

have you ever wanted to say something without thinking? well.... i have. and hamlet gets to. because he is mad, he can get away with sayin whatever he wants without worrying about the consequences. and even if someone doesnt truely doesn't believe he is mad, it might be easier for them to deny the accusations made by hamlet if they jump on the hamlet is mad bandwagon.

[schadenfreude]

Your theory about Hamlet's madness is very interesting, Mark. But I prefer to believe that Horatio is real, if only for the fact that Horatio is the one who has the responsibility of passing on the story. Also, what about Horatio's interactions with the sailors and Fortinbras?

[Jimmyspc]

Your theory intrigued me Mark, I have spent the past 30 minutes flicking through the play to check your theory and gain some points to include in an essay with which I had hoped to shock my English teacher with (her being a huge Horatio fan). However you are mistaken, after the fight with Laertes, the King directly addresses Horatio. Broke my heart because it really was a great theory. unlucky.