Facet Of Madness In Hamlet

Madness is a dual-faceted state of being that William Shakespeare uses to mold his protagonist in his play Hamlet. In this play, the tragic hero, Hamlet, shows signs of insanity that can be perceived as either genuine or a façade; he initially feigns madness in order to conceal himself, but as the play progresses and becomes more chaotic, he appears to lose his grasp on sanity. However in both instances, Hamlet’s madness conceals the inner struggle he has with both hiding and exposing his emotions. The most prominent facet of madness exhibited throughout the play is the contrived, cunning side of Hamlet. Early on, he reveals to Horatio and Marcellus that he will act foolishly and “put an antic disposition on” (I.v.174) in order to pass by others undetected and expose the truths behind the mystery of his beloved father’s death. With this pretense, he is able to make calculated remarks that are concealed within the absurdity of his mad words without others becoming suspicious. Hamlet’s main target is Claudius, since he …show more content…
Although Hamlet is able to expose unpleasant truths while hiding behind his mask, he also faces the ache of not being able to reveal certain emotions in fear of jeopardizing his plans. The most integral of these secrets is his affinity for Ophelia—although he claims that “[he] loved [her] not” (III.i.15), which detaches others from the idea that he is mad due to his unrequited love for her, he later reveals in Act 5, when he is unfiltered and impulsive, that he indeed loved Ophelia. “Forty thousand brothers could not...make up [the] sum” of his love (V.i.247-249). Ophelia, who is in the same situation as Hamlet in which they both lost a father and a loved one, does become mad; this suggests that Hamlet, unable to express his emotions, is also mad due being forced to bottle up his most profound