We all perceived Hamlet to have gone mad – some speculation on to what cause, though most agreed it was the workings of rejected love in the romantic tale of Lord Hamlet and his pretty lady Ophelia. Upon having refused any contact with Hamlet in person, letter or delivered word, Ophelia, it was assumed, had caused Hamlet to slowly loosen the grip on his sanity. The truth is that Hamlet never really became mad; he just used this as an opportunity to pretend to be mad – to allow himself freedom to travel and weasel out the truth without becoming a threat to Claudius or looking too suspicious. This is the first thing you should note: Hamlet was not …show more content…
You say he is being sent their in order to ‘ease his madness’ – but I reveal to you the actual ploys of Claudius. Hamlet was being escorted to England on that lie – and alongside him were his two childhood friends Rosencrantz and Guildenstern – friends who were knowingly betraying his trust and leading him to his execution. With them they carried a manipulative letter from Claudius that requested the England king to execute Hamlet. But my clever Hamlet escaped his fate; instead sending the wretched, betraying Rosencrantz and Guildenstern to their deserving doom. He sent me a letter informing him of his return to Denmark – then he told me the whole tale of the betrayal. Upon finding out about Polonius’s death, Laertes returned to Denmark to get his answers from the King. Instead, he was manipulated into thinking that in order to prove his love for his father, he had to avenge his death by killing Hamlet. When Ophelia died (to an unknown cause) Laertes and Claudius began to plot the ways to murder Hamlet. Their final plan: a fencing duel. This is where things got out of control and the blood was shed. From what I have concluded, Claudius and Laertes devised one initial plan with two back up plans:
Laertes would use a fencing foil with an un-blunted point so that he could actually kill Hamlet (in front of an audience so that it would appear