An Analysis of Madness in The Tragedy of Hamlet
             Was Hamlet mad? This is the most asked question regarding The Tragedy of Hamlet. There are many valid reasons to justify that Hamlet was insane, but more examples of Hamlet's sanity could be found. Therefore, Hamlet was mad, but only in contemporary terms. Of the numerous examples of rationality, there were three most convincing; the reasoning of Hamlet's crazy appearance, Hamlet's alternating soundness around the different characters, and Hamlet's madness compared to true madness. Surprisingly, the novel displays Hamlet as one of the most sensible characters.
             From the start of the play, Hamlet could be perceived as a maverick. The reasoning to this was due to an incident involving his mother, Queen Gertrude, and his uncle, King Claudius. During the play's opening, an apparition of Hamlet's father, Old Hamlet, confronted Prince Hamlet with a description of its death as a mortal. In its explanation, the newly appointed King Claudius, Old Hamlet's brother, had assassinated Old Hamlet in order to marry Queen Gertrude and become the new king. This had set forth a goal for Hamlet, to avenge his father's death. But he did not want to directly approach this conclusion without any substantiation. Consequently, Hamlet decides that the best way to learn the truth, without being fully criticized by others, would be by acting illogically while announcing statements that would confirm King Claudius's actions. Evidence of this in the novel is when Hamlet states to his friends Horatio and Marcellus, "I perchance hereafter shall think meet To put an antic disposition on" (1.5.171-172). In the course of swearing them to secrecy about the Ghost, Hamlet adds that they cannot so much as hint that they know anything, even if he should act strange or odd. Other characters could sometimes notice that this madness was artificial. Polonius was one of these charact...