Topic > Madness and Ancient Madness in Shakespeare's Hamlet

When Hamlet is completing the arrangements for the play, Hamlet says, "I must be idle." (3.2.85). This is clearly a statement of his intention to behave foolishly. Then, speaking to his mother, he assures her that he is not crazy and says: "In essence I am not crazy about madness, but crazy about art." (3.4.187). Furthermore, Hamlet's madness manifested itself only in the presence of some characters. Around Gertrude, Polonius, Claudius, Rosencratz, Guildenstern and Ophelia, he behaves irrationally. While acting rationally with Horatio, Bernardo, Francisco, The Players and the Gravediggers. Act 3 also contains Hamlet's most famous speech which begins, “To be or not to be: that is the question” (3.1.64). In his third soliloquy Hamlet seems to be governed by reason and has even less frenetic emotions than the first two. This speech is his internal philosophical debate about the advantages and disadvantages of existence. While this soliloquy may seem like madness on the surface, it actually works to dispel the idea that Hamlet is truly mad. It makes clear the fact that Hamlet still has senses and his madness is simply a joke. In this act, the king also becomes suspicious of Hamlet's madness and is never entirely convinced. His instructions to his henchmen from the beginning of the play, "Get to him why he makes this mess" (2.1.2), imply that he perceives it as a pretence. Him