HAMLETS MADNESS: Hamlet is mad, feigns madness or his pretense turns into real madness. Outline arguments for all three and discuss. 1.Hamlet begins with guards whose main importance in the play is to give credibility to the ghost. If Hamlet were to see his father’s ghost in private, the argument for his madness would greatly improve. Yet, not one, but three men together witness the ghost before even thinking to notify Hamlet. As Horatio …showed first 75 words of 769 total…

…showed last 75 words of 769 total…that he doesn’t go to heaven by dying while praying. As Hamlet tells Guildenstern in II.ii., "I am but mad north-north-west: when the wind is southerly I know a hawk from a handsaw." This statement reveals out-right Hamlet’s intent to fool people with his odd behavior. This is after Polonius’ enlightened comment earlier in the same scene, "though this be madness, yet there is method in’t." Bibliography The book of hamlet