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Act I
The beginning of the play, and before the madness sets into Hamlet. (Or is it?) -
Act I Scene II
Hamlet gives his first soliloquy of the play regarding the events of Claudius' marriage to his mother and his being denied to study in Wittenburg. "Oh, that this too, too sullied flesh would melt, Thaw, and resolve itself into a dew, Or that the Everlasting had not fixed His canon 'gainst self-slaughter!" In short, Hamlet wants to kill himself, and if it was not deemed unacceptable by God, he would. This is the start of his madness, which starts over the depression of his father's death. -
Act I Scene V
Hamlet encounters the supposed ghost of his deceased father telling him that Claudius murdered him and that Hamlet must seek revenge for him. "Revenge his foul and most unnatural murder." This is the catalyst of Hamlet's maddness, because while he did not approve of Claudius and his mother's marriage, he did not have any substantial means to act on his feelings. But now that his dead father, apparently murdered by Claudius, is commanding him to get revenge in his name, Hamlet now has the means. -
Act I Scene V
"As I perchance hereafter shall think meet To put an antic disposition on." As a part of his plan to enact revenge on Claudius, Hamket tells Horatio and Marcellus that he will pretend to be mad, whether to seem harmless and strike when none are the wiser, or someother scheme that he thinks he can use. So while Hamlet has been depressed since the start of the play, he is not mad, and the beginnigs of his madness is "acting", the idea of madness has needled its way into his head. -
Act II Scene I
Ophelia tells her father that Hamlet, her once lover, visited her in a state of undress, grabbed her wrist, and muttered nonsensical phrases. "As if he had been loosed out of hell...He took me by the wrist and held me hard...He seemed to find his way without his eyes." When Hamlet showed up he did not like one who was completely sane, as one would assume seeing someone who had been "loosed out of hell." He then gripped her wrist hard, which, if he loved her as much as he claimed, would not have- -
Act II Scene I Cont.
held so tightly, if at all. When he made his way out without using his eyes, so there is something that is obscuring his ability to see. Hamlet's disconnection with reality and his emotions taking over completely are early indications that something, if not madness, is wrong with Hamlet and should be evaluated. -
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Act II
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Act II Scene II
Polonius speaks with Claudius and Gertrude, claiming to know the reason to Hamlet's madness. He "fell into a sadness, then a fast, a watch, a weakness, then into a lightness, and, by this declension, Into the madness wherein he now raves." Heeding her father's words Ophelia cut herself off from Hamlet, who, according to Polonius, experienced a series of stages of withdrawl before falling into the madness where he now lies. -
Act II Scene II
"O God, I could be bounded in a nutshell and count myself a king of infinite space, were it not that I have bad dreams" Hamlet explains to Rosencrantz that it is not his big ambitions that are hindering him, but the bad dreams that plague his nights. Nightmares are a very common precursor to madness, so Shakespeare could very well be hinting that Hamlet's madness is surfacing for the first time, or once again. -
Act III Scene I
In another soliloquy, Hamlet yet again contemplates the pros and cons of suicide. "To be or not to be: that is the question..." throughout the whole soliloquy Hamlet is weighing death, it would be so much easier to slip into the black abyss of death, but those that consider hold back for fear of what would become of them in the afterlife. After Hamlet denies giving Ophelia the gifts, her love, and insults her, CLaudius starts to have doubts. -
Act III Scene I Cont.
-"Nor what he spake...Was not like madness. And I do doubt the hatch and the disclose Will be some danger." Claudius does not think Hamlet is mad, but he does think his "brooding" poses danger to those around him and arranges for Hamlet to be sent to England. -
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Act III
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Act III Scene IV Cont.
-figment of Hamlet's imagination, and that his sanity is crumbling. -
Act III Scene IV
As Hamlet is speaking with his mother in her chamber, the ghost once again appears. Gertrude notices Hamlet's distracted manner and questions, "That you do bend your eye on vacancy And with the incorporal air do hold discourse?" She's questioning his sanity in her own way, asking why he holds conversations with air, or a being that is not corporeal. But the fact that Hamlet is the only one who can see the ghost this time(because the gaurds saw it at the beginning), implying that the ghost is a- -
Act IV Scene I
Upon Hamlet's request Gertrude tells Claudius that Hamlet is "Mad as the sea and wind when both contend." While her son did request she say he went mad, it seems as if Gertrude does believe Hamlet's psyche is shattered. -
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Act IV
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Act IV Scene II
After killing Polonius, Hamlet shows absolutely no remorse over what he has done, also refusing to tell anyone where he hid the body for awhile. This lack of emotion(except for contempt) over killing someone screams psychopath. -
Act IV Scene III
The possibility of a split personality could very well be an answer; it would explain his sudden mood changes and reactions to different subjects/happenenings, and why he says self-contradictory statements. -
Act IV Scene III
Hamlet offhandedly replies that Polonius is "at supper", elaborating with, "A certain convocation of politic worms are e'en at him." Both literally and figuratively, Polonius was eaten by actual worms and political slugs. Throughout the play, Hamlet shows his disconnection to the crimes that he commited. Regarding deaths that were out of his hands(his father and Ophelia) Hamlet displayed great sorrow, but when he voluntarily chooses to revel in the chaos, he does so without any remorse. -
Act V Scene I
Ophelia's death was the final straw to Hamlet's fragile mind. After Laertes jumps into his sister's grave, Hamlet follow's soon after, claiming to have loved Ophelia more than forty-thousand brothers combined, despite him having told her no love was present in Act III. The two fight and Hamlet leaves enraged. -
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Act V
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Act V Scene II
Showing another display of lack of emotion over a serious event. Realizing he was going to be executed in England, Hamlet switched the letters so that Rosencrantz and Guildenstern would be executed instead. "He should those bearers put to sudden death, Not shriving time allowed." Without a second thought Hamlet sent his friends since childhood to their demise. He wasn't thinking with emotion, Hamlet just thought: you betrayed me, therefore you will die. Another example of psychopathy. -
Act V Scene II
Regarding Polonius' murder, Hamlet tells Leartes, "What I have done...I here proclaim was madness." Hamlet is clearly stating, in front of Claudius, Laertes, and the court, that he was mad. He could have been using it as as excuse, but he said it, so there was at least one time when he lost touch with reality.