Hamlets Madness

By putting on an antic disposition of madness, hamlet really becomes mad. Hamlet says he is pretending to be mad, but in certain ways he really becomes mad. You could argue that a mad person couldn't organize “the mouse trap” but then what about when he walks into Ophelia’s room all whacked out. I think he wants to hide his madness but he can’t hide everything. He even confesses to being both mad and sane; when he talks to Rosencrantz and Guildenstern he says he isn't really mad. But when he confronts Laertes he says his is mad indeed. So through out the book he tries to bamboozle us. But also when he beats Laertes at fencing we think no mad man could be so skilled at fencing. I think that at the beginning hamlet has no traits of madness but as he keeps pretending to become mad he gets some traits of madness. But then we can compare him to Ophelia’s true madness. Ophelia is actually mad after her father’s death, and hamlets madness doesn't even compare to her. Her madness leads to her drowning her self and before that she is kept in a padded room walking around singing. Hamlet can still function with no problems and organized plans to hoodwink Claudius. It might be that hamlet is very mad but knows how to deal with it. Hamlet completes many devious plans through out the book, like the big one of pretending to be mad, organizing the mousetrap leading Guildenstern and Rosencrantz to their deaths. So if he is mad he is still very crafty. But through out his speeches in the book to when he dies at the end I think he wanted to die in order to escape his own madness.