In Shakespeare's play, the protagonist, Hamlet, faces the mission of avenging his father. He decides to act crazy as part of his plan to kill Claudius and avenge his father. As the plot of the play increases, his madness becomes more and more believable. Readers know that Hamlet is acting crazy because of the soliloquies he utters. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay Hamlet plays the fool because it helps him carry out his plan without any character becoming suspicious. This is first mentioned when he asks Horatio and Marcellus not to comment on his “antiquated disposition (1.5.192)”. Since Hamlet acts like a fool, this allows him to talk to everyone else who is not in the manner of a prince. When Hamlet talks to other characters, he sometimes mocks them and speaks to them in a way that a prince would not. Although his acting fails during his speech to Gertrude, Hamlet is able to criticize her severely for her actions because he thinks he is mad. Throughout the play he also makes many sexual references and even makes sexual comments towards Ophelia such as "It is a fair thought to lie between the maids' legs (3.2.125)." His convincing act of madness gives him the chance to take out some anger on Ophelia for abandoning him. After Polonius decides to "take leave" of Hamlet, Hamlet replies, "You can take nothing from me that I will more gladly part with (2.2. 233)." Another example of Hamlet's madness is when he blames Youssef 2 for his madness for killing Polonius If he were truly mad, he would be able to know that he is mad and knowingly know that what he is doing is wrong and mad Hamlet “controls” his madness by diverting attention from his plan and blames his being mad on his father's death This only allows himself to know what he is really thinking, it does not require him to answer any questions as to why he might be acting strangely and allows him to continue planning his assault on Claudius. His plan to maintain the appearance of a madman is clever, and the fact that he does a good job in his performance just makes him smarter, not madder. On the other hand, Hamlet acts perfectly sane when acting mad is not necessary. When he talks to Horatio about watching Claudius for signs of guilt during the play, he says “Pay attention to him, because i my eyes will nail his face and, afterwards, both our judgments will unite in the censure of his appearance (3.2 .87).” His words to Horace are those of a sane man. Horatio is one of the few people who doesn't need to prove he's "crazy" and as such doesn't try. Furthermore, when he tells the musicians how to behave, he is surprisingly organized and sounds natural. For example, he asks "You could, if necessary, study a speech of a dozen or sixteen lines, which I would put down Youssef 3 and insert into it, wouldn't you (2.2.565)?" His question is direct and simple as are all of his instructions, and it seems that the player not only completely understands, but also feels comfortable with Hamlet and what he is asking. It is much more plausible that a sane man could play a madman, than a mad man could play a sane one, and therefore reason would deem Hamlet sensible. Further proof that Hamlet must be of sound mind is that even in his “madness” he is intelligent in speech and has a full understanding of the situations around him. He plays his madman character all too well, and every sentence he utters seems to be an attempt to convey his madness or confuse the..
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