Hamlet And Ophelia's Madness

Hamlet and Ophelia are linked by many common characteristics, not

the least of which is their madness. While Hamlet's madness seems to

be feigned, Ophelia is truly crazy. The odd thing about their

predicament is that they each drive each other more fully into the

depths of illness.

One of Hamlet's most famous lines is when he tells the Queen: "Seems,

madam? Nay, it is. I know not 'seems.'" Hamlet is saying that he does

not know what it is to pretend, he only knows what it is to be. This is the

main question surrounding Hamlet in the play, is he feigning his

madness, or is it real? After confronting the Ghost, Hamlet tells his friends

that he is going to act mad in public, and that they should not worry for

he is not really crazy
Maybe this is true with Hamlet- he acts truly mad in public (even his

mother believes it) that possibly he acts mad in private too.

After Polonius tells Ophelia to repel Hamlet's letters, Hamlet enters

Ophelia's room and looks at her with such a piteous and saddened

face that even Ophelia begins to think there is something wrong with

him. Shortly after that Hamlet encounters Polonius in a corridor and

harasses him and says crazy things. In an aside Polonius says, "Though

this be madness, yet there is method in't." In another famous line,

Rosencrantz and Guildenstern ask Hamlet about his madness, and he

replies, "I am but mad north-north-west. When the wind is southerly I know

a hawk from a handsaw."

In the beginning Hamlet says he does not know how to pretend, so one

could argue that either he was lying and is a very good play-actor with

his madness; or he really does not know how to act and is truly mad.

Hamlet does go about talking overmuch about writing and acting, and

even goes so far as to put a little vignette in the play of Hecuba, and

tells the actors how to do their job. Is Hamlet an actor telling
Whilst Hamlet is off trying to make the world think he is crazy, Ophelia

has a real breakdown of her own. Ophelia goes mad for two reasons

mostly- she is forced to deny Hamlet her affection (and he therefore

denies her), and Hamlet slays her father. Ophelia is simply an unwitting

pawn in everyone else's traps; she cannot do anything to stop it, and

she wouldn't know how if she could. Polonius demands that she not see

Hamlet any longer, and return all of his letters. When Ophelia follows

her father's orders, Hamlet is angered and pretends that he never

wrote her letters or gave her any of his affection. This seems to be the

beginning of Ophelia's sadness mostly because she really did love

Hamlet, and she believed that he loved her as much.

In Act III, scene , Ophelia and Hamlet have their famous argument;

with Hamlet telling Ophelia to get to a nunnery, and Ophelia saying to

herself, "O, what a noble mind is here o'erthrown!" Shortly after that

(Act III, scene ii) the play begins, with Ophelia commenting, "'Tis brief,

my lord." And Hamlet replies, "As a woman's love." They play off of

each other, and each is scorned because they were in love, and