Is Hamlet Crazy

In the play The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark by William Shakespeare, the ghost of Hamlet’s father visits him and explains that his Uncle Claudius was the one who murdered him. Claudius married Gertrude, who is Hamlets mother, and Hamlet is depressed from all the horrible things that happened and plans revenge. To try to show Claudius’ guilt he hires actors to do a play about a man who kills his brother to become the King. He tells his mother about what has been happening and why he’s been acting crazy and kills Ophelia’s father thinking it is Claudius. Ophelia is Hamlets girlfriend and she drowns when she finds out about her father’s death. In the end, Gertrude accidentally drinks the poison that Claudius prepared for Hamlet, and Hamlet kills Claudius before dying himself. Despite all that happened to Hamlet, he is never truly mad, it is all an act.
As soon as Hamlet’s talk with Old King’s ghost is over, he tells his friends “As I perchance hereafter shall think meet to put an antic disposition on” (1.5.173-174). It is right away known that Hamlet has a plan. He later puts on a play The Murder of Gonzago (The Mousetrap), which is about a man who kills his brother to become the King. Hamlet made this play to make Claudius feel guilty and to convince Hamlet that Claudius did murder his father “One scene of it comes near the circumstance, which I have told thee of my father’s death... Observe mine uncle. If his occulted guilt do not itself unkennel in one speech...” (3.2.73-79). After the play, Guildenstern said “Is in his retirement marvelous distempered” (3.2.271), which means Hamlets plan worked and Claudius is upset and is feeling the guilt. Therefore, it shows that Hamlet is not truly crazy, he is acting that way to keep people away while he thinks of a