Madness in Hamlet (Repost)

Madness in Hamlet

            There is very much debate surrounding William Shakespeare’s famous tragedy, Hamlet.  A very common theme in this debate is the title character’s madness.  In the play itself, Hamlet’s madness is comes about in the early scenes, when he decides to create a ruse so that none of the characters will believe that he is any threat to the king’s life.  Hamlet includes his friend, Horatio in on his scheme but cautions him, “Here, as before, never, so help you mercy/How strange or odd soe’er I bear myself/(As I perchance hereafter shall think meet/To put an antic disposition on),/That you, at such times seeing me, never shall—/[…] to note that you aught of me.”(Hamlet, I.V.171-182)  Hamlet is clearly making the decision to behave oddly, but some argue that he is truly mad, and that he is a man who cannot make up his mind.  I tend to believe that whatever conclusion someone comes to regarding this matter, is purely a matter of interpretation.  Good examples of different interpretations are the filmic productions of Hamlet.  In the Kenneth Branagh version, Branagh portrays Hamlet as a man who is perfectly sane, but driven a little mad in pretending to be mad.  When Ethan Hawke played Hamlet, he played Hamlet as someone who was perfectly sane, but so distraught at the corruption of his family that he may seem a little mad.  There are many examples of different Hamlets, and the difference between them is significant.   I generally tend to agree with the interpretation that Hamlet is perfectly sane, but driven slightly mad not only by pretending to be mad, but also by the tragedy that has surrounded him.  In Branagh’s version, for example, he seems lucid in his soliloquies, and only seems mad when he is intentionally acting so.  I believe that if anyone behaves a certain way, even if they are just acting so, it eventually consumes the person and becomes their personality.  I believe the same for Hamlet.